Chapter 102

Chapter 102

The sharp smell of disinfectant invaded her nostrils.

Diana slowly opened her eyes, her gaze lingering for a moment on the stark white ceiling.

Her right forearm was wrapped in thick bandages. The anesthesia had worn off, and the wound throbbed with waves of pain, the ache radiating through half her shoulder like it was being torn apart.

She turned her head toward the window.

The cross-river bridge stretched across the night sky after the rain, neon lights reflecting on the water's surface, shattered by the wind into fragmented pieces.

This was Sunrise City.

She'd been brought back after all.

Diana withdrew her gaze and noticed the man slumped over the edge of her bed.

Nicholas still wore the same black tactical jacket, its hem badly wrinkled. His usually immaculately groomed hair hung disheveled across his forehead, and deep exhaustion shadowed his eyes.

He wasn't sleeping peacefully. His brow was furrowed tight, one hand even clutching the corner of her blanket, as if the moment he let go, she would vanish again.

Diana watched him quietly for a few seconds.

She never imagined there'd come a day when Nicholas would keep vigil at her bedside.

On that helicopter in the pouring rain, this man had told her he loved her, over and over, his eyes red.

Maybe it was true.

But so what?

If he'd said those words six months ago, she probably would have been beside herself with joy.

But now, after her trampled heart, the child who hadn't survived, and that life-saving heart that had been taken away—all of it had ground everything between them into dust.

Saying he loved her now was too late.

Diana tried to shift her body. The metal bed frame let out a soft creak.

Nicholas jolted awake.

He snapped his head up, his bloodshot eyes meeting hers. For a moment, he froze, then stood abruptly.

"You're awake?"

His voice was terribly hoarse. He raised his hand toward the call button at the head of the bed.

"Does your wound hurt? Are you uncomfortable anywhere? I'll get the doctor."

Diana didn't answer any of his questions. She only glared at him coldly.

"How long are you planning to lock me up this time?"

Nicholas's hand froze in midair.

Diana continued, "Phoenix Tower? The Kennedy Manor? Or have you prepared some other place where no one can find me? Since you're so determined to keep me locked up, come after me alone. Don't hurt the people on the island, and don't go after Liam. Otherwise, all you'll end up with is a corpse."

The hospital room fell suddenly silent.

Nicholas stared at her pale face, his fingers curling tighter bit by bit.

He had thought about it.

On the way back to the country, he'd even had someone prepare a place. Secluded enough, secure enough—if he wanted, Diana would never be able to leave for the rest of her life.

But meeting her lifeless eyes, he couldn't bring himself to admit it.

Under the helicopter's searchlight, the image of her pressing the gun to her temple still replayed in his dreams.

"I... I wasn't planning to lock you up." Nicholas slowly withdrew his hand, guiltily avoiding her gaze.

Diana let out a scoff and chose to stay silent.

Nicholas's Adam's apple bobbed, his voice dropping even lower.

"I tried to let go. I let you leave, and I told myself that as long as you were happy, it didn't matter who you stayed with."

He paused, the suppressed obsession in his eyes impossible to hide any longer.

"But I can't do it. Diana, I can't stand watching you be with another man."

He reached out to touch her left hand lying outside the blanket. Diana shifted her arm away, avoiding his touch.

Nicholas's hand hung in midair before slowly curling into a fist.

"As long as you're willing to stay, I won't restrict your movements." He added, "Wherever you want to go, whatever you want to do—I can agree to all of it."

After hearing him out, Diana only found it absurd.

"If you'd said these things six months ago, I would have been happy."

She looked at him, her expression serious. "But now, it's all too late."

"It's not too late."

Nicholas's jaw suddenly tightened as he braced both hands on the edge of the hospital bed.

"We can start over! Whatever you want, I can make it up to you. Kennedy Group shares, status, position—just say the word—"

An urgent phone ringtone cut him off.

A flash of irritation crossed Nicholas's features as he pulled out his phone. The moment the screen lit up, Diana clearly saw the name displayed.

It was Lindsey.

Nicholas hesitated for a beat, then answered the call.

The voice from the receiver was muffled and urgent. Diana couldn't make out what was being said, but she watched Nicholas's expression change drastically.

"I'll be right there."

He hung up, grabbed his jacket from the back of the chair, and turned to leave.

At the door, he seemed to remember something and looked back at Diana.

"Rest for now. I'll come back after I handle this."

He pulled the door open and gave a low command to whoever was stationed outside: "Watch her closely. Don't let her step one foot outside this room."

The door quickly closed again.

His hurried footsteps gradually faded down the hallway.

Diana stared at the empty doorway, a mocking smile slowly curving her lips.

One second he was saying he could give her anything, and the next second, one phone call from Lindsey and he could leave without hesitation.

This was his love?

The hospital room door was pushed open again. A tall, imposing man walked in.

He'd changed out of the camouflage combat gear he'd worn on the helicopter and was now dressed in plain black clothes, but the rough, hard edge in his features still carried an overwhelming sense of pressure.

Diana recognized him.

On the helicopter, it had been this man's subordinate who'd shot her.

The man dragged a chair over and sat down beside the hospital bed.

"David." He stated his name flatly. "Nicholas's friend."

Diana looked away and closed her eyes.

So his name was David.

But what Nicholas's people were called had nothing to do with her. Her right arm was injured, guards were stationed outside the room—there was no way she could escape right now. She couldn't be bothered wasting words on him.

Seeing that she had absolutely no intention of acknowledging him, David's brow furrowed.

"While you were gone, Nicholas barely slept a full night or had a proper meal. To find you, he searched every place he could. Everyone could see—he cares about you."

Diana opened her eyes again.

"Are you telling me this to make me feel moved?"

David said in a low voice, "I'm just telling you the facts."

"Facts?"

Diana looked at him, a cold mockery gradually surfacing in her eyes.

"Since you're Nicholas's friend, you should know how he treated me before. He held me down on an operating table and personally took my child away. He knew that heart was my mother's only hope of survival, and he still gave it to Lindsey's son. Even now, he still won't let me go—sending people to watch me, trapping me here! And you're telling me this is called 'caring'? This kind of love that came at the cost of hurting my family—if it were you, would you dare accept it?"

David was momentarily speechless.

He knew there had been many entanglements between Nicholas and Diana, but he couldn't offer any defense for those brutal facts.

After a moment of silence, he furrowed his brow in frustration.

"What he did was extreme, but there are reasons he became this way. Diana, you don't understand his past at all. Back then..."

Diana simply turned over, showing him her back.

"No need to say more."

She pulled the blanket up, covering half her face, unwilling to spare him even one more glance.

It was nothing more than those so-called 'reasons.'

As if because Nicholas had been hurt, he was entitled to inflict that pain a hundred, a thousand times over on innocent people. As if now that he was willing to turn around and say he loved her, everything that happened in the past could simply be written off.

Nicholas was such a bastard. Naturally, his friends weren't any better.

They were all the same kind of bastard.

Listening to even one more word made her sick.