Chapter 166
Chapter 166
The signature in the bottom right corner was Elodie's handwriting. Shaky strokes. Weak, like someone at death's door.
"She said it herself." Lucas looked down at Adrian.
"She'd rather die than see your disgusting face one last time."
Adrian stared at that signature, unblinking.
The dull ache in his chest exploded all at once.
He coughed up a mouthful of blood. It splattered across the white declaration form.
Then he fell straight back and hit the floor tiles hard.
The bodyguards cried out and rushed over. The hallway erupted into chaos.
At the same moment, on the top floor of the care facility, inside the climate-controlled sunroom.
This was the most secluded area in the entire cancer research center.
Outside the glass walls, a blizzard raged.
Inside the sunroom, it was warm as spring. The plants were lush and full of life.
Elodie wore a soft beige turtleneck sweater, sitting in front of an easel.
She held a palette and a brush.
On the canvas, the rolling peaks of the Silvercrest Range were already taking shape.
Faint noise drifted up from downstairs. A man's furious shout, then the heavy thud of something hitting the floor.
The hand holding Elodie's brush didn't pause for a second.
Her expression was calm. Not a ripple in her eyes.
Ten minutes later.
Elodie set down her brush.
She stood up and walked over to the round wooden table nearby.
On it sat a warm glass of milk and a sleek black notebook.
Elodie opened the notebook.
At the top of the first page were a few words.
Bucket List.
Below it, more than a dozen items.
1. See the northern lights.
2. Set up a stray animal rescue fund.
3. Erase all trace of Adrian entirely.
Elodie picked up a pen.
She drew a firm, heavy checkmark next to the third item.
She closed the notebook and picked up the milk, taking a slow sip.
The warm liquid slid down her throat and into her stomach, carrying a small thread of warmth with it.
Elodie turned her head and looked out at the swirling snow beyond the window.
Whether Adrian lived or died, whatever madness he fell into — none of it had anything to do with her anymore.
In whatever days she had left,
she would only do what made her happy.
The door was pushed open quietly.
Grace came running in barefoot, wearing a patient's gown.
"Elodie!" Grace threw herself into Elodie's arms.
Elodie caught her and gently rubbed her bare little head.
"Elodie, Lucas said if the weather's nice tomorrow, he'll take us sledding!" Grace's eyes were bright and sparkling.
Elodie smiled.
"Okay. We'll go sledding."
The phone on the table suddenly buzzed.
An unknown overseas number flashed on the screen.
Elodie glanced at it, hit decline, and blocked the number without a second thought.
She picked up her palette, loaded her brush with a stroke of bright yellow, and touched it to the peak of the snow-capped mountain.
Sunlight broke through the clouds.
A new day had begun.
---
The blizzard had raged all night.
The snow came up past the knees.
In the open space outside the care facility's front gate, Adrian stood perfectly still.
His thin suit had long since been soaked through by ice and snow, frozen stiff as a shell around him.
His hair was crusted with frost.
He had been standing there for twenty-four hours straight. Hadn't moved an inch. Hadn't had a single drop of water.
The thermometer hit thirteen below zero.
His assistant held a black umbrella overhead, sweating with panic. He tried to drape a long down coat over Adrian's shoulders.
"Mr. Stewart, your fever's almost 103! You're going to die out here!" he shouted. The wind and snow were so loud he had to scream.
Adrian raised his hand and shoved the coat away.
The movement was stiff, but the force behind it was brutal.
"Get out of my sight." Adrian's voice was raw and cracked, his throat thick with the taste of blood.
He tilted his head back, his bloodshot eyes locked on the glass windows at the top of the care facility.
He didn't believe Elodie was dead.
Not a single word from Lucas. Not that declaration. He didn't believe any of it.
Elodie loved him. She had loved him for ten years. How could she refuse to see him one last time?
She was angry. She was punishing him.
As long as he stood here, as long as he put his life on the line, Elodie would soften. She used to get anxious over a single cough from him.
Adrian's body swayed. His knees buckled.
He bit down hard and forced himself upright.
---
Top floor. The sunroom.
Elodie stood at the wide floor-to-ceiling window, holding a freshly brewed cup of coffee.
Steam curled up from the cup.
She looked down at the small dark figure in the snow below.
The distance was too great to make out Adrian's expression. But that teetering, barely-standing silhouette had a certain ridiculous stubbornness to it.
Elodie took a sip of coffee.
No sympathy. No stir of feeling.
She almost found it funny.
A confession that came this late was worth nothing. Who exactly was Adrian putting on this half-dead performance for?
To move himself?
"What are you looking at?" Lucas came over in a light grey cashmere sweater, carrying a small plate of freshly baked butter cookies.
He followed Elodie's gaze down.
"Truly moving." Lucas's voice was dry with mockery. "Harbor City's great Mr. Stewart, casting himself as the tragic hero. What a performance. Shame he didn't take home Best Actor."
Elodie looked away. "Pathetic."
Lucas set down the cookies and pulled out his phone.
He opened the camera and pointed it at Elodie.
"Smile," he said.
Elodie blinked, then turned toward the lens. The corner of her mouth curved up naturally — a little exasperated, a little bright.
Click.
The recording ended.
Lucas tapped the screen a few times and hit send.
Recipient: Adrian.
"What are you doing?" Elodie asked.
"Helping him snap out of it." Lucas shrugged. "So he doesn't sit there imagining you're crying in some corner over him."
---
Down in the snow.
Adrian's phone buzzed in his suit pocket.
He reached for it with stiff fingers. They were so numb he couldn't feel them — it took three tries to unlock the screen.
A video loaded.
Warm sunlight. Green plants all around.
Elodie in her soft sweater, holding a cup of coffee. She turned toward the camera and smiled — easy and bright, like someone without a care in the world.
No despair. No pain. No him.
The video was five seconds long.
Adrian watched it over and over. Dozens of times.
Elodie's smile split his heart clean in two.
So she could be this fine without him.
So that transfer notice after the emergency had been a lie Lucas used to fool him. She was alive. She was right up there.
And she had watched him suffer in the snow below and hadn't given him so much as a glance.
Adrian's eyes went red. Tears fell and hit the phone screen, mixing with ice and snow.
"Elodie..." A sound tore out of his throat — low and broken, like a trapped animal.
His stomach seized with a violent cramp.
Adrian doubled over and coughed up blood onto the white snow. The red was stark against all that white.
His assistant panicked and grabbed him. "Mr. Stewart! Someone call a doctor! Now!"
Adrian shoved him off.
He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and fixed his gaze on the sealed glass doors.
His vision was blurring, splitting into double. But he stayed on his feet.