Chapter 249 Never Able to Stand Up Again

Chapter 249 Never Able to Stand Up Again

But Grace said one thing: "If you help me, I'll repay you. I'll do anything for you."

Matthew finally helped her. He sent people to bring Grace back from Northern Europe and gave her money for plastic surgery.

Grace took the money to the best clinic and completely changed her ruined face.

Three months later, when the bandages came off, she stood in front of the mirror and stared at the completely unfamiliar face for a long time.

She didn't even recognize herself.

But that was fine.

She didn't come back to start over.

She wanted to make everyone who destroyed her pay, one by one.

Grace changed her name to Betty, spent some money to fake a perfect resume, and got through the screening to work in Alex's house.

While she was preparing fruit for Emily in the kitchen, she watched the woman's back through the glass door, her eyes filled with deep hatred.

But she held it in. It wasn't time yet.

She needed to stay hidden, learn all of Emily's habits, and find the best moment to strike.

Grace memorized every detail about Emily's schedule and routines, wrote them down, studied the notes until she knew them by heart, then burned the notebook.

She knew Alex had people watching her. Every move she made was under surveillance.

She couldn't slip up.

The chance finally came.

That night, Emily drank the hot milk Betty brought her at nine o'clock like usual.

After finishing it, she felt unusually sleepy, her eyelids too heavy to lift. She thought it was just a pregnancy symptom and didn't think much of it before lying down to sleep.

What she didn't know was that the milk had crushed sleeping pills in it.

Grace waited outside the door for twenty minutes. Once she was sure Emily was sound asleep, she quietly pushed the door open and walked in.

Moonlight came through the window and lit up Emily's peaceful sleeping face.

Grace stood by the bed and looked down at her for a while, her expression hard to read.

This was the woman who had taken everything she wanted.

She took a deep breath, crouched down, picked up Emily's phone from the nightstand, and pressed Emily's thumb on the unlock button. The phone opened.

She scrolled through the contacts, found Matthew's number, and typed a message in Emily's tone.

[Matthew, let's meet at the usual place tomorrow at 3. I have some things I want to say.]

After sending it, she quickly deleted the record, put the phone back, and slipped out of the room.

When Matthew got the message, he was sitting alone in his study looking at documents.

When he saw the sender's name on the screen, his fingers froze.

This was the first time Emily had reached out to him since their breakup.

He stared at the words for a long time, checking them over and over to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

After she signed the divorce papers, they hadn't spoken again.

He thought she would hate him forever and never want to see him again.

But now she was asking to meet.

A complicated feeling rose in Matthew's chest.

He put down the papers, stood up, and went to the closet to pick out clothes. He tried on suit after suit but none felt good enough. Finally he chose a dark blue custom suit—the one Emily had once said looked good on him.

He fixed his collar in the mirror, then used hair gel to make his hair neat and perfect.

The next afternoon, he left early.

The driver parked the car in front of the café they used to go to. Matthew sat inside waiting.

He kept checking his watch, tapping his fingers on his knee. His heartbeat was faster than usual.

Five minutes past three, Emily still hadn't shown up.

Matthew picked up his phone to call her but put it down again. Maybe she was just running a little late.

Right then, a truck came speeding from the opposite lane, out of control. It crashed through the guardrail and slammed straight into Matthew's car.

The driver reacted fast and jerked the wheel, but it was too late.

The truck hit the back half of the car, flipping it twice before it stopped.

Matthew blacked out from the impact.

When he woke up, he was in the hospital. The bright ceiling lights hurt his eyes.

He tried to move his legs but felt nothing.

The doctor stood by the bed, looking grim. "Mr. Moore, I'm sorry. Your spine was badly damaged. Your legs may never recover."

Matthew didn't cry or yell. He just stared at the ceiling for a long time.

Was a life in a wheelchair even a life?

His assistant stood outside the room for a long time before finally coming in.

"Mr. Moore, they caught the guy who hit you. He was drunk driving—his blood alcohol level was three times the limit."

"I want him to suffer," Matthew said, gripping his numb leg tightly, his voice like a demon from hell.

In the days that followed, Matthew started rehab.

But the doctors said his condition was too serious. The chance of recovery was tiny.

Every day he sat in his wheelchair, staring at the same view outside the window, feeling more and more depressed.

Then one day, someone unexpected came to his room.

When Grace walked in, Matthew looked at her completely unfamiliar face and didn't recognize her at all. "It's me."

Hearing her voice, Matthew's face turned cold. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see you." Grace put the fruit basket she brought on the table, sat down by the bed, and looked at him with concern. "I heard about the accident. I was worried sick."

"I don't need your worry. Get out."

Grace didn't move. She glanced at Matthew's paralyzed legs, and the corner of her mouth twitched slightly before she put on a sympathetic expression again.

"Matthew, I'm so sorry this happened to you." She sighed and lowered her voice. "Do you know why Emily wanted to meet you?"

Matthew's fingers tightened on the wheelchair armrest.

"You thought she wanted to get back together?" Grace's voice was soft but venomous. "You were wrong. She was just playing you."

She took some photos out of her bag and held them up in front of Matthew.

They showed Alex and Emily together—walking in the garden with Alex's arm around her shoulders, eating in a restaurant while Emily smiled at him, and one of the three of them at an amusement park, with Eleanor on Alex's shoulders and Emily laughing happily beside them.

Each photo felt like a knife stabbing into Matthew's heart.