Chapter 6

Elara Vance pov

When I pushed the door open, Sera Bloom was leisurely leaning against the headboard, eating imported cherries.

Seeing me enter, Sera's lips curled into a triumphant smile:

"Oh, isn't this our kidney donor hero? What, here to visit your kidney?"

I stared intently at the necklace around her neck, my voice trembling: "Give that back to me!"

Sera gently stroked the necklace, smiling innocently yet maliciously:

"Why should I give it to you? Nate said it looks beautiful on me, and that I look a lot like you used to, so he put it on me himself."

I felt cold all over. That was the only memento left by my parents.

I reached out to grab it, but then stopped midway, afraid of damaging the necklace.

I swallowed all my pride and pleaded:

"This necklace is very important to me. I can trade it for something else, anything you want, anything I can give…"

Sera tilted her head, feigning innocence as she thought:

"There's nothing I really want. The only thing I lack… is the status of Mrs. Thorne."

She chuckled softly, her eyes full of provocation,

"How about you give that position to me?"

I closed my eyes, my heart filled with despair, my voice hoarse beyond recognition:

"Okay, as long as you give me the necklace back, I'll divorce him immediately and let you become Mrs. Thorne!"

The words had barely left my lips when the ward door was violently flung open.

Nate Thorne stood at the doorway, holding a thermal container, his face terrifyingly grim:

"Elara Vance, in your heart, my wife's status is worth less than a dead object?!"

I froze, my throat tight:

"This is my parents'… last heirloom."

"Parents?"

Nate sneered, hatred swirling in his eyes. He strode over, snatched the necklace from Sera's neck,

"I almost forgot, everything related to your parents, I want to destroy!"

With that, he turned and walked towards the wide-open window, raising his hand to throw the necklace out! We were on the eighteenth floor!

"No!"

I screamed, throwing myself forward without a second thought.

The moment I collided with Nate, the necklace flew from his hand.

And I, due to inertia and extreme weakness, couldn't stop my momentum. Half my body went out the window, and I plunged straight down—

"Elara Vance!"

Nate's voice was almost a shriek. He lunged to grab me, but only caught empty air.

The feeling of rapid descent lasted only a brief two seconds.

Fortunately, I landed on the awning of the seventeenth-floor balcony. The immense impact felt like all my organs had shifted. The necklace shattered beside me, sharp fragments piercing my palm, making it bleed profusely.

In a daze, I heard Nate's frantic roars from upstairs:

"Elara Vance! Elara Vance!"

Followed by a flurry of footsteps.

Not long after, Nate rushed to the seventeenth-floor balcony. He scrambled over the railing without a care for his appearance, knelt on the awning, and with trembling hands, lifted me into his arms.

"Doctor! Call a doctor! Save her!"

His voice held a panic and fear I'd never heard before, tears splattering onto my blood-stained face.

Just like that fire many years ago, when he rushed into the flames to find me, he had screamed my name just as desperately.

My consciousness was blurry. The abdominal wound, from the violent impact, had completely ripped open, and blood soaked Nate's white shirt.

A faint glimmer of hope ignited in my heart.

Did he still worry about me?

Was it… was it possible he still cared about me a little?

When I woke up again, my whole body ached as if it had been crushed and reassembled.

In the hospital room, a doctor was quietly conversing with Nate:

"Mr. Thorne, your wife has multiple fractures and internal organ damage. Combined with her recent kidney removal surgery, her body has completely broken down. She must rest well, or she'll suffer severe sequelae, or even…"

"Give her the best medication."

Nate coldly cut off the doctor.

"No matter what equipment, she must stay alive."

The doctor nodded and left.

Nate turned, his eyes meeting mine.

Our gazes locked. The concern in his eyes instantly replaced by coldness, as if his earlier panic had been my imagination.

"Don't think that just because I'm giving you the best medication, it means I still care about you."

He approached the bed, looking down at me, his voice as cruel as an ice-tempered blade:

"I just want you to live longer so I can torment you better. If you die, who will I find to pay for the lives of my family of three?"

"From the moment your parents killed my family, our ending was destined—"

"Only endless mutual destruction!"

I stared at him blankly, the last spark of light in my heart completely extinguished, tears silently falling.

It turned out… I was just fooling myself.

I slowly closed my eyes and whispered softly:

"Okay, then I'll die."

He frowned, leaning closer to me:

"What did you just say?"

I opened my mouth, about to repeat myself, when the ward door was suddenly pushed open.

A nurse hurried in:

"Mr. Thorne, Ms. Bloom needs to go for her check-up, but she can't find you and is refusing to cooperate…"

Nate's brows furrowed. He turned and left, not even sparing me a single glance.