Chapter 3

Raven's POV

I went home and sat in the dark for a long time, remembering why I had fallen for him in the first place.

That year, I saw him at an industry gala.

He stood in the middle of the crowd, a man of few words, yet everyone treated him with immense respect.

I fell in love with him at first sight. I couldn't sleep that entire night.

Back then, I thought that as long as I was good enough, sensible enough, and never caused him trouble, he would eventually look back at me.

On our wedding night, he sat on the edge of the bed without even taking off his coat. "This is just a business arrangement. Don't expect anything more. I will ensure you keep your place as my wife safely for the rest of your life."

I nodded back then.

I kept that promise close to my heart, holding onto it through all these years.

Today, in that municipal lobby, he bent down to comfort another woman, soothing her endlessly.

He knew how to care. He just refused to spare a single drop of it for me.

During the first year of our marriage, he was in a car crash.

I was in that car with him.

The car flipped on a road outside the city, landing upside down with glass shattering everywhere.

I was the first to crawl out of the twisted door, my arms and legs scraped raw, my palms shredded by broken glass.

I looked back and saw him pinned beneath the driver’s seat. His worst wound was pouring blood, and it wouldn't stop no matter what.

I crawled back, leaning into the wreck, and pressed both hands firmly against the wound.

Blood welled up between my fingers. I didn't dare let go. Whenever my hands grew weak, I pressed harder.

I held on until the paramedics arrived. Only when they forced the door open and lifted him onto the stretcher did my hands finally pull away.

My legs had long lost all feeling; someone had to drag me to the ambulance.

I rode with him to the hospital and signed my name on the paramedic intake sheet, my hands trembling so violently I could barely hold the pen.

The nurse glanced at me. "You need your injuries checked too."

I shook my head. "I'll wait until he's out."

I had broken two ribs that night. It hurt like hell, but I didn't utter a single sound.

It was almost dawn when they finally wheeled me in to treat my wounds.

Later, my family took me home, and I spent over a month recovering.

Only the two of us had been in the car. It was pitch black, and he was unconscious, so he never saw my face clearly.

While he was still out cold, his family arranged a transfer back to his regular private hospital in the city with a single phone call. I was left behind at the suburban facility, and the intake sheet I had signed stayed in that roadside clinic's archives.

When he woke up, Chloe was the one sitting by his bedside.

She was holding something I had dropped at the crash site, an item pulled from my personal belongings during the emergency intake transfer.

When his family arrived, all they saw was her keeping vigil by his bed, holding the wreckage token in her hands. When they asked who had saved him, Chloe claimed it was her.

His family took her word for it and told him the same story. Not a single person ever mentioned what truly happened before that.

From the day he opened his eyes, he was convinced that Chloe was his savior.

When I recovered and returned, I brought it up once.

It happened to be right when he was preparing gifts to reward his savior, with lavish packages already laid out.

I barely started: "Actually, that night..."

He raised his hand and cut me off coldly. "You don't need to speak about this."

I swallowed the rest of the sentence.

He turned away to inspect the gifts, picked one out, and ordered his staff to wrap it beautifully.

After that, I never mentioned it a second time.