Chapter 4

"Miranda, are you asleep?"

I completely ignored Louis's face turning black and rushed to open the door.

"Not yet. What's wrong?"

Costa's eyelashes lowered, his fingers clutching the hem of his clothes tightly, looking very anxious. "Miranda, I... after I lost my sight, I developed anxiety disorder. I'm a little scared. I can't sleep..."

How could there be such a pitiful person in this world!

My heart ached unbearably. I grabbed Costa's hand and coaxed him softly. "Don't be afraid. I'll stay with you. I'll leave after you fall asleep."

I helped him back to his room, but Louis panicked and blocked our way, demanding, "Miranda, how can you go sleep with another man? I'm your husband!"

Costa didn't say anything, just turned red-eyed, and the scales in my heart completely tipped in his favor.

I shielded him behind me and glared at Louis. "Louis, can you have some perspective? Can't you see Costa's not well? What's wrong with accommodating him?"

Our argument was probably too loud and disturbed Amanda. She stood in the doorway holding a stuffed rabbit, looking somewhat panicked at Louis.

"Louis, I just had a terrible nightmare and I'm having trouble breathing. Can you stay with me? Just for a little while."

Louis fell silent again.

Ever since Amanda moved into the house, Louis had been keeping her company almost every night.

After a long while, Louis finally spoke. "Amanda, we're not kids anymore. It's not appropriate for me to stay with you. If you're scared, just sleep with the lights on."

Amanda's face went deathly pale, tears instantly filling her eyes, but she nodded obediently.

But I knew she wouldn't give up that easily.

Sure enough, she'd barely been in her room before there was a loud crash.

Louis immediately kicked the door open and found Amanda collapsed weakly on the floor.

He couldn't care about me and Costa anymore and rushed Amanda to the hospital.

I didn't bother with him and took Costa back to the room.

As he'd said, his anxiety disorder was really severe. He kept waking up with a start, only settling back to sleep after confirming I was still beside him.

I stayed with Costa all night, while Louis stayed with Amanda all night.

When he dragged his exhausted body home, he discovered that Costa and I were already gone.

Costa said he wanted to see the stars, so I took time off to bring him to Hawaii.

When we came back, Louis and I both had work, plus he had to take care of Amanda and I had to take care of Costa. We incredibly didn't see each other even once.

After coming home for the thirty-seventh time without finding me there, Louis finally couldn't take it anymore.

He had someone investigate all of Costa's background.

The moment he looked at the file, he couldn't help cursing.

"Fuck, he's three years older than me. How dare he call me 'brother'?"

After cursing for a good while, Louis continued reading.

The further he read, the more serious his expression became.

Halfway through, he canceled all his work and drove home.

I was at work, Amanda was at the hospital—only Costa was home alone.

Louis didn't alert anyone. He quietly pushed open the door.

His eyes widened in shock.

Costa was actually...