Chapter 2

Travis grew increasingly agitated.

Standing over her hospital bed, he glowered down at her. "I'm talking to you. Are you listening?"

Nicole remained motionless.

But beneath her blank expression, a storm of emotions churned in her eyes.

The deepest love had twisted into the darkest hate.

Travis finally lost his patience.

He grabbed her shoulders roughly, shaking her while shouting, "What are you, deaf?"

Yes, as a matter of fact, she was.

Nicole had removed her hearing aid.

She could no longer hear Travis's angry shouts or his vicious, sneering insults.

Her head was wrapped in stark white bandages, still spotted with blood.

His violent shaking made her stomach lurch.

"Don't touch me!"

Nicole shoved his hands away and lifted her gaze to meet his with an icy stare.

The moment he saw the coldness in her eyes, Travis's heart stuttered, and panic crept in.

Her gaze was arctic, as if she were looking at a complete stranger.

A stranger?

How had it come to this?

Before, whenever she looked at him, her eyes had burned with passion like the sun, almost hot enough to scorch him.

But now, her gaze was like a frozen lake in winter, leaving him feeling trapped in a freezer, deeply unsettled and out of his depth.

Nicole gave him a detached glance, then reached for her implant on the bedside table and reattached it.

"Mr. Graham, was there something you needed?"

She finally spoke, her voice clear but distant, stripped of its usual warmth and enthusiasm.

When he heard her speaking at last, Travis's arrogance resurfaced.

"Of course. You need to apologize to Lucy right now! She's been distraught these past few days."

Lucy Miller again.

The perfect woman who had always stood between them.

This seemingly innocent woman who had sparked endless misunderstandings.

No matter how many times Nicole explained that Lucy's fall had nothing to do with her, Travis never believed her.

He remained convinced that Nicole was responsible for the accident that left Lucy unable to walk.

When someone is determined to condemn you, they'll find any excuse.

To someone who doesn't love you, everything you do is wrong - even drawing breath is a sin.

Nicole's hands clutched the sheets tightly as she looked at Travis and said softly, "We lost our baby."

Travis's face darkened.

A baby?

He remembered that stormy night a few months ago when he'd burst into her room...

Married for three years, and just that one time was enough to get her pregnant?

Could it really be such a coincidence?

These past few years, Nicole had been seen getting close to his arch-rival, Alexander Hayes. People had even spotted them entering hotels together.

At this thought, his eyes turned cold.

"Good riddance. Who knows whose baby it really was?"

Some words cut deeper than any knife.

When Travis had first walked in, Nicole's heart had still held a tiny flutter of misplaced hope.

Now, his words pierced her heart like an ice-cold blade.

Her heart finally died completely.

Nicole smiled, feeling strangely at peace.

She smiled at Travis without shedding a single tear.

"Thank you, Travis," she said. "Thank you for doubting me, as always. Thank you for hurting me, as always. Really... thank you!"

Thank you for killing my heart so thoroughly.

Travis felt unsettled seeing that strange, cold expression on Nicole's beautiful face.

For all these years, he'd grown accustomed to her eager smiles, her attempts to please him, even her occasional tantrums.

Now, why was she repeatedly thanking him like this?

His phone vibrated.

He pulled it from his pocket, and seeing Lucy's name on the screen, immediately answered.

"Lucy, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell again?"

The moment he answered that call, the usually cold and arrogant Travis transformed into a different person.

He became gentlemanly, attentive, tender, and sensitive.

Watching Travis's face soften with such tenderness, Nicole realized her twenty years of devotion had been nothing but a joke.

All her deep love and blind devotion couldn't warm a heart that didn't love her back - it had only left her scarred and broken.

Enough, Nicole. It's time to stop.

After ending the call, Travis noticed Nicole had somehow managed to sit on the edge of the hospital bed.

His handsome face darkened with annoyance.

"Since you're well enough to move, you can come with me now to apologize to Lucy on your knees."

Without waiting for a response, he tried to yank Nicole to her feet.

Still weak from her injuries, she barely had the strength to resist, desperately gripping the metal headboard.

"Travis, I will never apologize to Lucy, even if you kill me for it!"

"You think I wouldn't dare?"

"Then do it now!"

"Nicole, why are you being so damn difficult? What's so hard about a simple apology?"

Travis let go with a harsh shove, crossing his arms in frustration.

In her weakened state, Nicole crumpled to the cold floor.

The chill sent sharp pains through her abdomen.

Just days after the procedure, any contact with cold surfaces made her entire body tremble.

Travis noticed neither the agony etched on her face nor the color draining from her cheeks.

Nicole struggled to push herself up, kneeling on the sterile hospital floor. She lifted her head, her eyes red-rimmed, and said, "Travis, I understand my mistake now. I truly do."

Travis froze, stunned. Was this proud, defiant, spiteful woman finally apologizing?

His expression softened slightly, his tone dripping with condescension, "If you've realized your mistake, there's still time. Go apologize to Lucy. She might find it in her heart to forgive you."

Nicole smiled bitterly and shook her head as tears rolled down her cheeks.

Taking a deep breath, she met his eyes with an icy stare, "Travis, yes, I was wrong. My biggest mistake these past twenty years was loving you! From this moment on, I'm correcting that mistake - and I swear I'll never make it again!"

Travis's briefly softened expression darkened once again.

This woman claimed her biggest mistake in twenty years was loving him?

Hah, ridiculous - he never needed her love!

She was the one who had clung to him like a leech all these years!

"Nicole, you're coming with me to see Lucy right now!"

In his agitation, Travis roughly grabbed Nicole's arm and started dragging her toward the door.

Nicole felt herself swaying, her body as fragile as paper, ready to collapse at any moment.

Using her last bit of strength, she pleaded, "Travis, please let me go. I swear I'll never bother you again for the rest of my life. Just let me go, please, I'm begging you."

Nicole felt like she might pass out from his rough handling.

She needed to lie down - she felt terrible.

But Travis wouldn't grant her wish.

Especially when he heard her swear to never bother him again, an inexplicable sense of loss welled up inside him.

Why did he feel this way?

Shouldn't he be happy?