Chapter 2
Soon, those messages were quickly deleted, as if nothing had ever happened.
Caroline’s hand trembled slightly as she gripped her phone, her heart turning ice-cold, as though she’d been soaked in freezing water. Even breathing became difficult.
So it turned out that even her falling into the water, getting a fever, and taking medicine were all part of their carefully orchestrated revenge.
So it turned out that the “medicine” Alexander had given her was meant to make her feel even worse.
Before long, Alexander called her.
“Where did you go? Why aren’t you home?” Alexander’s voice was low, carrying a barely detectable urgency.
Caroline took a deep breath, trying to make her voice sound calm. “My fever got really bad, so I came to the hospital.”
There was a brief silence on the other end, then Alexander’s voice came through. “I’m coming over right now.”
“No need,” Caroline refused. “I’ll be fine after finishing the IV and staying one more night. I can see you’ve been really busy
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lately, so just focus on your work.”
Alexander was silent for a few seconds, then suddenly asked, “Did you check your phone?”
So that’s why he called-he was afraid she’d seen those
messages.
Caroline lied: “No. The doctor said my fever was severe, so I didn’t have time to look at my phone.”
The other end fell silent again. Alexander’s voice seemed to carry some indescribable emotion: “With me here, nothing will happen to you.”
Caroline tightened her grip on the phone, feeling utterly desolate.
She thought: “With him here? But isn’t all my suffering caused by him?”
Caroline was discharged from the hospital.
But just as she walked out of the hospital to hail a cab, a group of people suddenly rushed out from behind and covered her mouth and nose.
Before she could struggle, she lost consciousness.
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When she woke up again, Caroline found herself lying in a dimly lit hotel room, her hands and feet bound. Several thugs were gathered around her, wearing disgusting smiles.
“You’re awake? Don’t be scared, we’ll take real good care of you.” One of the thugs reached out to tear at her clothes.
“Who are you? Let me go!” Caroline struggled with all her might.
But she was already weak and no match for them at all.
Caroline threw things, kicked at them, and screamed loudly, but nothing worked.
Realizing these men were about to strip off all her clothes, her heart filled with despair, and tears flowed uncontrollably down
her face.
Just then, the door was suddenly kicked open.
“Get the hell out, all of you!” Alexander’s voice sounded like it came from hell itself, filled with tremendous rage.
The thugs were intimidated by his presence and fled in panic.
Caroline curled up on the bed, trembling all over.
She looked up at Alexander and for the first time saw urgency
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and panic in his eyes.
“Caroline.” He quickly walked to her side, his hand trembling as he reached out to hold her.
But Caroline recoiled like a frightened rabbit, her eyes filled with terror.
Alexander’s hand froze in mid-air, a flash of pain crossing his
eyes.
Caroline wanted to say something, but fainted again.
She didn’t know how much time had passed when Caroline groggily woke up.
She heard people talking in the hospital room. His voice was low, but she could still detect the anger in it.
“Why didn’t you tell me about this revenge plan?” It was
Alexander’s voice.
“Didn’t you want to quickly finish these 99 acts of revenge so you could be with Mila? We saw you were too busy, so we didn’t want to bother you and just handled it ourselves.” A man’s voice responded, with a somewhat indifferent tone.
“I never told you to have her raped.” Alexander’s voice suddenly rose, the anger in his tone almost overflowing.
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Chapter 2
His friends were startled, and one of them said in disbelief, “So what if she got raped? Didn’t we decide from the beginning to get brutal revenge on her? Why are you so angry?”
Alexander said nothing, just angrily kicked over the coffee table.
Why was he so angry?
Alexander didn’t know why he was so angry either.
All these years, Caroline had been chasing after him, always following him around like a bright little sun. The day he agreed to be with her, she stood there stunned and disbelieving, then cried with joy. He still remembered how she looked.
He’d never seen her like that before.
She lay there like a withered rose, completely lifeless.
For some reason, Alexander panicked and didn’t want to see Caroline become like that.
When she looked at him with those powerless eyes, his heart ached faintly.
Alexander remained silent, and his friends understood.
One man couldn’t help but say in horror, “Alexander, this isn’t
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Chapter 2
right. Don’t tell us that after all these years, you’ve actually fallen for her.”
The hospital room fell into complete silence, the air seeming to freeze around them.
Alexander, who had just been furious at the culprit, instantly stiffened as those words echoed in his mind: “Don’t tell me you’ve actually fallen for her after all these years.”
He thought to himself: “Like Caroline? How could that be possible?”
Alexander quickly dismissed the thought, as if doing so would completely erase that inexplicable emotion stirring in his heart.
He had always liked Mila. What was Caroline to him? Caroline was nothing more than a tool he had used to get his revenge.
But if he felt nothing for her at all, why had he been so enraged when he saw those thugs pinning her down?
Even when other men had hit on Mila in the past, Alexander had never been this impulsive.
His silence plunged the room back into quiet.
His friends exchanged glances, seemingly relieved.
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One of them patted Alexander’s shoulder, his tone relaxed as
he said, “Why didn’t you say so earlier? You nearly scared us to death. We actually thought you’d fallen for her. It wouldn’t be worth losing yourself in some revenge game. If Mila found out, she’d be devastated.”
Alexander didn’t respond, just forcibly suppressed that
indescribable emotion in his chest and said coldly, “I will never like Caroline. Not in this lifetime.”
Only then did his friends relax. One of the men laughed and said, “She’s about to wake up. We’ll head out first.”
After everyone left, Alexander slowly walked to the bedside and looked down at the unconscious Caroline.
Her face was pale, her brow slightly furrowed, sleeping restlessly.
Alexander’s fingers unconsciously moved toward Caroline’s cheek, but the moment he touched her, he jerked his hand back as if he’d been burned.
He turned and walked to the window, lit a cigarette, and took a deep drag, trying to numb his chaotic thoughts with nicotine.
When Caroline woke up, only Alexander remained in the hospital room.
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He sat beside the bed, holding a glass of water. Seeing her awake, he asked quietly, “How are you feeling? Still in pain?”
Caroline didn’t answer, just turned her head away, avoiding his
gaze.
Over the next few days, Alexander stayed at the hospital taking care of her.
However, he would occasionally step out to take phone calls. Each time he returned, there was a barely perceptible tenderness on his face.
Caroline knew he was probably sweet-talking Mila.
Now that she thought about it, Caroline realized that when they were together before, Alexander had always been like this— stepping out to take calls from time to time, always claiming he had business to handle.
But she had never suspected anything. Only now did she realize that Mila had been on the other end of those calls.
Just then, a doctor came to change her dressing.
Caroline looked up and saw a young, handsome doctor named Waylon Wright.
She paused for a moment and asked softly, “You weren’t my
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Chapter 2
attending physician before, were you?”
Waylon smiled, his tone gentle as he said, “He’s my mentor. I’m his intern. He’s making rounds today, so he asked me to change your dressing.”
Caroline nodded and said nothing more.
Waylon began changing her dressing, his movements gentle, though his face kept flushing slightly.
As he was about to leave, he hesitated for a moment, then suddenly asked, “Could I get your contact information?”
Caroline was taken aback and hadn’t had time to respond when Alexander pushed through the door.
He looked coldly at Waylon, his voice carrying a hint of warning: “She has a boyfriend. Can’t you tell? Hitting on patients? Do you not want to keep your internship?”
B
