Chapter 13
Autumn, he accompanied her to the first prenatal checkup, kissing her forehead as she awaited new life with hopeful anticipation.
Winter, he defaulted on loan sharks. Mary, pregnant at home, was stabbed three times.
Her child and womb were gone. She lay on the hospital bed.
Seeing his bloodshot eyes, she choked back tears: “Ralph, don’t blame yourself. It’s okay… things will get better…”
Memories receded like the tide.
Mary’s soul returned to the war-torn ruins, consciousness fading.
She’d loved him so fiercely once.
Loved him enough to sacrifice everything.
But later?
Later he achieved fame, yet forgot her devotion, repeatedly attacking her worth from his pedestal.
“Just end it…”
This life held regrets, but now all grudges and grievances vanish like mist.
She felt her soul plunging into a dark vortex-
Deeper,
and deeper~
Suddenly, a ragged shout pierced her ears:
“Mary-!”
“Mary!
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:
Hold on!
Mary!”
The cry jolted her dissolving spirit, wrenching her back to the battlefield ruins.
Scraping sounds echoed nearby.
A tear traced her parched eyelid.
Ralph, you bastard…
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When antiseptic smells hit her nostrils, her mind swam in fog, limbs leaden.
Voices murmured beside her:
“Mr. Walker, Mrs. Walker’s past critical danger, but her injuries are severe. Recovery depends on her will to live.”
Mrs. Walker?
The title froze Mary’s heart like arctic ice.
Ralph had dragged her back.
Even as she crossed death’s threshold, he reeled her in!
But she refused-refused that marital tomb of scorn and abuse.
She kept her eyes shut, resisting consciousness.
Suddenly, bandaged hands gripped hers.
A hoarse whisper rasped in her ear:
“Mary, you vowed to stay through poverty and wealth, sickness and health, success and failure. Have you forgotten?”
“I lost fifteen deals worth billions searching warzones for you. Burned every favor calling in medevacs. Bought two liters of blood to haul you from death’s door…”
“I’ll forfeit everything-just wake up. Stay my Mrs. Walker. Please.”
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Chapter 13
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His words felt like hellfire, leaving her heart encased in frost.
His money meant nothing.
His efforts changed nothing.
A heart that’s died stays dead.
Another voice urged-likely his assistant: “Mr. Walker, the board questions your absence. Could you briefly visit headquarters-”
“Get out.”
Ralph feared scaring her, so he only growled that word.
Though deceptively light, it still carried menacing undertones, as if he might transform into a ferocious lion and strike at any moment.
Mary soon heard her assistant muttering as he left.
Mary felt dry, cold lips pressed against hers.
The man kissed her forehead, his voice hoarse. “Be good. Stop pretending to sleep. Alive or dead, you can’t escape. You’re mine, Mary. Please, stop pretending.”
When his lips brushed Mary’s eyelid, her lashes fluttered uncontrollably.
Ralph noticed instantly, pupils contracting.
Suddenly, the hospital door swung open as the attending physician strode in with nurses.
“Mr. Ralph, please step outside. The patient requires examination.”
Ralph refused to release her hand, insisting, “My wife’s eyelid moved!
She moved!
She’s waking up!”
The doctor checked the monitors cautiously. “It’s merely a physiological reflex.
Mr. Ralph, please cooperate with treatment.”
Ralph glanced back at Mary-no further signs of consciousness.
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The room plunged into silence after Ralph’s heavy footsteps faded.
Mary sighed inwardly.
She could hear everything, perceive everything, yet her soul felt detached, unwilling to stir for anyone or anything in this world.
After the examination, Ralph returned, his voice tinged with hope.
“Mary, that wedding ring you threw away as trash? I rescued it from the garbage collector!
Then I lost it again fetching you from the battlefield!”
“The fighting’s over now. I sent men to dig for it two days ago-guess what?
They found it!”
He slid the diamond-glittering ring onto her finger, cradling her hand in his bandaged palm.
“Nothing’s changed, Mary. Everything’s back. Everything will return!
You’ll come back to me too, won’t you?”
Evening fell without Mary opening her eyes.
She refused to glimpse this world she no longer cared for.
Blood-red sunset stained the room through the window.
Nutrient solution dripped steadily into Mary’s veins.
Ralph slept beside her bed, face buried in the warmth of her neck, breath whispering against her ear.
“You know?
I’m sorry. I’m begging you to live again for me…
His broken plea faded. Warm droplets fell near Mary’s car-Ralph’s tears.
Her fingertip twitched faintly.
Something shifted deep within her consciousness.
Yet Mary remembered-Karen pressing a hair curler to her skin until agony drenched her in
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sweat.
He’d accused her of laziness, of neglecting Karen’s unborn child.
Called her a faker!
Memory after memory sealed her heart anew.
Night deepened. Ralph’s phone buzzed relentlessly-emergency board meetings, cross-border negotiations, billion-dollar contracts…
All ignored.
Mary’s breathing remained steady.
Until the nurse came in for the routine checkup, something happened that made her frantically press the emergency button.
Mary listened to that piercing alarm ringing in her ears…
Wave after wave.
She wanted to open her eyes to see, but no matter how hard she tried, they wouldn’t open.
Then, the space beside her emptied as Ralph was carried away on a stretcher.
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