From Deadbeat To Doting; Something Is Wrong With My Husband!-Chapter 42: What do you want, fool?

However, the assistant looked hesitant just as he stared down at his wrist watch. "Sir, your show. The broadcast starts in twenty minutes. The public is waiting for your report on Dr. Colburn."

A frown could be seen on Marcus Thorne’s face. After Daisy’s mother left him over a single mistake following a session with Dr. Colburn, he had labeled the psychologist a "marriage-wrecker."

In his mind, Dr. Colburn was the kind of woman who told wives to push their husbands into volcanoes and watch them burn. He had lived for the moment he could finally tear her down.

But looking at the man behind the glass, for the first time in his career, the fire of his revenge felt strangely cold.

If that man had been a second slower, it would be Daisy’s small body under that white sheet. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

"Find out who he is," Marcus ordered. "I want his name, his background, everything."

Before the assistant could even turn to obey, a team of nurses swarmed the ward, wheeling the bed toward the elevators.

"Why are you moving him? He’s in no condition to be transported. Who authorized this?"

The nurses looked surprised as a moment of hesitation crossed their faces. "Sir, you don’t understand. This is President Lucian. He cannot stay on a public floor. There is a private wing prepared upstairs."

President Lucian?

Only then did Marcus’s grip slacken and his hands fell away from the gurney.

He felt a sudden, cold sweat break out on his neck. How could he not have recognized him? Perhaps it was the blood. Perhaps it was the raw, human way the accident had stripped away the inviolable, god-like distance that usually surrounded that man.

Marcus had interviewed him once. Not because Marcus was powerful, but because Lucian had handpicked him to propagate a lie to the world. Since that day, the name had been a specter; terrifying and predatory.

And that devil had just saved his daughter.

Before Marcus could process the irony, the phone in his hand vibrated. A message from: [My Wife].

Marcus opened it, expecting a panicked inquiry. His eyes widened.

[What do you want, fool?]

Marcus’s eyes widened again.

He read it all over.

Fool? This woman called President Lucian a fool? He felt a strange jolt of confusion; they must have a remarkably playful, or remarkably strange, marriage to address a man like that.

He typed back with forced composure.

[Your husband is currently in the hospital. Please come quickly.]

Across the city, Brianna’s heart gave a sudden, jagged leap. Hospital? Her mind immediately spiraled to the darkest possibility, making her throat feel dry. Was he injured? Or—

Her thumbs hovered over the keys, trembling slightly.

[Please tell me... Is he dead?]

In the corridor, Marcus saw the message and felt a surge of pity. This "playful" wife was clearly terrified. Lifting the phone, his mind was already forming a reassuring reply: ’No, he’s in surgery, he’s going to be fine.’

But before his fingers could even touch the keypad, a nurse rushing to the elevator bumped his shoulder. His thumb slammed into the screen, hitting the "Yes" suggestion just as the phone slipped!

CRACK.

The impact of the device hitting the floor caused the screen spider-webbing into a thousand useless shards. He scrambled to pick it up, but his fingers accidentally hit the ’send’ button through the broken glass.

The screen flickered, sparked once, and went black. It was impossible to type another word!

The word was too small for how much weight it carried.

[gay.Yes.zlpz]

Brianna stared at the screen, waiting for the "typing..." bubbles to appear. Waiting for the ’Just kidding’ or the ’Sorry, wrong person.’ But the screen stayed still, cold and indifferent. [gay.Yes.zlpz].

Her brain didn’t see a "software error." She saw someone’s hands trembling so hard they could not find the keys. A messenger, maybe a nurse, maybe a stranger, standing over Lucian’s body and crying too hard to speak.

The "Yes" was the only word that had managed to escape the situation.

’He’s dead... He’s finally dead.’

The silence only grew more silent.

Emotionless expression, Brianna stood up from her crouched position and moved with a stiff. Her throbbing ankle doesn’t even register anymore, she’s completely numb, and if Lucian is dead, she’s going to go identify the body.

When she arrived at the hospital and was directed to the room where Lucian was first treated, she didn’t find anyone there, just his suit. It was completely empty.

Well-known with Lucian’s scent, she wraps the suit around herself and presses her face into the lapel inhaling one last time, filling herself up with the smell of vetiver and oud.

Clink.

At that moment, she looks down to see a platinum band spinning on the linoleum floor, Lucian’s wedding ring. Coming closer to pick it up, someone enters the room.

It’s a nurse, and her face is almost completely covered in grief. Her eyes are puffy, her nose is red, and she’s shaking all over again from a brand-new wave of tears.

When Brianna looked at her, she thought she’s the woman who held Lucian’s phone, who watched him take his last breath and sent that jumbled "yes" reply to her.

However, this nurse was actually crying over a nasty breakup text she got ten minutes back!

"He has been moved," a look of distress crossed the nurse’s face and she started to sniffle and wipe her nose with a single soft tissue, while fixing a worried look at Brianna’s pale face and the suit she was clutching. "He is in a different room now. Do you... do you want to see him?"

Well-known for being unable to speak out when she’s overcome with emotion, Brianna couldn’t find her voice at this moment either, the air in her lungs felt like lead. She could only manage a tiny nod, basically giving the nurse permission to take her to see him.

Even though she wasn’t ready.