THE BILLIONAIRE'S VENGEFUL WIFE RETURNS-Chapter 197: IS SHE OKAY?

MUSIC RECOMMENDATION: SIT DOWN BESIDE ME, PATRICK WATSON.

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A/N: This Chapter is dedicated to Brooke_Miller_1107. Thanks for the golden ticket.

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Charlotte Hamilton was immediately rushed into the emergency ward. The hospital doors swung shut behind her, leaving Alanis and Harlow stranded in the cold, sterile air of the waiting room.

Harlow sat beside Alanis, but he didn’t move. Didn’t blink. Didn’t even breathe properly.

His gaze was locked on one spot, frozen in time.

And for the first time... Harlow saw something she never thought she’d see in his eyes.

Sorrow...

A deep, aching sorrow that seemed to swallow him whole.

She studied him in silence, a strange thought creeping into her mind. Was this how he felt when he discovered about both her and Alex’s death?

She almost laughed at herself. Ridiculous.

There was no way Alanis had mourned them. He had always wanted Claudia. For all she knew, he had married her. Maybe they had children now, living the life she and her son never got the chance to have.

Harlow swallowed hard, pushing away the lump in her throat. But as she glanced toward the emergency room doors, her chest tightened.

Charlotte was in there fighting for her life.

Again...

And this time, neither she nor Alanis could do anything about it.

Worse still... the same people who had caused her son’s death were the ones responsible for Charlotte’s pain now. Harlow gritted her teeth.

"I’m sorry." The words slipped from her lips before she could stop them.

Alanis turned to her, his dark eyes staring intently at her. And then, without a second thought, he pulled her into his arms. Harlow stiffened. But she didn’t push him away.

His grip was firm, desperate, almost. As if letting go of her would break him into pieces.

She could feel his heartbeat, wild and erratic. And then, for the first time, she realized... he was shaking.

Harlow’s breath caught in her throat.

Alanis Hamilton was shaking.

This man, who had always been strong, untouchable, and ruthless, was trembling.

His face was buried in her shoulder, and she felt his breath against her skin. It was uneven, ragged.

This feeling... It was the same feeling from his past.

The day his world shattered...

The started off dull, he had received their son’s ashes first. The pain of that alone had been unbearable.

Then came the news of her death. The one woman he loved but had treated like trash because he couldn’t believe he loved her.

And if that wasn’t enough, his grandmother had died the same day.

Everyone he loved was taken from him in an instant.

He had lost everything.

And now... he was terrified of losing again. He was terrified of losing the one woman he wanted to be with forever.

Harlow slowly lifted a hand, gently rubbing his back. "She’ll be fine," she whispered.

Alanis didn’t answer. All he wanted was to get lost in her embrace, in her scent. He had missed this so much before. Though he never saw her a lot or spent time with her, but anytime he did, her scent just never departed from his memory. And back then he hated that he did.

Harlow had done so many desperate things in the past to make him hers a s he hated her for it. But he later fell in love with her.

But then, she felt something wet against her palm. Her body tensed. She pulled her hand back, her eyes widening in horror.

Blood...

"You’re bleeding, Alanis."

He didn’t even flinch. "It’s just blood. It’s nothing new." His voice was low, detached. Then softer, almost pleading. "Let me hold you just a little longer."

Harlow’s heart twisted.

"Well, you won’t be able to hug me if you die. Now stay I’ll get a nurse and something to eat." She forced herself out of his hold stylishly eyeing the big baby before her. She wondered how she had skipped this part of Alanis.

How did she not see all of these before? Right now, she realized she didn’t know this man at all. To the world he was tough and mighty, Alanis Hamilton the bully, a monster among me, but to her, he’s only a big baby.

’Come on Harlow get a hold of yourself, he’s still the asshole that killed you.’ She started walking away.

When she returned, a nurse followed behind her, carrying a first-aid kit.

In her own hands were a clean shirt and a pack of bandages. Alanis had been too shocked to even wear anything while he followed his grandmother down here.

She let the nurses attend to him, and when they were done cleaning his wounds, and wore him the shirt she had brought with her.

"You can’t sit like this with your back. Let me arrange a place to sleep with the nurses, I’ll wake you up when they’re done with Grandma." Alanis shook his head gently. He couldn’t sleep knowing Charlotte was still in there.

Harlow didn’t argue, she didn’t have the energy to. She would wait with him, but she hopes his injury doesn’t bleed again.

"Then you can at least eat something." Harlow brought out the snacks she had bought. It turns out the hospital has no available food at the moment.

"I don’t eat those." He said with his face contouring into something disgusting and she laughed.

"They’re good, I promise." She broke the beef roll into half and still broke the first half again as she brought it to his lips. Alanis grabbed her wrist and ate all of her fingers with the food.

"Alanis." The woman beside him glared at him.

"I know you’re hungry but eating me will do nothing." She said with a frown.

"Eating you will satisfy me better than those." He pointed at the snack and Harlow forced herself not to laugh.

"You’re lucky you’re injured, I would have hit you hard." He chuckled. It would be the first time he’s smiled since they got here.

"That would earn you another long punishment." She frowned again. Harlow opened a can of sparkling water and he took a few gulps. She took a bit of the beef roll and smiled.

They stayed seated there for hours and hours, Harlow had fallen asleep after the long wait, resting her head and smacking her lips on his shoulders.

Alanis smiled watching her. So much for staying up all night. He called for a nurse to get him a blanket and he wrapped it around her sleeping form.

After a while, the doctors finally stepped out of the theater.

"Is she alright?" Alanis got up and placed sleeping Harlow carefully on the chair before standing to talk with the doctors.