Chloe Reed took a deep breath and said, "I really wasn’t feeling well last night."

"Not because you didn’t want to see me?"

Walker Grant stared at her, his long, jet-black eyes dark and unsettling.

’Heh, you already know the answer, so why ask?’

Miles Hawthorne was still very weak and couldn’t endure any more of this. Chloe suppressed her temper and asked, "Is there anything else?"

"Just checking in on him."

Walker Grant gestured with a slight lift of his chin toward the man she was shielding behind her. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

A flash of derision crossed Chloe’s eyes. ’He’s actually here to see Miles out of the goodness of his heart?’

’He’s probably just here to see if Miles is dead yet.’

Miles had just finished a bowl of porridge. He let out a sigh of contentment before saying, "If you’re here to talk about that again, I’d advise you to just drop it. I’m not going to change my mind."

A chill entered Walker Grant’s gaze. "You really aren’t afraid to die?"

A wry smile touched Miles Hawthorne’s lips. "If you actually kill me, any chance you had with her will be gone for good."

’Who could possibly stay in a marriage with a death standing between them?’

’When that happens, Chloe will definitely lose her mind.’

’Is that really the outcome Walker wants?’

’Definitely not.’

’He wants their relationship to go back to how it was before, when they were in love.’

’Not for it to go completely off the rails.’

Stuck between the two men, Chloe could feel the icy tension spreading through the air.

’This kind of atmosphere isn’t good for Miles’s recovery.’

She immediately grabbed Walker’s arm and said, "It’s almost time for work. Let’s go. We can go together."

Walker froze, his gaze falling to her hand on his arm.

’She had reached out to him on her own.’

’How long had it been since she’d initiated any contact?’

His heart began to pound.

Just like that, he left the hospital room with her, completely forgetting what he’d planned to say to Miles.

Once they were in the car, Walker looked at her cold yet delicate face, then reached out and grabbed her chin, forcing her to look at him.

Annoyed, Chloe slapped his hand away. "What are you doing?"

Walker asked, "You put on makeup just to see him?"

’He has to be crazy!’

’Whether she wore makeup or not was nobody’s business but her own!’

Chloe was so angry she could have laughed. She wanted to argue with him, but after what she’d seen him do last night, a deep-seated fear had taken root in her.

They had been together for eight years, and he had always been gentle with her.

She had never seen the vicious side he showed last night.

Chloe suppressed her feelings and said, "I didn’t sleep well, so I looked exhausted. That’s why I put on makeup."

"I scared you, didn’t I?"

Walker’s tone softened slightly.

Chloe said, "Please, just let me rest."

"Okay."

This time, he didn’t disturb her any further.

Chloe leaned back against the seat and closed her eyes, but her body remained tense.

’Her show of weakness was just a way to avoid engaging with him.’

’Every moment, all she could think about was divorcing him and getting as far away from him as possible.’

The car soon arrived at the Grant Group building. Chloe opened her eyes, got out of the car as soon as it stopped, and didn’t spare the man beside her a single glance.

Walker watched her retreating back, his eyes dark, a shadow falling over his features.

"..."

When Chloe got to her desk, she took out her phone and called the testing center to ask about the results.

The person on the other end seemed to be looking something up. After a moment, they said, "I’m sorry, ma’am, but it appears there was an error on our part and the data was lost. However, we still have the original sample, so we’ll have to run the test again. Please wait patiently for another three business days."

’The data was lost?’

’How could something like that happen?’

Chloe’s brow furrowed. "Wasn’t there a backup of the data?"

"No, we don’t."