Chapter 4

No! She didn't want this! She couldn't die. She still had to get out of here. She still had a new life waiting for her. Nicole tried to struggle, to scream, to rail against this absurd, cruel decision. But she was too broken. She didn't even have the strength to lift a finger. Only faint, ragged gasps escaped her throat. Before she could fight any further, a nurse walked over and, without a word, she jabbed an anesthetic into Nicole's arm. Once again, her consciousness was dragged down into a bottomless void. The last thing she saw before losing consciousness completely was Maverick's cold, unwavering back as he turned away and walked toward Chloe's hospital room. With no sense of how much time had passed, Nicole finally drifted back to consciousness. The first thing she saw was Maverick, keeping watch by her bedside. He looked haggard, his jaw shadowed with stubble, but the moment he saw her awake, his face lit up with pure joy. "Nicky! You're finally awake!"he exclaimed, excitedly grabbing her hand without the IV. "Thank God! You scared the life out of me." Nicole looked down with agonizing slowness. Thick layers of gauze were wrapped around her abdomen, covering the fresh incision where part of her liver had been taken. In an instant, the memories came rushing back. She jerked her hand out of Maverick's grip, the motion so sharp that it was laced with visible revulsion. Maverick's hand froze in mid-air. The joy on his face flickered, then stalled. He thought she blamed him for not protecting her in the accident. Desperately, he explained, "Nicky, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. I failed you. I didn't keep you safe. I swear I'll never let anything like this happen again. Please, just forgive me this once." As Nicole watched him play the role of the devoted, guilt-stricken lover, she felt an invisible hand squeezing her heart, forcefully tearing it apart. The pain was so intense her vision went black. How could he? After choosing to sacrifice her to save Chloe, how could he still act so devoted? Nicole closed her eyes, refusing to hear another word or say anything at all. When she gave him the silent treatment, Maverick assumed she was livid. He cleared his entire schedule for the next few days to stay by her side, waiting on her hand and foot to win back her favor. But Nicole remained as unresponsive as a mannequin, meeting his efforts with stone-cold silence. When it was finally time for her to be discharged, Maverick was there to drive her home. As the car pulled up to the villa, he reached out to help her out, but Nicole slapped his hand away. Without so much as a glance in his direction, she got out of the car, marched into the house, and locked herself in the bedroom. Maverick stood outside the door and knocked, but there was no response. At his wit's end, he turned and walked into the pouring rain in the courtyard. "Nicky! I know I messed up! I should never have let you get hurt! I'm so sorry. Please, just forgive me! If you don't, I'm staying right here!" Nicole walked to the window. Through the rain-blurred glass, she watched his figure standing straight and rigid in the rain below. There was a time when he'd go to any length to appease her whenever she was angry, even resorting to self-harm just to win her sympathy. And every single time, her heart would ache for him, and she would give in. But that was because she loved him. Now that she had seen his true colors, all that remained was endless disgust and disappointment. She no longer loved him, and she had no interest in watching him put on this self-sacrificing act again. Her expression remained indifferent as she reached out to pull the window shut. But just then, a slender figure suddenly dashed into the downpour. It was Chloe. When Chloe saw Maverick drenched in the downpour, her face instantly crumpled with heartache and frantic concern. Ignoring the fact that she was getting drenched herself, she shouted at Nicole's window, "Nicole! How could you be so cruel to Maverick? I cherish him so much I can't bear to let him suffer even a little! How could you just stand there and let him hurt himself?" Amid the downpour, Maverick's expression shifted the moment he spotted Chloe, drenched and standing in the rain just as he was. All the heartache and tension he had been suppressing spilled over. "Chloe! Who told you to come out here?" he barked. "Get back inside!" Chloe shook her head stubbornly, rainwater streaming down her hair and mixing with her tears. "No!" she cried out. "If you're staying out here, then I'm staying with you!" "Stop this nonsense! Your wound hasn't even healed yet!" Maverick roared, his voice growing even more severe despite the flicker of genuine panic beneath it. "Get inside. Now!" "I won't!" Chloe stubbornly stood her ground. The two of them began pulling at each other, arguing in the rain. Suddenly, Chloe swayed on her feet. Her face turned deathly pale, and she went limp, collapsing in a heap. "Chloe!" Maverick's face drained of color. In a panic, he rushed forward and scooped the unconscious Chloe into his arms, no longer sparing Nicole upstairs a second glance as he hurried back into the villa. Nicole watched the scene in silence. Then, she left her room and stood at the top of the second-floor staircase. Below, she saw Maverick carefully lay Chloe onto the living room couch. He was a mess of nerves, frantically wiping the rain from her face. His voice was filled with a panic and tenderness she had never heard before. "Chloe! Chloe, wake up! Why are you so foolish?" He fetched the first aid kit and began treating her wounds gently. The way he looked at her—with such focused, aching devotion—was something Nicole had never seen directed at herself. As he looked at Chloe's pale face and the damp hair clinging to her temples, Maverick's gaze grew deeper, as if he were completely taken over by some emotion. Suddenly, as if he could no longer restrain himself, he leaned down and kissed Chloe frantically. The kiss deepened, laced with the lingering fear of almost losing her and a surging love. "Chloe…" he murmured hoarsely against her lips. "No one will ever love me the way you do."