Chapter 6

Claire's POV

For the next few days, I stayed in the hospital alone.

Aside from Emma, who came to keep me company after work every day, no one else came through the door.

No one from the Bennett family even checked on me, and Julian certainly wasn't going to come.

But updates about him never stopped. Trending posts, business news, videos filmed by strangers—my phone kept pushing them at me.

He'd taken Chloe to Tahiti.

In the photos, Chloe lounged in the sun on the deck of an overwater villa while Julian stood behind her, holding an umbrella to shade her.

Tahiti was the place I'd wanted to visit most.

I'd mentioned it to him so many times, but he'd always said he was too busy with work to get away.

It turned out he did have time. He just hadn't wanted to spend it on me.

The stories that followed drew even more attention.

On the beach, he crouched down to tie Chloe's sandal straps.

Once he was done, he carried her on his back and strolled along the shore.

A passerby uploaded the video, and the comments were full of people gushing about how sweet they were.

Less than two days later, he took Chloe to Disney. Wearing Mickey Mouse ears, he held her close and made a heart for the camera.

At an auction two nights earlier, he'd pledged to outbid every other bidder for a set of pink diamond jewelry. Chloe clung to his arm, grinning from ear to ear.

Julian had done things like that for me, too.

During those first days of our relationship, when my heels rubbed my feet raw, he'd carry me back to the car.

If I casually mentioned wanting to see a fashion show, he'd fly to Paris with me the next day.

Later, he did less and less. Eventually, he stopped altogether.

When I wanted to see a movie, he worried about being photographed.

When I asked him to go to an amusement park, he said it was childish.

When I wanted him to go shopping with me, he handed me a card and told me to buy whatever I wanted on my own.

By the end, even when I asked him to have dinner with me, he'd claim he had a business engagement.

But when Chloe wanted those things, every excuse disappeared.

In the end, he'd simply grown tired of me. He no longer thought I was worth the effort.

That night, Chloe sent me several photos.

They'd been taken in a hotel room. Julian was shirtless on a rumpled king-size bed, and Chloe lay naked in his arms. They were kissing.

A message followed immediately.

[Julian Prescott says he loves my body. He can never get enough of me. What can I say? I'm young. He also said he lost interest in you ages ago. Every time, you had to beg him before he'd reluctantly throw you a bone.]

I stared at the screen and let out a cold laugh.

I took screenshots of all the photos and messages and saved them in a separate folder.

I would keep them. They would come in handy someday.

That afternoon, I had just taken my medication and lain down when my phone rang.

Julian Prescott’s name appeared on the screen.

I waited until it was about to stop ringing before answering.

“Come to the top floor of St. James Hospital. Now.”

I froze. “What for?”

“It’s important.”

Then he hung up.

I was staying at St. James Hospital, and he didn’t even know.

I couldn’t imagine what important business he could possibly have with me.

After some hesitation, I decided to go and see.

The elevator doors opened onto a hallway crowded with doctors and nurses. Every face was tense, and even their footsteps were hushed.

Thinking something terrible had happened, I walked farther in, my heart tightening.

The door to the VIP room at the end of the hall opened. Julian Prescott stepped out, his brow furrowed, his face full of anxiety.

When he saw me, his gaze lingered on my deathly pale face, and he frowned instinctively.

But what he said was, “That was fast. What, you can’t live without me?”

I didn’t want to waste my breath on him.

“What do you want? If that’s all, I’m leaving.”

I turned to go, but he grabbed my arm.

“Chloe fell down the stairs. She’s bleeding. She has a rare blood type, and the blood bank can’t get any here in time. You have the same type.”

He spoke as if what came next went without saying.

“Give her blood. Once you’re done, I’ll let that little scene you made taking off the bracelet slide. You can even have the bracelet back.”

I looked at him. It was almost laughable.

Just days ago, I had miscarried and nearly bled to death on the operating table. I still needed to lean on the wall to walk, yet he wanted me to give Chloe Reed my blood.

“Keep the bracelet. I don’t want it. Find someone else to give her blood.”

I shook off his hand and headed for the elevator.

“Stop her.”

Two bodyguards immediately rushed forward and pinned me to a bench in the hallway.

Julian Prescott tipped his chin at the doctor. “Draw her blood.”

The doctor approached with a blood collection bag. He looked at me, then spoke hesitantly.

“Mr. Prescott, she looks very unwell. She may not be fit to donate blood. We need to examine her first.”

“She’s perfectly healthy.”

Julian Prescott frowned. “Chloe can’t wait. Skip the examination.”

I struggled desperately. “I was in a car accident! I can’t give blood!”

Julian Prescott looked down at me, his face cold.

“You’d make up a lie like that just to avoid saving someone? Claire Bennett, when did you become so heartless and vicious?”

On the day of the accident, he’d only had eyes for Chloe Reed. He still didn’t know I was the person his car had sent flying.

The needle pierced my arm, and dark red blood flowed through the tubing into the bag.

The bodyguards held me down so tightly I couldn’t move. All I could do was watch the bag slowly fill.

When it was full, the doctor withdrew the needle.

“Mr. Prescott, that’s all we can take. Any more would be dangerous.”

“Take more. Better to have extra.”

“We really can’t. In her condition—”

“As long as it won’t kill her, keep going.”

With that, Julian Prescott turned and went into Chloe Reed’s room without looking back.

The doctor shook his head and sighed as he attached a fresh bag and inserted the needle into my arm again.

Cold spread from my arm through my entire body. My vision kept going black, and the nurse calling my name sounded farther and farther away.

From inside the room, I heard Julian Prescott soothing Chloe Reed. “Don’t be scared. The blood will be here soon.”

Seven years ago, when I’d been delirious with fever, he had sat beside my bed and soothed me just like that.

I closed my eyes and lost consciousness completely.