Chapter 5

Ethan Sinclair struggled to open his eyes. The sharp scent of disinfectant assaulted his senses.

A nurse adjusted his IV drip and offered a professional smile when she noticed he was awake.

"Should we notify your family? Parents or a spouse?"

His chapped lips parted, his throat raw as sandpaper.

"My parents are gone. No wife. I'm unmarried."

The hospital door swung open abruptly.

Victoria Montgomery strode in on stilettos, her flawless makeup failing to mask the irritation in her eyes.

"Unmarried? Who was the man begging me on his knees to go to the Civil Affairs Bureau last week?"

Ethan closed his eyes, exhausted.

"Check the name on the marriage certificate."

Victoria scoffed, her red nails tapping an impatient rhythm against her leather purse.

"Ethan Sinclair, if Lucas didn’t need your blood type, do you think I’d spare you a second glance?"

She stepped closer, her perfume making his temples throb.

"I just wanted to give Lucas the perfect proposal. It won’t affect your title as Mr. Montgomery. Stop playing the victim."

Ethan opened his eyes, his gaze eerily calm.

"Do as you please. Proposal, wedding, honeymoon—none of it concerns me. Just let me go."

Victoria narrowed her eyes, then suddenly laughed.

She leaned down, her red lips nearly brushing his ear.

"So you love me that much? Willing to give up your status?"

Silence swallowed the room.

After a long moment, she straightened and tossed a black card onto the bed.

"Two million. Compensation for taking those drinks for Lucas yesterday. From now on, we each get what we need. You’ll be his walking blood bank, and I’ll ensure you never want for anything."

The click of her heels faded down the hallway.

Ethan stared at the ceiling, too drained to call after her.

On the third day of his hospitalization, a nurse brought him his phone.

The screen unlocked to a flood of updates from Lucas Whitmore’s social media.

Azure seas and skies framed Victoria adjusting Lucas’s straw hat on her tiptoes.

A Ferris wheel lifted them to the sunset, their lips meeting in a kiss.

On horseback, her hands guided his around the reins.

In every photo, her smile was sickeningly sweet.

Ethan swiped through the images, memories crashing over him like a tide.

In their seven-year marriage in his past life, he’d been nothing but a pitiful puppet.

Braving rain at 3 AM to deliver stomach medicine, only to be barred by bodyguards outside her mansion.

Three months of cooking lessons rewarded with a single command: "Throw it out."

A carefully planned anniversary shattered by her own hands because Lucas frowned.

Reborn, he finally understood.

Some people could never be warmed.

Some affections could never be forced.

From this day forward, the name Victoria Montgomery would be erased from his world.