A week before my wedding to Julian Hayes, I was deliberately rear-ended on the Boston Harbor Bridge by his late wife's sister, Chloe Scott.

She rammed my car eighteen times, hitting speeds of 120 miles per hour.

When Julian arrived with the ambulance, I was being pulled from the mangled wreckage.

But he rushed past me, straight to the Range Rover that had only lost its bumper.

He cradled Chloe, who was unharmed but trembling uncontrollably.

A paramedic said urgently, "Dr. Hayes, your fiancée is in critical condition. We need to get her to the hospital immediately."

Julian blocked my stretcher, his eyes brushing past me. "It's just superficial. Chloe's having a panic attack—that's the priority. Take her first."

As they started to leave me behind, I summoned the last of my strength and clutched at Julian's sleeve.

He frowned, prying my limp hand off him. "Chloe didn't do it on purpose; she was having an episode. You're a doctor, Ava. You of all people should understand."

After that, he used my blood-smeared fingerprint to forcibly unlock my phone.

Using my phone, he sent a text message to the police as me, clearing Chloe of all blame.

"The next ambulance will be here soon. Try to hang on."

————————

1

I didn't make it to the next ambulance.

When I opened my eyes again, I was floating in mid-air.

The cold rain poured down on my body below, and I wanted to wrap my arms around myself.

But my arms passed right through me.

I smiled bitterly.

So, I was dead.

Julian was right. I *am* a doctor. And I knew exactly what hitting 120 miles per hour and taking eighteen merciless impacts truly meant.

Chloe never intended for me to live.

And yet he, the esteemed Chief of Neurosurgery at Boston General Hospital, had dismissed my injuries as "superficial" with a single glance.

I should have given up on him long ago.

Whenever it came to Chloe, everything else became insignificant.

Including my life.

In the distance, the wail of sirens grew closer.

Doctors and nurses leaped from the vehicle, rushing toward my body in the downpour.

I watched as my limp, broken form was lifted onto a stretcher.

Amidst the doctor's shouts, they kept pushing epinephrine, and the defibrillator paddles whined and thumped against my chest again and again.

But nothing could stop the ECG from flatlining.

The doctor roared, "Notify traffic police to clear a path! Tell the hospital to prep the top OR immediately—the patient is critical!"

But the three calls the nurse made to the hospital were all rejected.

Her eyes blazed with anger. "On what grounds? Dr. Chen is Chief Hayes's fiancée! How can he reserve the top OR for a woman without a single scratch on her?"

She choked up, unable to continue. "Dr. Chen is dying..."

The paramedics in the ambulance fell silent.

They all knew that Chloe Scott was the sister of Julian's late wife.

She had witnessed her sister, Serena, die on a stormy night while trying to save her, and had suffered from severe panic attacks ever since.

Whenever it stormed, she would lose control, and only Julian's presence could calm her.

And I, his fiancée, had finally reached my breaking point after he'd postponed our wedding ten times for Chloe's constant crises. "A light drizzle triggers an attack, a thunderstorm triggers an attack. Do you really think she only sees you as a brother-in-law?"

Julian's gaze turned instantly icy, and he seemed taken aback by his own reaction.

Averting his eyes, he said, his voice stiff, "If you can't tolerate Chloe, Ava, then maybe you're not the woman I thought you were."

I stared at him, and a sharp pain pierced my heart.

I tilted my head back desperately, but the tears still streamed down.

On the third day of his silent treatment, I caved. I was on my way to pick up our custom wedding rings to surprise him.

But on the way there, Chloe intercepted me and rammed my car until it was a mangled coffin.

My soul's memories were fragmented.

I kept feeling like I had forgotten something important.

My soul drifted uncontrollably toward Julian.

The luxurious private room was so crowded with specialists there was barely room to stand.

"Dr. Hayes, all of Miss Scott's tests came back clear. She's perfectly fine, so you can relax."

Despite the specialists' repeated assurances, Chloe was still huddled in Julian's arms, her eyes red as she trembled. "Julian, the rain is so heavy... I'm scared the bad people will come..."

Just as Julian was about to say something, his phone suddenly rang.

It was a call from my colleague. The moment Chloe saw the caller ID, she shrieked, snatched the phone, and smashed it to the ground.

"She's evil! Ava Chen is evil! She wants to kill me! Help, Julian, save me..."

Julian forgot all about the phone, his heart aching as he held the hysterical Chloe, whispering endless reassurances.

"Don't be afraid, Chloe. Ava won't come. I won't let anyone hurt you..."

Chloe buried her face in his chest, clinging tightly to his neck, crying and laughing at the same time. "Julian can't leave. You have to stay with me forever. You belong to me. Only me. Ava wants to steal you from me. She's crazy, she should just die..."

"Okay, okay, she's crazy. Don't worry about her." Julian patted her back, soothing her again and again until she cried herself to sleep.

Back in his office, he pulled his phone from his pocket, the screen now cracked, and wearily pinched the bridge of his nose.

He was just about to call the internal line to check on me.

A nurse burst through the door. "Chief Hayes, an emergency aortic dissection surgery just came in. The patient was in a car accident and is in critical condition. You're needed immediately."

Julian started to get up, but then he froze.

He asked, "What's the weather forecast?"

The nurse opened her phone to check. "Thunderstorms all day. It's expected to rain for the next two days."

He nodded and sat back down.

"Contact Dr. Mark. Tell him I have a patient here I can't leave. Cancel all my clinic appointments for the next two days."

The nurse hesitated, murmuring softly, "But a surgery this difficult... you're the only one here who's ever performed it successfully."

Julian's voice turned cold. "Can't this hospital function without me? Get out. For the next two days, unless it's about Chloe, don't come to me for anything or anyone."

She looked like she wanted to say more, but ultimately left without another word.

I shrank into a corner, blinking.

Something warm trickled from the corner of my eye.

It felt like blood, and it felt like tears.

As I was being crushed in the car, I was thinking, *Julian... the wedding... Just as you wanted, it's off now.*

For the next two days, Julian stayed by Chloe's side nearly twenty-four hours a day.

He catered to her every whim, caring for her with the utmost devotion.

Occasionally, in the dead of night, he would pull out my dead phone and tap its blank screen a few times.

I knew what he was thinking.

I, who was so desperately in love with him, had never gone two days without contacting him.

Even after every fight and bout of the silent treatment, I would always be the one to cave and apologize in less than half a day.

This loss of control displeased him.

Pressing on his faintly throbbing temples, he opened a drawer. The migraine essential oil I had specially blended for him was gone.

He immediately pressed the intercom.

"Has anyone been looking for me these past few days?" he asked irritably.

The nurse replied, "You've canceled all your appointments, sir. No one has been looking for you."

Those were his own orders, but for some reason, a strange weight settled in his chest.

He slammed the phone down.

He tossed it, along with my dead phone, into the drawer and slammed it shut.

Passing the nurses' station, he paused and borrowed a nurse's phone to send me a text.

"Ava, there's a limit to this tantrum. Your car got tapped a few times. You weren't even bleeding, so what's the big deal? And now you're playing the vanishing act? Fine. If you have any nerve, don't contact me for the rest of your life."

I floated beside him, a bitter smile on my face.

It was my devotion that had made him so arrogant.

He was always so certain I would never leave him.

But this time, I really couldn't contact him ever again.

In the afternoon, the sky cleared, and Chloe returned to normal, crying pitifully.

"Julian, I really didn't know I would lose control and hit Ava during my attack. Let me go apologize to her. As long as she can forgive me, I'll do anything."

Julian replied absently, "It's fine. It looked worse than it was; you didn't even get a scrape. You didn't do it on purpose. Ava will understand."

"But... but what if she calls the police to arrest me?"

Julian smiled and stroked her head. "Don't worry, I've already sent a text from her phone clearing you. This has nothing to do with you anymore."

Chloe joyfully rubbed her cheek against his hand, her eyes full of adoration. "I knew you were the best to me, Julian."

Meeting her fervent gaze, Julian jerked his hand back as if burned.

"Chloe, I'm about to marry Ava. If you're willing, you'll still be my sister. From now on, call me Julian, and Ava will be your sister-in-law. We'll take care of you together."

Chloe bit her lip, a sinister glint flashing in her eyes before she quickly nodded obediently.

Outside the room, two nurses were chatting. "Chief Hayes is so devoted. That woman gets a little spooked and he mobilizes the entire hospital for her. They look so perfect together."

"I know, right? I heard a car accident patient was brought in two days ago—internal organs crushed to a pulp. Didn't even have family by their side. Guess some people have all the luck."

Julian frowned, his heart suddenly pounding for no reason. "The woman in there," he blurted out, "is not my fiancée."

After a pause, he added, "My fiancée is Dr. Ava Chen from cardiac surgery."