Chapter 129

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Caught off guard, Nicole stumbled back as Jarrod shoved her.

Her heel got stuck in the emergency exit door, causing her to fall hard onto the concrete.

The sound of his fall was a dull thud, making it clear that he had suffered a hard fall.

Just as Nicole was preparing to let out a string of curses, a soft female voice came from outside.

“Jarrod, what brings you here?”

It was unmistakably Jamie's voice.

Shifting his attention from the door to Jamie, Jarrod answered quietly, “I'm visiting a friend. What has you in the hospital?

Jamie caught a faint whiff of shower gel and, for a fleeting moment, his eyes flashed with barely perceptible malice.

"I'm a little dizzy, so I came to get checked out."

Jamie leaned into Jarrod's chest. Jarrod looked at her quickly and asked, "Do you feel exhausted?"

Without waiting for her response, he picked her up in his arms.

“Hey, there are so many people coming in and out of here…”

Jarrod's eyes fell on the now closed emergency exit door, and a dark feeling began to stir inside him.

«What is there to be afraid of? I'm just hugging my girl. Who is going to oppose?

Blushing, Jamie put her arms around his neck.

"You're not ashamed, are you?"

With a smile, Jarrod caressed her rear.

"I have seen you unflappable in much more brazen situations."

Their conversation slowed as they walked away, leaving Nicole alone, huddled behind the exit hallway.

The back of his head and his elbow took the brunt of his fall, both now throbbing with pain, making standing a real struggle.

It was only a few days into their supposed three-year agreement and Nicole was already having a hard time taking it.

Although Jarrod had sworn not to marry within their agreement, she still couldn't hold her head up.

She knew that, especially in front of Jamie, she could be left out at any moment.

Suddenly, the exit door burst open. Nicole thought it was Jarrod and blurted out, "Aren't you supposed to be with her?"

There was silence on the other side. When she looked up, she saw not Jarrod, but a young doctor in a white coat holding a cigarette and looking at her perplexed.

Nicole hastily apologized.

"I'm sorry.

"No problem". The doctor looked at his cigarette and then back at her, putting it out without saying a word.

Hearing footsteps approaching, Nicole knew she couldn't sit still.

Leaning on the railing, he gathered the strength to get up and limped toward the door to leave.

A few steps away, he stumbled. The young doctor held her and released her hand once she was balanced.

Noticing his scratches and cuts, probably caused by the fall, he said, "Do you want me to bring you a wheelchair?"

Nicole waved her hand, saying, “I can manage on my own, but thank you.”

"You are welcome.

A stone's throw away, Jarrod was leaning against a wall, looking at the duo in front of him, with a look of disdain.

How daring! Her flirting with another man shortly after he left.

A soft arm entwined with his, as Jamie cooed, "We can go now, Jarrod."

Breaking their gaze, Jarrod turned around and walked out of the scene with Jamie.

Raegan found herself trapped in an endless dream.

In this dream, a small silhouette stood with its back to her in the middle of a seemingly endless field of snow.

As if it were a psychic connection, Raegan knew it was her son.

Although he tried hard to close the distance, he felt like his feet were glued to the ground.

He tried to scream, but his vocal cords were sealed.

A wave of utter despair washed over her as she fell to her knees and approached the boy.

But the closer he got, the further he got.

Frozen in place, she begged the boy to stay.

The young figure stopped in the boundless white and, through the endless snow, Raegan heard a youthful voice murmur: "Mom... Mom..."

Desperate to respond, Raegan found she still couldn't say a word. His plea was just a silent scream.

"Please... don't go..."

He watched as the small silhouette receded into the distance until it was swallowed by the snowy abyss.

Then the chilling clink of surgical instruments was heard, accompanied by distant conversations.

«We can't save the girl. We have to do a hysterectomy, and then take care of the other wounds…”

Frantically, he shook his head, his silent pleas echoing: “No…

Don't take my baby..."

But his voice fell on deaf ears. She felt the cold grip of the forceps pulling the child from her womb.

She felt her heart being opened as if by a dull blade, while icy tears filled her.

The blanket of snow vanished and was replaced by a veil of darkness that consumed her.

Raegan had been in a coma for four days.

In his dreams, he sometimes murmured incomprehensible things, sometimes feverish and sometimes crying.

When Luis told Mitchel the doctor's diagnosis, his already fragile heart felt hurt again.

Mitchel seemed to have received a devastating blow, his face marked by visible exhaustion.

Noticing his condition, Luis hesitated briefly before handing Mitchel the paternity test that Raegan had entrusted to him to oversee the access process before the result was known.

Luis said: "Raegan underwent another test. I'm not sure what's gone wrong between you two, but I think you should trust her. "This is not the kind of thing she would normally do."

Mitchel looked at the test results, which revealed a 99.99% genetic match.

His once firm heart felt as if it had shattered in that instant.

Learning later that the child was his didn't surprise him as much as those words on the paper.

What had he been doing all this time? He had questioned her, he had lost faith in her, he had confined her and degraded her...

When she needed him most, he had thrown her into a pit of despair.

His eyes turned reddish, teetering on the verge of tears.

What a bastard he was!

During the days that Raegan remained unconscious, Mitchel found himself sitting alone on a bench outside the ICU, consumed with guilt with each passing second.

In addition to tending to her father, Nicole waited here the rest of the time.

Looking at Mitchel's depressed face, he couldn't help but snort. Now he wanted to play the loving partner? Where was he when he was needed most?

At that moment, Matteo came over to update Mitchel: “Mr. Dixon, Miss Murray has developed an infected wound and fever. "He has asked to see him."

Mitchel parted his lips to speak but was cut off by a sarcastic comment.

Nicole, sitting across from Mitchel, commented sarcastically, “Mr. Dixon, you better hurry. If you don't, your loved one could be on the verge of death again.

Mitchel's expression turned icy, deliberately overlooking Nicole. He directed Matteo: «Send a doctor. I'm not qualified to help. And don't waste time watching her. Assign someone else for that. Find out what's going on with Raegan and Lauren. Inform me of any news.

Matteo nodded, relieved to distance himself from that volatile Lauren.

Since Mitchel hadn't visited, Lauren's living room had been a cacophony of breaking objects and flying pillows.

Now, freed from that duty, Matteo's spirits lifted.

On the afternoon of the fourth day after the operation, Raegan finally regained consciousness. After a night of observation, she was transferred to a general room.

Hearing this, Mitchel's initial reaction was not to rush to his side.

Instead, he hesitated. I was afraid I couldn't fix what was broken.

Seeing Mitchel's plight, Luis tried to comfort her: "Maybe someone Raegan felt comfortable with could visit her first. Give him some time to recover before you go in. She is…”

Luis wanted to say that Raegan was too fragile for any more shocks at that moment, but Mitchel's look, with bloodshot eyes, stopped him.

Luis patted Mitchel's hand.

«Trust me. Give it a little more time before you go see it.

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