Chapter 8
Inside the operating room, the powerful figure had replaced the medical staff slated for the surgery. As soon as Arlette Myers entered, there lay a blood-soaked, hyper-realistic dummy on the table. On the adjacent operating table, Winnie Hughes lay unconscious.
Arlette barely glanced in her direction. Without a word, she changed into casual clothes at the staff’s urging, donned a baseball cap and mask, and discreetly exited through a hidden door.
Once Arlette was gone, the medical team turned their focus to Winnie. Winnie had eagerly anticipated watching as Arlette’s last kidney was removed, planning to toss it in the trash before Arlette drew her last breath. However, her scheme had been completely thwarted, leaving her as a powerless victim.
“Are we absolutely sure we need to take her kidney?” a nurse whispered.
“Follow the boss’s orders,” Matthias Carr, the chief surgeon, replied, his scalpel gleaming menacingly under the lights. “The operation fails, and Ms. Myers tragically passes away.”
“And as for Winnie Hughes,” he added, “she’ll still end up with just one kidney.”
As the sharp blade cut through flesh, Arlette Myers was heading to the airport. By the time news of her “death” began to spread, she had already assumed a new identity and boarded a plane to the United States for treatment, as arranged by the influential figure. As the plane climbed through the clouds, she looked out the window for one last glimpse of the far-off map of her homeland.
Goodbye, Maximo Myers.
Outside the operating room, Maximo paced the silent corridor, checking his watch as its ticking echoed louder than his heartbeat. An overwhelming wave of fear and anxiety engulfed him, as though he was about to lose something fundamental.
He stared at the light above the operating room door. Inside lay the two most important women in his life, both undergoing surgery. What terrified him most was knowing exactly which one came to his mind first.
He slapped his own face, frustration coursing through his veins. How could he be so pathetic? After Arlette’s release from prison, he had barred her from the industry, hoping to make her face her wrongdoings. Yet, he couldn’t bear to see the woman who once dazzled on stage relegated to washing dishes in a small diner. So, he brought her back to the Myers estate.
And what did she do? Continued to cause harm to Winnie Hughes. How innocent Winnie was, the sister he grew up with, practically his own flesh and blood. His dying parents had implored him to care for her. Because of Arlette, Winnie had almost lost her life multiple times. His sister had saved him so many times.
His anger toward Arlette was fueled by guilt toward his sister. But the thought of never seeing Arlette again brought undeniable pain.
During her three years in prison, he had been driven nearly mad with longing. Just glimpsing her eyes when they met again had demolished the wall of hatred he’d painstakingly built.
If only he could see her…
Maximo leaned against the cold wall, slowly sinking down as he accepted defeat. He covered his flushed face with his hands, tears and muffled sobs slipping through his fingers.
“Why do I still love you?” he murmured. “I should hate you, Arlette Myers. Arlette!”
“Arlie…” The nickname slipped from his lips so naturally that it made him pause for a moment.
He painfully lowered his hands, choking out the words buried deep in his heart, “I just can’t… live without you.”
Maximo collapsed completely to the floor, knowing he had lost. Lost everything.
For years, rather than punishing her, he had been torturing himself. He simply couldn’t stop loving her. Deep down, he had always known that someone as radiant as she would never truly love someone like him, a guy from the rough side of town. Of course, she loved money, not him. She was bad to the core.
And he accepted it all now.
As long as she stayed by his side, that was enough. Just her.
Upon finally acknowledging his deepest truth, a satisfaction far exceeding guilt filled him. Sweetness and hope surged, unbidden, overwhelming his heart. It was as if he had returned to the days when she accepted his love and proposal.
Maximo turned his head, his dark eyes, deep as the ocean, locked on the operating room door. Stripped of superficial resentment, a thick, unyielding possessiveness took root.
She was his.