I Was Keeping Her Alive While Her Fiancé Tried to Destroy Me Chapter 10

I Was Keeping Her Alive While Her Fiancé Tried to Destroy Me Chapter 10

The seventh strike. I smeared the last of the blood across Clara’s lips to seal the tie.

Color flooded back into her cheeks. The moment I saw it, something gave out inside me and blood surged up my throat.

It splattered across the white fabric of her clothes.

My vision went black. I fell.

The pain vanished. There was nothing left but free fall through a darkness that had no bottom.

There was no end.

I don’t know how long it lasted. Then a light broke through.

A shape in the light, coming into focus.

Clara.

She grabbed my hand and pulled, hard, shouting my name like her voice alone could drag me back.

She didn’t let go until the light swallowed everything.

But I still didn’t wake up.

All I felt was a faint ache in my chest, steady as a pulse.

Outside the isolation ward, Clara’s grandfather’s phone rang.

He looked at the screen and his hands began to shake.

“Grandpa… it’s me. Come in.”

Clara’s grandfather grabbed Leo by the arm and they rushed through the doors.

The moment they saw Clara sitting up, alive, both of them nearly broke down.

Then their eyes found me—unconscious, soaked in blood—and the relief on their faces collapsed into dread.

“Clara, what happened to him? Is he…”

Clara’s eyes hadn’t left me.

“He’s alive. He’s just… drained.”

She turned to her grandfather.

“Grandpa, I need you to do something for me.”

“Anything,” he said without hesitation.

Clara’s voice went dead flat.

“Burn the Sterlings to the ground. All of them.”

Her grandfather nodded.

“I was already planning on it. They nearly took both of you from me. They’ll pay for every second they cost you.”

Leo, despite everything, managed a grin.

“Clara, what did Julian do in there? How did he get this bad?”

Clara told them everything.

When she finished, her gaze drifted back to me.

“In the end, I forced the piece back. He’d given me his, so I gave it back to protect his heart.”

“It’s different now, though. The piece belongs to both of us now. We can feel each other, every emotion, every change. We’re connected.”

Clara’s grandfather let out a long breath.

“That boy was ready to die for you. From today on, he’s family. I’ll protect him just like I protect you. No difference.”

Leo laughed.

“So, Clara, when do I get to officially call him my brother-in-law?”

Clara’s cheeks flushed.

Her grandfather and Leo both burst out laughing, the first real laughter any of them had managed in days.

Clara’s grandfather wasted no time. The moment he stepped out of that ward, he severed every business tie the Bennetts had to the Sterlings.

Every international trade channel the Bennetts had opened for them was shut down overnight.

Sterling Enterprises lost half its revenue in a week.

But the Bennetts weren’t done. They put pressure on every supplier, every partner, every distributor in the Sterlings’ network.

They undercut Sterling’s prices across the board, pulling their customers away until there was nothing left to sell.

Within a month, Sterling Enterprises filed for bankruptcy. Bennett Holdings bought what was left.

Winston showed up at the Bennetts’ door with Preston in tow, begging for a bailout. Clara’s grandfather turned them away without a word.

With nothing left, Preston’s rage turned personal. He blamed me for everything and tried to break into my ward.

Clara had the entire floor locked down so tight a fly couldn’t get through. They caught him before he made it past the elevators.

A month passed. I was still unconscious. Clara was at my bedside, wiping the sweat from my skin.

Her hands slowed. A blush crept up her neck.

She sat there for a long time, just looking at me.

Then, gently, she leaned down and kissed me.

My eyes opened. I didn’t pull away.

“Careful. My nerve endings are still raw. A kiss might actually kill me.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll take half.”

Later, she asked me why I did it, why I was willing to die.

I told her the truth. I wasn’t ready to live in a world without her.