Watched Me Suffer and Called It Growth? Goodbye Forever to All Four of You! Chapter 06

The resuscitation room door swung shut.

No one answered him.

All the strength drained out of him, and he dropped to the floor.

Even breathing was a struggle.

He looked down at his hands.

Covered in blood.

Paige’s blood.

Blood had soaked through most of his shirt and pants.

He had never hated red more.

His hand clenched into a fist.

His voice was hoarse. “What if she’s just faking it?

Pretending to be unconscious on the way here to scare us.”

Spencer leaned against the cold wall, head tipped back, and said nothing.

Garrett was breathing fast. “I think so too.

She survived years on that island. She can’t be gone this fast…”

No one finished the sentence.

Colin tried to force himself to calm down.

He tipped his head back and knocked it against the wall, again and again.

It didn’t help. He couldn’t calm down at all.

He had only listened to Tessa. He’d just wanted Paige to be less clingy.

He never thought she’d be reckless enough to turn the knife on herself.

If he’d known it would come to this, he never would have agreed…

The minutes stretched. The door stayed shut. The waiting felt like being cut open alive.

His phone kept vibrating. Once. Twice. All Tessa. He didn’t have the patience to answer.

He picked it up and turned it off.

Then Spencer’s and Garrett’s phones started ringing, one after another.

No one answered.

It only made Colin more irritated. He snatched the phones and threw every one out the window.

The blood on his hands had dried. All he wanted was for her to come bouncing out and wipe it off for him.

Or just curse him once. That would be enough.

Hours later, the door suddenly opened.

All three of them surged forward.

“How is she?”

“Doctor, my sister–how is she?”

“Will she wake up today?”

The doctor hesitated, and Colin’s heart dropped.

He forced himself to breathe. “I’m her fiancé. Tell me.”

The doctor’s gloves were covered in blood. He only sighed.

“Severe blood loss. We couldn’t save her. She’s gone.”

Colin went still for one second. Then he exploded.

“You’re lying! You incompetent quack!

She was still warm when we got here. People don’t just die!”

Garrett staggered backward, barely able to stand.

Spencer’s voice broke. “Impossible!

My sister isn’t even thirty. She hasn’t had her birthday yet this year!”

The doctor looked down and said nothing.

Colin dragged in a breath. He still wouldn’t believe it.

“Say it again. What happened to her?”

The doctor looked exhausted. There was sadness in his voice.

“It’s true. She had a lot of old injuries. Malnutrition.

The knife went deep and precise. We tried everything. She didn’t make it.

They’ll take her to the morgue. You should… go see her.”

Everything around Colin went empty. Only the doctor’s words stayed.

Old injuries. Malnutrition. Didn’t make it.

Finally, he made himself walk toward the morgue.

His hands shook so badly he could barely lift the sheet. Slowly, he pulled it back.

She lay there quietly, like she was only sleeping.

He reached out and touched her.

No breath.

No heartbeat.

Cold.

This time, he had to believe it.

Paige Bennett was dead.

Only hours ago, she’d been alive.

Arguing with him.

How could a person just be gone?

Even if she’d been a vegetable.

Even if she’d had only one breath left, he would have taken it.

He gathered her gently into his arms and kissed her frantically–forehead, eyelids, nose, mouth.

“Paige, I was wrong.

I shouldn’t have forced your head to the floor like that. I shouldn’t have punished you.

I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

In the cold morgue, the only sound was his crying.

It grew louder. Louder.

Until it turned into something close to howling.

He lifted me and walked out.

“Paige, it’s cold here. We’re going home. I’m taking you home.”