The moment Seraphina turned her head, her entire being froze as if turned to stone. Ethan!

How could he be here?

Amidst Seraphina's stunned gaze, Ethan’s dilated pupils slowly recovered, but his fists clenched so tightly that the veins on the backs of his hands bulged.

He stared fixedly at this Seraphina, who had been "dead" for two months, the rims of his furious eyes turning burning red.

Ethan nearly ground his back teeth to powder, yet the fire of fury in his eyes did not diminish in the slightest.

Just when he thought the blazing rage would burn away every shred of his sanity, an overwhelming emotion akin to reclaiming a lost treasure suddenly poured down like a bucket of freezing water, extinguishing the fire.

To Seraphina, the current Ethan looked like a vengeful specter freshly crawled from hell. Her scalp went numb, and she instinctively recoiled.

The sudden wrenching pain in her ankle caused her brows to furrow deeply, her face an absolute picture of agony.

In practically a single flash, Ethan darted forward and caught Seraphina just as she was about to tumble onto her backside.

Leaning down, he swept Seraphina entirely up into his arms.

The crowd and Seraphina were utterly stunned. Under the watchful eyes of the onlookers, Ethan carried Seraphina straight toward his car.

Leo was still completely bewildered as to what Ethan was doing, until he caught sight of Seraphina nestled in his arms. His jaw nearly dropped to the floor.

"M-Madam?!"

She wasn't dead?!

Startled by Leo's exclamation, Seraphina snapped back to reality. She glared at Ethan and began to struggle fiercely in his grip.

"Don't move!"

A hoarse, low voice drifted into Seraphina's ears like a heavy feather. She froze, staring blankly at the face that was barely ten centimeters away from hers.

Ethan's jawline was beautifully defined, yet the muscle was twitching slightly, though whether from fury or something else was impossible to tell.

Having been married to him for nearly three years, she had never been this close to him. Though they were husband and wife, they had never shared a true marital bond.

Ethan detested her, so he naturally would never touch her.

Seraphina's eyes grew intensely warm, and she felt a sudden, dangerous urge to reach out and caress Ethan's face.

He had lost a tremendous amount of weight...

Leo threw the car door open. The moment Ethan climbed inside with Seraphina in his arms, Leo bolted back into the driver's seat.

Was the CEO bringing Madam home?

He buckled his seatbelt while his mind raced, completely unable to wrap his head around Seraphina's "return from the dead."

"CEO..."

"To the hospital." Ethan cut Leo off, his head remaining lowered.

Leo nodded quickly and started the engine.

The lighting inside the car was dim. Seraphina's gaze was somewhat hollow; it seemed Ethan had absolutely no intention of letting her go.

She instinctively opened her mouth to speak, but a hand suddenly came down, completely covering her eyes.

"I will settle... this score with you in a moment!"

Chapter 24: Give Him an Explanation

A string inside Seraphina's heart felt as though it had been gently plucked by a hand, its resonance trembling for a long, agonizing moment.

She thought she caught a tremor in Ethan's voice—was he crying?

For a brief instant, Seraphina even forgot the throbbing pain in her ankle, her mind spinning as she wondered if she had misheard. After all, in her memory, Ethan was someone who never shed a tear.

Ethan kept his hand clamped over Seraphina's eyes, his head lowered slightly as he clamped his teeth shut to suppress the burning soreness in his throat.

His bloodshot eyes could not stop a sudden rush of heat, and he felt a layer of moisture spill over.

The interior of the car was completely silent. Leo held his breath, not daring to steal a single glance at the rearview mirror for fear of being caught by Ethan.

Yet, that heavy, strained breathing could not conceal his master's current emotional turmoil; the sound was like a desperate struggle to choke something back down.

Before long, the car pulled up to the hospital entrance.

Leo bolted out of the car to throw the rear door open. Ethan finally withdrew his hand from Seraphina's face, gathered her securely into his arms, and strode straight into the hospital.

The passersby in the corridors couldn't help but steal a few extra glances.

Those looks made Seraphina deeply uncomfortable. She began to struggle once more, clutching Ethan's collar while swinging her left leg.

They were already divorced anyway—what on earth did this look like?

She furrowed her brows, refusing to dwell on this reality.

Yet, Ethan completely ignored her struggles, directing Leo to register her with a senior orthopedic specialist before carrying her straight over...

The elderly doctor put on his glasses, squinting as he examined Seraphina's ankle. The moment he applied pressure to the bone, Seraphina's brows knit tightly.

"Gentler!" Ethan's face darkened instantly.

The old doctor shot him a glance as if he were entirely used to such dramatic outbursts, grumbling inwardly about how young people these days showed absolutely no respect for their elders.

Seraphina lifted her eyes to look at Ethan. Was he... actually caring for her?

"The bone isn't damaged. Apply a cold compress for a bit, go home and rest, and it will be fine," the old doctor said while typing away on his keyboard.

Hearing this, Ethan's heart felt like a hot-air balloon that had lost its flame, slowly settling back to earth.

Inside the curtained observation cubicle, Seraphina held an ice pack against her ankle, her gaze fixed on it as well, intentionally ignoring Ethan standing beside her.

She truly had no idea under what identity she was supposed to face him right now.

Ethan stood by the bedside. With Seraphina's head lowered, he could see only the crown of her dark hair.

The fury that had just subsided flared right back up. From the moment he found her until now, she hadn't spoken a single word to him.

After a long silence, he spoke chillingly, "Don't you have anything to explain to me?"

Hearing this, Seraphina's heart sank, finding his question utterly farcical.

What did she possibly have to explain to him? The divorce had been his idea, her shares had already been transferred to Janice, and every tie between them had been severed. Where she went, whether she lived or died—what did any of it have to do with him?

Despite thinking this way, an uncontrollable surge of grievance and resentment still rose from the depths of her heart.

On the horrific night of her father's accident, she had been entirely helpless and desperate. She had looked to Ethan as her sole beacon of hope, but she had been utterly wrong.

Her absolute silence was met with a fiercely ground out exclamation of her name from Ethan.

He clenched his fists tightly, the urge to violently grab her by the shoulders and force her to look him in the eye nearly breaking through the last barriers of his restraint.

Did she truly refuse to speak even a single word to him now?

After a long moment, Seraphina lifted her head, her grief-stricken eyes instantly locking his restless heart in place.

Seraphina opened her mouth, but she could produce only a hoarse, muffled whimper. She couldn't even speak; how was she supposed to give him his so-called "explanation"?

Those straining, broken sounds drove like sharp needles straight into Ethan's heart.

He stared at Seraphina in sheer disbelief. "...You can't speak?"

Chapter 25: The Final Encounter

Seraphina pressed her lips together and turned her head away, unwilling to let Ethan see her bloodshot eyes.

Ethan's heart tightened. In his ears, he seemed to hear her gentle, melodious voice from the past once again. The voice that used to whisper "Ethan" over and over—a sound he had once detested—now felt incredibly precious.

Was it all because of that car accident?

His clenched fist slowly loosened. The hand he had just extended dropped heavily back to his side, his heart feeling as though it were weighted down by a thousand-pound stone, leaving him suffocated with a dull, aching pain.

Seraphina didn't want to stay here a second longer. Feeling the pain in her ankle subside slightly, she pushed the ice pack aside and prepared to get out of bed.

But suddenly, a firm yet gentle grip caught her by the shoulders. As she lifted her eyes, she slammed directly into his ink-dark gaze.

"Sit back down." Ethan stared at her still-swollen ankle, his tone laced with an unyielding command, yet it carried far less ice than before, replaced instead by a rare hint of tenderness.

A sudden flutter rippled through the depths of Seraphina's eyes, but it was quickly obliterated by the memories she could never truly let go of.

She brushed Ethan's hands away, slipped on her shoes, and walked out, limping heavily.