I almost choked on my breath.

Listen to those words; anyone who didn't know better would assume we were a pair of lovers reunited after a long separation.

I originally thought Julian was merely playing a prank, but the very next instant, his entire weight pressed down over me. Julian pinned me into the narrow space between the car door and his chest, his lips and tongue invading my mouth with brute force. I struggled against him. "Let go of me."

Julian bit lightly down on my earlobe, sending a sharp shiver through me that left my entire body completely weak. He let out a soft laugh. "Don't be tense. After all, I've helped you so much, consider this the compensation I'm extracting. You'd better cooperate."

The temperature inside the vehicle soared, the confined space filling with the heavy sounds of intimate kissing. Julian slowly reclined the car seat, his large hand sliding down to rest against my waist, lingering for a long moment.

For the very first time, a profound sense of shame consumed me; I realized I didn't actually find his touch repulsive, experiencing a sudden impulse to let it continue instead.

The mere emergence of that thought terrified me.

Although my status couldn't see the light of day, I had never engaged with another soul since following Christian.

Noticing my distraction, Julian tore at the hem of my dress. Just as he was about to take the final step with me, the phone rang once more.

An irritated Julian tried to decline it, but I quickly snatched it back. It was Christian's call. I could play dumb the first time, but a second time was absolutely out of the question.

The moment the call connected, Julian still refused to release me, his fingers turning my earlobe, causing my breaths to turn ragged. "Have you arrived home already?"

To my surprise, the voice on the other end didn't belong to Christian; it was his driver, Logan. His tone was incredibly frantic. "Ma'am, disaster struck. Director Christian was in a car accident!"

My brain buzzed loudly, and the phone slipped from my hand onto the car seat. Logan blurted out the name of the hospital where Christian had been taken, and I frantically grabbed my bag, preparing to leap out of the car. His face clouded with displeasure at the interruption, Julian caught me by the arm. "Fine, I'll drive you."

Under normal circumstances, I would have firmly rejected him. But at a moment like this, I could no longer care. Julian drove at a breakneck speed all the way to the hospital parking lot. Before I could step out, he surveyed the crumpled, torn dress on my body, arching an eyebrow. "Are you really going in looking like that?" With that, he tossed the new dress over to me.

Julian stepped out of the vehicle to give me privacy, and I changed inside his car before sprinting straight toward Christian's ward.

Along the way, I crossed paths with two patients being rushed into the emergency room on stretchers from an ambulance, causing my eyelids to twitch relentlessly. The pungent scent of disinfectant flooded my nose, the single smell I loathed more than anything else.

In an instant, it felt as though I had been dragged right back to the night my father leaped to his death and was being rushed for emergency resuscitation. By the time I entered the elevator, my limbs had turned completely numb, leaving me barely able to stand straight.

Logan looked startled when he stepped out to receive me, helping me into the ward while asking anxiously, "Ma'am, what's wrong with you?"

Christian was leaning against the bed, his arm wrapped tightly in bandages and a piece of medical tape pressed against his forehead. He lowered the newspaper in his hands, staring at me with a look of surprise. Logan smacked the back of his head, looking thoroughly remorseful. "It's all my fault. I didn't clarify things over the phone, causing you to worry so much, ma'am."

Chapter 28: Carian More Than Imagined

I collapsed completely onto the sofa, panting for air. Inwardly, I resolved that I would sooner or later make Christian replace this driver.

As it turned out, Christian had attended a business dinner prior to this, consuming a fair amount of alcohol before taking the wheel himself and leaving Logan behind. Terrified that something might go wrong, Logan had rushed after him, only for the accident to actually occur. Fortunately, it wasn't anything severe.

Before leaving, Logan added another detail—Christian wouldn't have been in an accident initially, but he had taken a detour solely to purchase flowers for me, which led straight to the crash.

Moving to the edge of the bed, I gripped Christian's hand, tears pooling heavily inside my eyes as a sharp, burning ache flooded my nose. "Why bother buying flowers? You could have just had them delivered straight to the door. Why put yourself through this suffering."

Christian's thumb rubbed against my cheek, wiping away the falling tears as his expression softened with tenderness. "Sincerity."

"What kind of sincerity is that? I don't want this kind of sincerity at all." Pulling a few tissues to unceremoniously blow my nose, I snapped huffily, "If anything fatal happens to you, I'll be left completely desolate and helpless in this world."

Over the past few years, I rarely wept, and even when I did shed tears in front of Christian, it was always a calculated blend of half-truth and half-performance. Over time, even I struggled to discern whether my tears were genuine or fake. Clearly, my reaction today was heavily magnified.

Inwardly, I fiercely berated myself for being so weak. As it turned out, I cared about Christian far more than I had imagined.

He pulled me into his embrace, letting out a helpless sigh. "You."

Christian had struck his head, requiring a few stitches and resulting in a mild concussion. After reviewing the scans, the doctors confirmed there were no major issues. However, as a precaution, they recommended a week of hospital observation.

He occupied a top-floor luxury suite that offered supreme privacy. Holding me close, he leaned in to press slow, deliberate kisses all over my face before suddenly freezing, his gaze scanning up and down my body with a hint of scrutiny.

My heart tightened, and I quickly offered an explanation: "It's a new dress I just bought while shopping earlier." Christian stared into my eyes, and only after a long pause did he offer a flat murmur, "I haven't seen you wear this style before."

The moment the words left his mouth, his phone rang. He glanced down at the screen before looking back at me. Understanding the cue, I stood up. "Answer it first, I'll head downstairs to buy some fruit."

The exact moment I stepped downstairs, Sera bombarded me with dozens of messages. Before I could even finish typing a reply, she called, letting out multiple sharp squeals. "Insane, completely insane! Chloe, I'm going completely out of my mind right now!"

Hearing that her voice sounded lively and full of spirit, I let out a sigh of relief. "You're still alive?"

Sera launched into a colorful tirade against her blind date first, before abruptly shifting gears. "Chloe, guess who I ran into? I swear, my heart is about to leap straight out of my chest right now!"

As I lowered my head to select fruit at a shop outside the hospital, I offered a flat, distracted murmur to humor her. "Who, William?"

Sera sounded entirely euphoric, howling into the line, "How do you know his name? It's him! He was the one who saved me!" Even through the phone, I could practically picture the stars shining inside her eyes.

Sera whined, "If I had known he was the one taking me to see the doctor, I would have slept longer, pretending to be unconscious!" She paused, adding, "And do you know where I woke up? Inside Julian's villa! You know Julian, right? He's even handsomer than William! What kind of luck do I have? I should honestly go buy a lottery ticket."

I offered another "oh," rolling my eyes helplessly while continuing to pick through the apples.

Clearly, Sera was highly dissatisfied with my overly detached response.

A few seconds later, she sent over an image—it was the cover of a bestselling financial magazine, and the cover model was none other than Julian.

Chapter 29: A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

Sera was absolutely consumed with green-eyed envy, demanding to know how I had met him, considering he was a certified, bona fide diamond bachelor. Her voice was bursting with pure excitement: "I mean, he's so young, rich, incredibly handsome, and has that perfect, untouchable, stoic aura—he's literally a god! I am officially declaring that as of today, Julian has joined the ranks of my ultimate gods!"

A stoic aura?

The corner of my mouth twitched violently, and the apple in my hand almost slipped straight onto the floor.