CHAPTER 7: CHAPTER 7: DONOVAN XAVIER IS INJURED

She got up, left the bed, walked to the window, and looked outside.

Suddenly, several police cars drove up below. Their doors opened, and more than a dozen police officers in navy blue uniforms got out.

Chloe Preston watched them for a moment.

Faye Hughes was among them, wearing a lake-blue coat and looking hurried.

Doesn’t she have a fever?

Chloe Preston turned around, returned to her bed, and decided not to meddle.

「An hour later...」

The room was quiet. Donovan Xavier still hadn’t come back.

Why isn’t he back yet? Did he get himself lost while he was out?

Leaning against the bed, Chloe Preston felt a growing sense of unease.

It’s broad daylight, and he’s a grown man. Nothing could have happened to him, right?

She didn’t have his contact information, so she couldn’t call him. With that, she got up from the bed and stepped out of the room.

For some reason, she was suddenly overcome with a terrible premonition. She had to find him!

Chloe Preston walked all the way to the hotel entrance. The moment she stepped outside, a piercingly cold wind assaulted her.

She wrapped her clothes tighter around herself and looked up, noticing his car parked to the side.

She walked over and found the car empty.

Suddenly, a voice drifted out from inside the hotel.

"Donovan, you... you have to hold on!"

Hearing the shout, Chloe Preston looked up. Not far away, Owen Grant was running toward them, carrying a man covered in blood.

One glance was all it took for Chloe to panic and rush over.

"What happened to Donovan Xavier?!"

Owen Grant opened the car door, carefully placed the man inside, and said, "He’s been shot."

"What..." Chloe’s pupils contracted, and she stumbled back a step.

How could this be? Just a little while ago, he was holding me, whispering things that made me blush... and now...

The next second, Faye Hughes shoved her aside and got into the car. "Get out of the way! Stop being a nuisance!"

Chloe Preston collected herself and immediately got into the car.

She gazed at the blood-soaked, unconscious man before her, her lips pressed into a thin line as tears welled up in her eyes.

She reached out to touch him but Faye Hughes slapped her hand away forcefully. "Don’t touch him!"

Chloe’s expression turned cold. She reached out again, carefully checking the man’s wounds.

"I already told you—" Faye began.

"Say one more word, and I’ll throw you out of this car," Chloe interrupted, her voice dangerously low.

She was always easygoing, and it was rare for her to be so harsh with anyone, except when it came to her work.

Then, she turned to Owen Grant, who was driving. "How did he get hurt?"

"There was an illegal deal going down in the hotel," Owen Grant explained. "It was two ex-convicts with priors for drug offenses."

"Donovan spotted it first and called us in. Turns out the suspects had guns and had taken a hostage. During the standoff, Donovan got shot trying to save them..."

"Thankfully, no one else was hurt, and the criminals were apprehended."

Chloe’s eyes reddened as she listened to every word, her body trembling on the verge of collapse. "What do you mean ’thankfully’? What do you mean ’no one else was hurt’?"

"Then why was he the one who got hurt?! All of you are fine, so why did he have to be the one injured..."

She couldn’t stop the sobs from escaping as tears streamed down her face, soaking the front of her shirt.

...

When the car reached the hospital, they got out and immediately rushed the man to the emergency room.

Chloe Preston followed close behind, her eyes glued to the man’s condition, sick with worry.

Faye Hughes, seeing this, stepped forward, grabbed Chloe’s wrist, and shoved her away.

Unsteady on her feet, Chloe slammed into the corner of a nearby table. A sharp pain shot through her waist.

She clutched her waist, her brow furrowed in pain as cold sweat beaded on her forehead. For a moment, she couldn’t even stand up straight.

Faye Hughes just watched her coldly. "This is all your fault! If Donovan hadn’t gone out to find you, he would’ve stayed at his apartment, and none of this would’ve happened!"

"You’re the reason he got hurt! You don’t deserve to be by his side!"

"Why did you have to come to Southel? His life was perfectly fine all these years without you! The moment you show up, he gets hurt. You’re a jinx!"

She stepped forward and raised her hand to slap her, but Owen Grant grabbed her wrist. "Faye, that’s enough!"

Outside the emergency room, nurses pushed the man, still on the stretcher, through the doors.

One of the doctors came out to speak to them. "The patient was shot in the left side of the chest. He’s in extremely critical condition, but we’ll do everything we can to save him."

"However, you should prepare yourselves."

Chloe’s face went white. Enduring the pain in her waist, she stumbled forward. "What do you mean, ’prepare yourselves’? You haven’t even started operating! How can you be so sure he won’t make it?!"

"I’m just stating the facts," the doctor said calmly. "Rest assured, we will do our absolute best."

Tears instantly flooded Chloe’s reddened eyes. She grabbed the doctor’s arm, her voice choked with sobs as she begged, "I don’t want your best! I need you to make the surgery a success..."

"He’s the most important person in my life! I can’t let anything happen to him! I... I’m begging you..."

The doctor gave her a brief look, said nothing more, and turned to enter the emergency room.

Her legs gave out, and Chloe collapsed to the floor. Her face was ashen as tears streamed down her cheeks.

Seeing this, Owen Grant immediately rushed forward to help her up. "Are you okay?"

Faye stood to the side with her arms crossed, scoffing coldly. "Why are you helping her? It’s all her fault! She’s the one who got Donovan hurt!"

"Faye, that’s enough!" Owen Grant cut her off, a hint of anger in his voice. "What does this have to do with her? Was catching criminals the wrong thing to do? If it weren’t for Donovan, those two would still be at large!"

Faye was struck speechless.

「Inside the emergency room.」

At the operating table, a surgeon’s voice was grim. "Patient is in cardiopulmonary arrest, has been for one minute and twenty seconds. Start CPR now! Someone get an IV line started!"

"Yes, Doctor!" a nurse responded.

"What’s his blood loss?"

"2100cc!" the nurse called out.

「Three and a half hours later...」

Faye Hughes and the others waited anxiously outside the operating room.

Chloe leaned against the cold wall, her head bowed. The rims of her eyes were red, her body trembled slightly, and she struggled to suppress her overwhelming emotions.

This is the first time in my life I’ve ever been this scared. So scared that something will happen to him. I guess after all these years apart, I still care about him this much.

Suddenly, with a CLICK, the door to the operating room swung open.

Faye shot to her feet. "Doctor, how is Donovan?"

The doctor smiled slightly. "You can rest assured. The surgery was a complete success!"