Eileen’s POV
Before the door could fully swing open, I forced my body to move—ignoring the sharp pain that ripped through me. I wrenched myself out of his arms with what little strength I had left.
Adrian’s eyes flashed with shock. He could have easily resisted, but fearing he would hurt me, he let me go instantly.
"Hide!" I hissed.
Without giving him a chance to speak, I pushed his massive, solid frame backward into the bathroom and slammed the door shut just a split second before the main ward door opened.
I turned around, leaning heavily against the bathroom door, panting to catch my breath.
Chris Vance and Liora Evans walked into the room together.
My expression instantly darkened.
You two actually have the nerve to show up in front of me again.
Liora rushed forward first, her face filled with exaggerated concern.
"Eileen! Thank goodness you’re alright!" Her voice was soft and worried, as if she truly cared about my condition.
I stared at her quietly for a moment before letting out a cold laugh.
"Alright?" My voice was hoarse but steady. "I was almost torn apart by that group of men."
The room instantly fell silent. Liora’s expression stiffened slightly.
I continued calmly, my eyes fixed on both of them. "You tricked me to that factory on the day of my engagement. If the two of you were already so perfectly matched, you could’ve just said it outright. We could’ve worked something out."
Chris didn’t answer.
I watched his eyes trace my features, his anger abruptly replaced by a raw shock.
He had mocked my thick makeup—the disguise I used to wear to hide my true self. But now, washed clean by the hospital staff, there was nothing left to cover my bare skin.
"Eileen...?"
He actually took a step closer, his eyes glued to my face. "Your face... you..."
He was completely distracted by the very face he used to call repulsive.
Liora noticed his mesmerized look immediately.
Her eyes flashed with sharp, venomous irritation.
She suddenly picked up a glass of water from the bedside table and walked closer.
"Eileen, let’s not fight," she said softly. "We’re sisters after all."
She held the glass toward me as if offering peace. But the moment I reached out to push it away—
"Ah!"
The next second, she was already on the floor, along with the shattered glass.
She looked up at Chris with tearful eyes, the picture of a broken, innocent victim. "Chris… I just wanted to make peace with her…" Her voice trembled pitifully. "She pushed me."
My stomach turned.
But as he looked from her on the floor back to me, the anger in his eyes warped into something far more mean.
"Looks like you still haven’t learned your lesson, Eileen," he sneered. "Always trying to hurt Liora."
His large hand shot out to grab—directly for my jaw, clearly intending to use the excuse of "restraining" me to touch me.
I instinctively tried to step back, but my injured legs lost their balance.
Just as my back was about to collide with the door—
The bathroom door clicked open behind me.
"Enough."
A deep, cold voice cut through the room like a blade.
Adrian Vance stood behind me, one arm supporting me firmly.
Chris froze the moment he saw him.
"…Uncle?"
Adrian’s gaze swept across the scene—Liora on the floor, the spilled water, the redness at the corners of my eyes.
“So,” his voice low and edged with something unreadable, “this is how you treat your fiancée who nearly died yesterday?”
Chris stiffened. "Uncle, you misunderstand—"
"Do I?" Adrian’s voice remained calm, but the Alpha pressure leaking into the room was suffocating.
Liora quickly stood up and tried to intervene. "Mr. Vance, you’ve misunderstood. Eileen was the one who pushed me—"
Her words stopped halfway. Adrian looked at her.
Just one glance. Cold. Sharp. Terrifying.
Liora’s throat tightened, and she couldn’t say another word.
"Apologize," Adrian said.
Chris blinked in disbelief. "What?"
"I said apologize."
Chris’s face turned red with humiliation. But he didn’t dare argue with Adrian.
Finally, he forced the words out. "…Sorry."
Liora bit her lip before lowering her head. "I’m sorry, Eileen."
Their voices were filled with unwillingness. I watched them quietly, feeling strangely calm.
"Are you satisfied now?" Chris muttered.
Adrian didn’t answer. His cold gaze remained on them until Chris finally grabbed Liora’s arm.
"Let’s go."
They left the ward quickly. The door closed behind them.
Silence returned.
The moment they were gone, the terrifying aura surrounding Adrian vanished. He immediately turned me around to face him.
His dark eyes frantically scanned my body, his large hands gently grasping my shoulders.
"You jumped out of my arms like a wildcat,"his jaw tight with lingering fear and displeasure. "Did you tear your stitches?"
I looked up at his deeply furrowed brow, entirely caught off guard by how intensely he was studying my bandages.
Only then did my mind slowly connect the pieces of what had just happened.
"Wait…" I looked up at the man beside me, still slightly dazed. "Chris called you… Uncle."
Adrian didn’t deny it.
So that was why he had felt so familiar.
A strange tightness twisted in my chest. I was having these undeniably ambiguous reactions to a man who was technically my ex’s uncle.
But that fleeting guilt only lasted for a second before a much sharper thought completely suppressed it.
Adrian Vance. The man who just made Chris tremble with a single look.
If I wanted to make Chris and Liora pay the price, there was no better weapon in this world than the powerful Alpha sitting right in front of me.
Just then, the ward door opened. A nurse hurried into the room carrying a medical tray, looking completely exhausted.
"Sir," she said, looking apologetically at Adrian. "When you brought the patient in yesterday, I noticed your back was severely burned. Sorry, I couldn't get away until just now."
Hearing her words, my heart gave a squeeze. He had been sitting here with untreated burns this entire time.
Without thinking, I stepped forward and gently took the tray from her hands.
"I know how to treat burn wounds," I said softly, giving the nurse an understanding nod. "You can go back to your emergency patients. I can handle this."
The nurse hesitated, glancing between Adrian and me. But seeing the unquestionable authority in Adrian's silent gaze, she finally nodded in relief and left the room, closing the door behind her.
I walked toward Adrian.
“You were injured because of me,” I said softly, my voice dropping into a low, velvet murmur. “Let me change your dressing.”
For a moment, his heavy, unreadable gaze searched mine. I didn’t look away. I allowed a trace of lingering, fragile gratitude to show in my eyes—the exact kind of look a man wouldn't be able to resist.
Then, he slowly nodded.
Adrian sat down and removed his shirt.
My breath caught. His back was a map of survival—scars, burn marks, and old bullet wounds. The raw, masculine power radiating from him made my heart skip a beat, but this time, I didn't let the heat consume me. I had a goal.
I leaned in close, so close that my damp hair brushed against his bare shoulder. I could smell the intoxicating mix of rain and woodsmoke on his skin.
Carefully, I dipped the cotton into the disinfectant. My fingers didn't just touch his skin; they lingered. I watched his iron-hard muscles tense violently beneath my fingertips, a reaction that sent a thrill of power through my chest.
As I moved lower to apply the ointment, I deliberately let the back of my fingers graze the firm, ridged line of his lower abdomen. And I felt him shudder.
He was gripping the chair so hard his knuckles were white. The veins on his hands bulged. He was fighting for control.
I let my mind drift to that old memory—the cabin, the wounded man. But the guilt I felt was quickly replaced by a cold, sharp resolve. I needed him. I needed the Vance empire to crush Chris.
A single tear slipped down my cheek—half real grief, half calculated move. It fell directly onto his heated abdomen, sliding slowly down toward the waistband of his trousers.
"Oh, no..." I whispered, sounding breathless and flustered.
The wound couldn't get wet, I pressed my bare palm flat against the black fabric at his waist. My fingers moved in a slow, circular motion against the rough fabric, dangerously close to his skin.
The air in the room turned electric. Adrian’s abdominal muscles violently contracted beneath my palm. His breathing became feral, heavy with an intensity that made the hair on my arms stand up.
Suddenly—
His hand shot out like lightning. His massive fingers wrapped around my wrist in an iron grip, pulling my hand away from his belt but keeping me pinned inches from his chest.
I gasped, my eyes meeting his. They were no longer dark; they were burning with hunger.
"Do you have any idea what you're doing?" he rasped.