I could hardly believe what I was seeing.
He was comforting her—gently, carefully—like she was a delicate treasure. Like she was the one he had to protect. Olivia.
Meanwhile, I was on the floor, half-blind, bleeding, dizzy from the impact—and I was supposed to be his fiancée.
Whatever warmth I had left for him evaporated in that moment.
This engagement is over.
Finally, Mr. Boatman scrambled over, mopping sweat from his brow, a nervous grin plastered across his face. “Mr. Hargrave, I… I didn’t expect you to come. This young lady, she… her condition is quite serious. Perhaps we should—”
Lochlan didn’t even look at him. He shoved the man aside and reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out his checkbook. With a few swift strokes of his pen, he signed something, ripped the page out and tossed the check in my face like it was trash.
“Two hundred thousand. Take the money and get lost. Don’t ruin Olivia’s day by being an eyesore.”
I stared at him in disbelief, then burst out laughing—sharp and bitter. “Are you insane?”
“Your secretary just assaulted me. I could lose my eyesight and you think this pathetic check makes it right?”
“You want me to step aside so she can cut in line for double eyelid surgery? Are you seriously out of your mind?”
Before he could answer, Olivia raised her delicate wrist and waved it in front of him like a wounded dove, tears streaming on cue.
“Look, Mr. Hargrave… it’s already turning red. She pushed me, she really did… it hurts so much…”
“And if this is how she acts now, just imagine how she’ll treat me once she officially becomes your wife.”
Lochlan’s face darkened. He took her hand with the utmost tenderness, blowing on her wrist like it was made of glass. Then he turned to me, eyes burning with fury.
“If Olivia’s wrist shows even a hint of damage, you’ll pay for it with your eyes.”
Gasps echoed all around.
Even Dr. Boatman and the nurses stared at me like I was deranged.
“This woman has no shame,” one of them muttered under her breath. “Two hundred thousand and she’s still not satisfied?”
“Exactly. Hurting Miss Charles? I bet she won’t last another week in Ardelis.”
“Everyone knows one strand of Miss Charles’s hair is worth more than her entire being.”
Then Olivia’s voice cut through the noise, syrupy and sharp all at once.
“And don’t think we don’t know how you got this engagement. We know that your father, that pathetic old man–practically halfway in the grave—begged shamelessly for you to be tied to the Hargrvae’s name. He groveled at Mr. Hargrave’s grandfather’s feet. Said all the right things, buttered him up. That’s the only reason this arrangement even happened.”
Dropped her venomous sneers. “Like father, like daughter. The old man was trash—and his child isn’t any better.”
My mind went silent.
How dare she brought my father into this?
My father was the pinnacle of neurosurgery in our country. A national treasure. A man who lived a life of humility and quiet brilliance. His only weakness was the love he had for us—his children—and the medical calling he’d devoted everything to.
Three years ago, Lochlan’s grandfather had collapsed from a cerebral hemorrhage. My father was the one who saved him from the brink of death. That was the real debt. That was why the Hargrave Family owed us more than they could ever repay.
And it was Lochlan’s grandfather who personally came to our home, bowed his head and asked for this engagement to be arranged. What they truly wanted was not me—but my father’s unmatched standing in the medical world and my own irreplaceable worth in neurological research.
But now? They dared to call my father a sycophant. A disgrace. A man without honor.
They had crossed my one, untouchable line.
Slowly, I reached up and removed the black-rimmed glasses I wore—the ones that softened me, made me seem mild, compliant, harmless.
In the stunned silence, under Lochlan and Olivia’s wide-eyed gaze, I raised my hand.
And I struck him.
The slap cracked through the corridor like lightning, ringing out in perfect clarity.
“That’s for my father,” I said, my voice cold as ice. “Lochlan, your biggest mistake wasn’t hitting me. It was insulting the one man in this world I revere.”
“This engagement is over. I’m done.”
