When Joanna opened her eyes again, she thought she was in hell.
But the tubes inserted in her body and the running ventilator made her realize she was still alive.
After all that, how was she still not dead?
The doctor sighed, "Thanks to your luck and fate, you held on until the rescue team arrived. You inhaled too much toxic gas and were unconscious for three days and nights. Fortunately, the baby in your womb was saved!"
So, Darren really did disregard her life and death, right?
Joanna struggled to sit up, but the doctor ordered someone to hold her down, "Don't move! You just had skin graft surgery. Are you trying to risk your life?"
Her whole body stiffened, like falling into an ice cellar.
“What? Skin graft surgery? Who authorized this?”
Facing Joanna’s furious question, the private doctor’s tone turned icy cold.
“We only took instructions from Mr. Grive. He was worried that the wounds on your legs would scar, so he ordered us to take healthy skin from your arm and graft it there. We had to follow his orders.”
When Darren arrived, Joanna threw everything she could grab at him, screaming hoarsely, “Zaylee is a living, breathing person you cherish, but my life means nothing to you? You had no right! How could you perform a skin graft on me without my consent?"
The man frowned, looking at her coldly. "Joanna, stop making a scene. Please calm down."
Joanna laughed until tears came out, pretending to be calm as she asked, "Take a guess. If your elder brother were still alive, what do you think he would have done?"
A flicker of struggle flashed in Darren's eyes. He didn’t know what to say and his voice turned somewhat flustered. "Joanna, once Zaylee gives birth to the baby, everything will be fine! If my brother… had survived, he would’ve made it up to you. He wouldn’t have let you down."
Joanna said nothing. She simply looked at him calmly, her gaze as still and lifeless as a pool of dead water. “Is that so? Then the child and I will wait and see.”
Darren quickly turned away, but it felt like something was stuck in his chest, making it hard to breathe.
Just a wall away, Darren’s assistant arrived as instructed.
Zaylee sat up.
“Darren, your birthday banquet with your twin brother is in a few days. Why don’t we take the opportunity to humiliate Joanna a little, just a small lesson. If something were to happen while the car is passing over the West Brigde…”
Before she could finish, the man interrupted her. He frowned, a trace of guilt flashing in his eyes. “Zaylee, how could you come up with such underhanded tactics? Is this really the gentle and delicate you I once knew?”
"You used to be so kind. Back then, you didn’t hesitate to donate one of your kidneys just to save me from that fire. I saved you this time, consider it repaying the favor. But now, why are you speaking of nothing but schemes and violence?"
Zaylee’s gaze flickered, then she suddenly pouted and wiped away a tear in a show of emotion. “I… I only did it all for you, for our child. I was afraid you’d get back together with her. I was afraid you’d leave me. I was even more afraid you’d be heartbroken if Joanna remarried.”
Leon, Darren’s assistant and longtime friend, exchanged a glance with Zaylee. At this moment, he also stepped in to mediate.
"Boss, don’t tell me you’ve really fallen for Joanna? This is just a minor punishment, that’s all. Back then, didn’t you only plan to marry her because you admired her capabilities? All these years, she’s only ever had the title of Mrs. Grove in name. You never truly loved her, did you?"
"I’ve seen with my own eyes how deep your bond with Zaylee is. She’s pregnant, how could you bear to let her feel hurt?"
Zaylee burst into tears again. "Forget it… maybe it was all just my wishful thinking. I don’t want to make things difficult for Darren."
At that moment, an image of Joanna’s once bright and innocent smile flashed through Darren’s mind, only to be quickly replaced by her current cold and emotionless expression.
He nodded, giving a stern warning in a low voice. “Just a punishment. Make sure there’s no danger to her life. No matter what, that woman is carrying the Grive Family’s blood. Nothing can be allowed to happen to her.”
Joanna stood at the doorway, her gaze dim. She dialed a number to the Spencer Family. “I have one last request. Create a lifelike corpse, modeled exactly after my proportions and appearance and real enough to pass for the real thing.”
If Darren could fake his death… then why couldn’t she?
