Verity’s POV
The nurse tried to stop him. “Sir, you have multiple bruises—”
But he had already pushed past her. The movement was too abrupt and pulled at his injuries, his face turning pale instantly.
Only then did he notice me standing in the doorway.
The second our eyes met, he paused.
It was guilt he didn’t have time to hide.
“Honey… you’re here.”
He explained almost instinctively. “I’m just going to check on Kelsey. I’m worried she’s scared.”
He looked at me as if he’d already expected me to object, prepared with what he’d say next.
But I just nodded.
He froze, clearly not expecting me to agree so easily.
Still, without saying anything else, he hurried toward the room next door.
I stood in the hallway, lowering my gaze to the ring on my left hand.
I’d worn our wedding ring for many years.
At first, it felt unfamiliar. Later, I didn’t even want to take it off to shower or sleep.
Now, it felt light—like an unnecessary piece of metal.
I took it off without hesitation and dropped it into the trash can at the end of the hall.
A clink sounded.
It was soft, but it felt like a period being placed inside my heart.
Inside Kelsey’s room, she was sitting on the hospital bed.
She looked clean and neat, except for a faint smear of dried blood near her cheek.
Her two brothers stood on either side of her.
“Are you still dizzy?”
“What did the doctor say? Do you need another check?”
Tucker walked over, his voice tense.
“Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?”
I went in, set the fruit basket on the cabinet, and was about to leave.
“Verity.”
Kelsey suddenly called out to me.
Her voice trembled, her eyes red, looking both wronged and helpless.
“I’m sorry… I really am.”
She struggled to get out of bed, her voice shaking.
“If it weren’t for me, Tucker wouldn’t have been hurt this badly.”
“I didn’t mean it. It’s just that earlier today… someone spread rumors about me—really ugly ones. My brother heard them and got so angry he wanted to hit someone.”
“He said he couldn’t let people hurt me like that, but I stopped him. I was afraid he’d get hurt.”
“Then that man provoked him, asked if he dared to race.”
“So my brother agreed.”
“He said that if I sat in the passenger seat and helped guide him, he would definitely win.”
My fingers tightened suddenly.
A navigator is someone a racer entrusts their life to on the track.
I had wanted, countless times, to be Tucker’s navigator.
For his one sentence—I trust you—I learned routes, wind speed, track rules. I stayed up late memorizing maps, running simulations again and again.
But every time I brought it up, he only refused.
“It’s too dangerous. Don’t get involved,” he’d say.
Now, Kelsey—who knew nothing—had easily taken that seat beside him.
She even rode with him into a rollover, nearly costing him his life.
And no one blamed her.
“Verity, I really didn’t mean to hurt my brother,” Kelsey cried, her voice breaking. “You love him so much; you must be angry, disappointed. Please don’t blame him. It’s all my fault…”
She sobbed softly. “How about… I’ll kneel and apologize to you?”
As she spoke, she actually lifted the blanket, starting to kneel.
I froze for a moment and didn’t react in time.
The next second, a strong force yanked me aside.
“What are you doing?!”
Tucker almost instinctively pulled Kelsey behind him.
Our brothers immediately stepped forward, one on each side, holding her up.
“Kelsey, don’t.”
“This isn’t your fault.”
They didn’t even wait for me to speak.
Their expressions hardened as they looked at me.
“Verity! What right do you have to blame Kelsey? You don’t even care about Tucker, and you still let him take our sister to do something that dangerous. We haven’t even blamed you for not keeping an eye on your own man!”
“If anyone’s to blame, it’s the one who spread those rumors. We’ll handle it. Kelsey, you don’t owe her an apology.”
Tucker stood between me and Kelsey, clearly protecting her.
“Yes. This is on me,” he said. “I chose to race. I know what I’m doing. I just didn’t expect someone to set me up. This isn’t Kelsey’s fault.”
I steadied myself, feeling how absurd it all was.
Why did they think I would go after Kelsey?
I was the one more seriously injured.
None of this was my fault.
Yet standing here, I felt like the guilty one—like a vicious woman who needed to be stopped before she did something unforgivable.
I raised my hand, cutting off Tucker before he could keep explaining.
“I’m not mad.”
I looked at him and spoke slowly.
“Tucker, if you want to die, then go die. It has nothing to do with me.”
With that, I turned and walked away.
Behind me, he called out once.
“Honey—”
But the next second, Kelsey let out a soft cry.
“Ah… it hurts.”
Tucker hesitated, then stopped and turned back.
In a room full of “family,” not one person noticed the blood soaking through the fabric over my knee.
At the end of the hallway, I took out my phone and dialed a number.
“Hunter.”
My voice was quiet.
“Can you come pick me up?”
There was a brief pause, then a low, amused voice.
“What, the young heiress finally remembered me?”
“Stay there,” he said. “I’ll be right there.”
