Third Person's POV
When Henrietta woke up again, she found herself lying on a hospital bed. Then the sharp smell of disinfectant stung her eyes, making them ache.
From outside the door, she heard nurses whispering.
“I heard Mr. Ravenscroft booked the entire top floor of the hospital just for his sister to rest. He really is a sister-obsessed man.”
“That’s nothing. Didn’t Mr. Ravenscroft win a ruby necklace worth over ten million at an auction not long ago? When I went to change Miss Ravenscroft’s dressing today, she was already wearing it.”
“Poor Mrs. Ravenscroft… She’s so badly injured, yet her husband is staying by his adopted sister’s bed, taking care of nothing more than a few scratches.”
Henrietta felt numb. But after a long while, she forced herself out of bed and went to handle the discharge procedures on her own.
As she passed Annelise’s hospital room, she couldn’t help glancing inside.
She saw all those so-called friends who used to flatter and fawn over her now crowding around Annelise, fussing over her with concern.
And the husband she once tried so desperately to please was smiling as he fed Annelise spoon by spoon.
Annelise’s happiness was blinding—so bright it stabbed straight into Henrietta’s heart.
She pulled her thoughts back and was about to leave when a group of men in black suddenly surged up from the stairwell.
They moved fast. In an instant, they seized Henrietta, pressing a sharp blade against her neck as they dragged her into the ward.
“Raphael! Your wife is in my hands! If you want her alive, give up the dock business!” the man in black threatened.
Panicked screams erupted, and Annelise burst into tears in terror.
“Raphael, I’m scared!”
Despite that, Raphael ignored everything else and gently comforted her first. Then he turned coldly toward the kidnappers and coldly corrected, “You’ve got the wrong person. She’s not my wife. We divorced a long time ago.”
“Even if you kill her, it has nothing to do with me,” he even added.
And when he said those words, his eyes were colder than a glacier.
Hearing his response, Henrietta’s heart shook violently. She couldn’t stop herself from shouting, “Raphael, are you even human?!”
Yet Raphael only looked at her with a faint, mocking smile. “Didn’t you say it yourself? You wanted a divorce. Henrietta, I told you long ago. Without me, you are nothing!”
With that, he turned back to the kidnappers. “This woman can’t threaten me. Kill her if you want. Just don’t disturb my sister. Otherwise, I’ll make sure you die horribly.”
Henrietta never imagined that in a moment where lives were on the line, Raphael could say something so heartless.
And yet, he protected Annelise with absolute devotion.
Love or indifference—wasn’t the difference already painfully clear?
The kidnappers clearly hadn’t expected Raphael to be this ruthless, to treat even his wife’s life as worthless. Enraged and humiliated, they turned the blade toward him instead.
“Raphael!”
At the critical moment, Annelise stepped in front of Raphael. As a result, the knife plunged straight through her back, blood spilling everywhere.
“Annelise!” Raphael’s pupils shrank, fury and panic exploding in his eyes.
He kicked the attacker away with savage force. With only minimal effort, he knocked the entire group of kidnappers to the ground. The sound of ribs snapping echoed one after another, enough to make one’s scalp tingle.
Immediately after, Raphael made a phone call and summoned his bodyguards.
“Get rid of them. For every injury Annelise suffered, make them pay a thousandfold!” he gravely instructed.
Henrietta stood frozen, her heart already dead.
So, he could deal with the kidnappers easily.
Yet he had allowed them to press a blade against her carotid artery without hesitation.
He could also tremble in fear, his eyes red with tears, but only for another woman.
In a daze, Henrietta followed Raphael to the operating room, watching him pace anxiously, watching him clasp his hands together in prayer.
She didn’t know how much time passed before the operating room lights finally went out and the doctor announced that Annelise was out of danger.
The heart Raphael had been holding in his throat finally dropped back into place. He rushed forward, clutching Annelise’s hand as he cried uncontrollably.
“Thank God… thank God you’re okay!”
Annelise’s face was pale, yet filled with bliss. “As long as I can protect you, even if I die, it would be worth it.”
But Raphael shook his head, rejecting her words outright. “No, Annelise. If you die, I won’t live either.”
At that moment, Henrietta heard the sound of her heart shattering into pieces.
She swallowed all her grievances and turned, ready to leave.
But Annelise suddenly called out to her. “Henrietta, your neck is injured, too. Don’t you want a doctor to check the wound?”
Before Henrietta could answer, Raphael spoke coldly, “If she hadn’t brought those kidnappers here, how would you have been hurt this badly? What right does she have to treat her injuries?”
Only then did he finally lift his gaze to Henrietta.
“Hurry up and apologize to Annelise,” he commanded.
Humiliation, rage, and despair surged together in her chest. Yet Henrietta’s eyes remained sharp.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” she said coldly. “I’m not apologizing to her.”
With that, she turned around and walked away without looking back.
That night, when Henrietta returned home, she began packing her things.
She took all the gifts Raphael had casually given her over the years, along with every couple item she had impulsively bought, and burned them one by one into ashes.
Just like the little love she had left for Raphael, all of it turned to dust.
