Chapter 9

Callum was taken aback. He didn't seem to understand what Roxanne was implying. Confused, he asked, "What do you mean?" Instead of answering him, she merely shot him a long, deep look. Callum's heart seemed to lurch in his chest as he saw how empty and distant her eyes were. Then, Roxanne slowly closed the door, shutting herself away from him. Her muffled winces and painful grunts continuously rang out as she tended to her wounds. Zoey's birthday arrived a few days later. Callum held a lively birthday celebration for her right in his own backyard. Colorful lights and streamers decorated the space as the guests merrily chattered with one another. There were many people in attendance for the birthday celebration. Standing silently in the corner, Roxanne watched as Zoey and Callum tended to the guests. She also saw Callum gifting Zoey a beautiful, expensive ladies' watch. A blissfully happy grin appeared on Zoey's face as the surrounding guests applauded loudly. It felt like countless needles were stabbing into Roxanne's heart. He had never once bought Roxanne gifts in all their years of marriage. He couldn't even remember her birthday. She used to think it was because that was how Callum was—he was not a romantic person. However, that was not the case at all. He simply hadn't wanted to put in the effort when it came to Roxanne. He had reserved all his love and affection for Zoey alone. … An accident occurred right when the party was at its peak. The basketball stand nearby seemed to loosen all of a sudden and toppled toward Zoey, right as she was about to cut her birthday cake! "Zoey, look out!" Callum cried, running over to her at lightning speed and shielding her with his arms. The heavy basketball stand then landed right on his back. He groaned in pain, his face turning pale from the impact. "Callum!" Zoey cried in fear. Chaos erupted on the scene as all the guests rushed to lift the basketball stand up to free Callum. The impact had caused serious bloody injuries to his back. Someone yelled, "We need to get Callum to a hospital now!" Regardless of how ill Roxanne was, she still had to go to the hospital with him, given that she was his wife. She shakily signed the surgery consent form, watching as Callum was wheeled into the emergency room. … The surgery concluded several hours later. Thankfully, Callum was no longer in a critical condition. He was then transferred to a hospital ward to rest. The first thing Callum saw when he woke up was Zoey at his bedside, sobbing her eyes out. He weakly reached a hand out and wiped her tears away. His voice was raspy but tender as he said, "Don't cry… I'm alright now… Sorry for scaring you like that…" Callum's expression quickly darkened once he finished consoling Zoey. He snapped to the soldiers waiting outside the ward, instructing, "Check everything! The sports equipment in the base housing undergoes maintenance every week. "They were clearly fine after last week's maintenance, so how could the basketball stand have fallen? Was there foul play?" Roxanne's heart lurched all of a sudden as an intense feeling of unease gripped her. Sure enough, the soldiers soon returned and reported their findings to Callum. Though they didn't speak very loudly, everyone in the ward clearly heard what they said. "Commander Moreno, we've looked into the matter. There was… evidence that someone had purposely loosened some screws in the basketball stand. "We… also received reports that someone… saw Mrs. Moreno hanging around there for quite some time yesterday…" Callum's sharp gaze immediately turned to Roxanne. Overwhelming rage and disappointment filled his tone as he snapped, "So it was you, Roxanne! You've repeatedly tried to hurt Zoey, and now you're trying to kill her? "How could you be so vicious and cruel?" Roxanne opened her mouth to speak but was unable to utter a single word. It felt like something had lodged in her throat. She did not see any need to explain herself. Did Roxanne need to explain herself at this point? Callum had already decided that she was the mastermind behind this incident based on the available 'evidence'. Any more attempts to defend herself would just seem like excuses in his mind. All she felt was exhaustion. A permanent sense of despair had overtaken her senses at this point. Callum seemed to think that Roxanne's silence equated to a confession of guilt. He grew angrier, demanding, "Cat finally got in your tongue?" He then ordered the soldiers, "Bring Roxanne back to the base housing and give her 20 lashes of the whip right away! I want everyone to see what happens to them if they try to harm one of the country's key research personnel!" Roxanne didn't struggle as the soldiers dragged her away. She only glanced one last time at Callum before she was dragged out of the hospital ward. The love, longing, upset, and even hatred that used to fill Roxanne's gaze were no longer there. Only a desolate emptiness remained in her eyes now. It was as if she were looking at a stranger. For some reason, Callum's chest tightened under Roxanne's gaze. A wave of unfamiliar pain and unease followed, but he quickly suppressed the feeling and looked away.