Chapter 4

When Emily raised her head, she saw Andrew sitting by the hospital bed, carefully feeding Lucy some water. Lucy only seemed to be a little shaken. She'd gotten a scratch or two, but her injuries were nothing serious. Meanwhile, even as Andrew looked at the bloodied and disheveled Emily, there wasn't the faintest flicker of emotion in his eyes, only cold indifference. "Lulu wants to have some gingerbread cookies. I remember that the ones you make taste the best. Go to the hospital kitchen and make some for her," he said icily. Emily could hardly believe her ears. He didn't care that she was covered in blood right now. Instead, he'd had his bodyguards yank her right off the operating table just because Lucy wanted to eat gingerbread cookies. All the years of bottled-up humiliation, hurt, and despair finally exploded out of her. She forced herself up to a sitting position and questioned him, her voice raw as it tore from her throat, "Andrew! You've gone too far! Where were you when I was almost trampled to death at the auction? "You only had eyes for her! And now, even though I'm seriously injured, you dragged me out of surgery, all because of a single request from her! "Just what have I been to you all these years? I'm your lawfully wedded wife! How can you treat me like this?" Tears streaked down Emily's blood-stained face, her voice cracking as she cried out in fury and heartbreak. She looked utterly pitiful and pathetic. Even so, Andrew's expression didn't even budge, not even a twitch. It was Lucy, nestled in his arms, who covered her ears in disdain and complained with a pout, "It's so noisy, Andrew. Her screaming is giving me a headache…" At once, Andrew hugged Lucy even more tightly and covered her ears as he gently assured her, "It's okay. Don't be scared." Then, he turned his gaze to Emily. The warmth vanished, replaced by hardened ice. "So, you said all that just to tell me that you're refusing to do it?" Emily stared back at him, her heart turning to ice. Losing the last of his patience, Andrew said darkly, "In that case, toss her into the cold storage. Let her out only when she agrees to make the cookies." His bodyguards immediately seized her. Ignoring her wails and attempts to break free, they hauled her to the hospital's medical cold storage and slammed the door shut behind her, locking her in. The freezing air wrapped around Emily instantly. She felt as though her wounds were being stabbed by a thousand icy needles. She could feel her blood slowing. The internal bleeding was getting worse, and she could feel her life slipping away. Both the coldness and despair gnawed at her. As her consciousness slowly faded away, making her feel as though she would die there, her sheer will to live won over her pathetic pride. Using the last of her strength, she crawled over to the metal door and pounded it, screaming weakly, "I… I'll do it… Let me out…" The metal door opened. She was hauled out like a broken doll and thrown onto the floor of the hospital kitchen. Dragging her cold and pain-racked body around, she used the final scraps of her willpower to prepare a tray of gingerbread cookies. When she delivered it to the hospital room, Andrew simply glanced at her before gesturing at his bodyguards, saying, "Take her back to the operating room." Emily was brought right back onto the operating table. When the anesthetic hit her veins, she started losing consciousness. A single tear trickled down the corner of her eye as she thought to herself, "From now on, Andrew, you and I will be nothing more than strangers. I will never love you again."