Zachary saw reports of the incident on the news, along with some videos taken by bystanders online. The moment he saw Tessa fighting with someone, his heart

clenched tight.

Before he could recover from the shock, he saw footage of Tessa being lifted onto a stretcher and loaded into an ambulance.

He was extremely worried and used his assistant’s phone to call Tessa several times, but no one picked up.

He dropped everything he was doing and rushed to the hospital. He had no idea which hospital Tessa had been taken to.

There were three hospitals near the scene of the incident, and he went to each one, asking around, until finally, he spotted a few familiar faces outside the emergency room at the last hospital.

He lost all composure as he rushed over and grabbed Stephen’s arm. “Stephen, how’s Tessy? Is she okay?”

As soon as he grabbed him, Zachary felt something sticky on his hand. He looked down and saw that Stephen was covered in blood, sending a jolt of panic through Zachary.

Stephen glanced at him coldly, yanked his arm back, and said icily, “She’s still in surgery.”

“What the hell happened? I saw online that one of the victims was shot. How did the attacker even have a gun?” Zachary’s voice rose, then he suddenly seemed to realize something, and his face went pale. “Was it James? Did he come back for revenge?”

Stephen’s eyes burned with rage as he said in a low and impatient voice, “Shut up. You’re being loud.”

That set Zachary off. He snapped, “Stephen, if you can’t keep Tessy safe, why do you keep dragging her into your mess? If it weren’t for you, she wouldn’t have been in danger over and over again!”

His voice was so loud that a passing nurse shot them a glare and scolded, “This is a hospital. Keep it down!”

Zachary lowered his voice, but his eyes stayed locked on Stephen, full of fury and resentment.

“Don’t you think you’ve done enough damage? Why won’t you just leave her alone? Are you so useless that you can’t even protect the woman you claim to love? What good are you?

“You used to say I wasn’t good enough for her, that I had no right to love her. And what about you? What

s you the right?” Contt

Stephen clenched his jaw. His fists tightened at his sides, but he didn’t say a word.

Because it was true.

He couldn’t even protect the woman he loved. What right did he have to say he loved her?

Tessa had been hurt again and again because of him. His love was nothing but a burden to her.

His chest ached with a suffocating pain. He could hardly breathe.

“Enough, Zachary. This isn’t the time for this,” Naomi cut in, yanking Zachary back. “Do you think you’re any better? You’ve hurt Tessa too more than once! You and Stephen are no different, so don’t act so righteous.”

Zachary lowered his head and fell silent.

The hallway became quiet once more.

As night crept in, everyone’s anxiety deepened.

Caleb and Sophia had rushed over after hearing that Tessa was injured and in

critical condition.

Sophia liked Tessa a lot. Seeing her so severely injured, with her life hanging by a thread, she

help feeling distressed. Connet

When she saw all the blood on Stephen’s hands, her chest tightened.

“Stephen, you’re hurt too. You need to get yourself cleaned up.”

Her gaze dropped, and when she saw the trail of blood scattered across the floor, she went pale from the shock.