Chapter 22
The knife glinted in Laris‘ hand, its edge catching Lena’s wide, terrified eyes. “I’ll kill you, Lena!” Laris shrieked, lunging forward.
Caleb and Micah reacted instantly and threw themselves in front of Lena.
Caleb yanked her into his arms to shield her, while Micah took the brunt of Laris‘ attack, the blade sinking into his side.
Lena stood frozen, trembling in Caleb’s embrace. The chaos had unfolded too swiftly to grasp.
Laris clawed at the knife, desperate to free it for another strike. But just then, a security guard charged in and kicked her to the ground.
“Call 911!” a voice yelled. “She’s trying to kill her!”
Panic overtook the patrons and wait staff at the restaurant. Waiters fumbled for their phones, voices tangling as they dialed for help.
“Lena, are you okay?” Caleb asked, his voice heavy with worry as he studied her ashen face.
Lena snapped out of her shock, hands frantically checking him for wounds. “I’m fine,” Caleb said, pulling her close. “I’m fine.”
Upon seeing Lena unscathed and Micah bleeding, Laris lunged for the knife still lodged in him and aimed for Lena again.
Caleb spotted the movement, tackled her, and pinned her to the floor. She thrashed beneath him before letting out a wild, unhinged laugh. “This is all your fault!” she spat at Lena. “You’ve destroyed me!”
Micah woke up in a hospital bed with pain stabbing through his side. He struggled to sit up, eyes still searching for Lena.
But the room was empty.
Just then, a nurse hurried in, alerted by his movement. “Please, don’t move. You’ll tear your wounds.”
“Has a woman come to see me?” he asked, urgency evident in his voice.
The nurse paused. “Yes, someone did.”
Relief washed over Micah. He was certain that the nurse had seen Lena. He told himself she’d forgive him soon, and the thought dulled the ache of his
wound.
But two days passed without her return. He had only gotten sent some supplements from Robert via an assistant.
When the assistant came again, Micah snapped, “Where’s Lena?”
“Sorry, I don’t know her,” the assistant said.
Micah’s frustration erupted, and he swept the supplements to the floor. “Tell Lena to come see me!”
The assistant was startled and simply mumbled something before leaving.
That afternoon, the door opened again. Micah’s heart surged, expecting to see Lena, but his face darkened when Caleb walked in.
“Why are you here? Where’s Lena?”
Caleb sank into a chair by the bed. He eyed Micah with a steady gaze. “You saved Lena, so Mr. Norwood sent me to check on you. He doesn’t want to see you.”
Micah’s eyes narrowed. “Are you keeping her from me?”
“I’m not you,” Caleb said. “I don’t force Lena to do anything she doesn’t want to do.”
Micah sneered, his voice venomous as he said, “I saved her. Laris is gone now. Lena and I were together for years–we even had a child. What makes you think you can compare?”
Caleb’s expression tightened with a mix of pity and scorn. “You dare mention that child?”
He’d heard Lena’s account of her past with Micah. He didn’t care about her history. What hurt him the most was that he wasn’t the one by her side when
he should’ve been.
“If you hadn’t rekindled things with Laris and kept hurting Lena, would she have ended a five–month pregnancy? You say you love her, yet you signed the divorce agreement without hesitation. Explain that.”
“It was all Laris’s fault!” Micah shouted, voice rising. “She manipulated me!”
Caleb’s tone turned cold when he saw no regret in Micah’s eyes. “Laris didn’t force you to betray Lena. She didn’t make you cling to old feelings during your marriage nor sign those papers either.
“That was all you.”
His words sliced through the room, unrelenting. “You destroyed your own happiness.”
Micah’s pain wasn’t enough for Caleb. He leaned closer, voice low and cutting as he said, “And thanks to you, I’m the one with Lena now.”
