Tabitha’s face wasn’t giving anything away. She looked up indifferently and paused for a lifetime before murmuring, “Sure.”

With her approval, Christian’s grin widened, and he stepped on the gas pedal.

“I have been dying to see you in a wedding dress. Today is the designer’s last day in the city. At least you can voice your opinion if anything needs alteration.

“I can’t believe that you’ll be my wife in less than a month. We’re finally getting our happy ending,” Christian rambled on, lost in his emotions.

Tabitha looked out the car window in silence, not even bothering to put on a fake smile.

She wondered if Christian was truly happy and whether she or Kelsey was his happily-ever-after.

The sharp shrill of a ringtone broke Tabitha free from her thoughts.

Christian put the call on loudspeaker without a care. “What is it?”

His secretary sounded anxious. “You need to get to the office right now, Mr. Loader. Miss Cook is facing some serious issues.”

As his face grimaced, Christian swerved the car to another lane and slammed on the gas to get to the office.

Thrown by the force of the turn, Tabitha lunged forward until the seatbelt whipped her back against the seat with a thud.

She had barely gotten better, and the jerk left her head spinning.

Christian managed to cut the thirty-minute drive short by two-thirds.

He killed the ignition, jumped out of the car, and bolted into the office building.

While they got on the elevator, Christian finally took notice of Tabitha behind him, and she didn’t look quite right.

“Tabitha, um… I need to tend to some urgent business. Why don’t you wait for me in my office?”

Pale in the face, Tabitha shook her head. The elevator doors opened before she had a chance to get a word out.

Not sparing even a second for Tabitha, Christian was out of the elevator and took strides to the conference room.

He burst through the door and witnessed Kelsey standing alone against the senior executives, her fists clenched.

One senior member threw Kelsey’s business proposal onto the desk brutally.

“Oh, give me a break. Don’t talk to me about your academic achievements overseas. You haven’t proven yourself over the years. You’re just Mr. Loader’s side piece. You have no right to put us on this project.”

The others let out a snicker.

“That’s enough.” An angry growl interrupted their laughter.

Christian’s presence pushed Kelsey to tears.

Fuming with rage, Christian pulled Kelsey behind him and narrowed his eyes dangerously at the senior executives.

“Kelsey is here on my authority. You can take up any issues with me. Don’t take your anger out on a new hire.

“Besides, Kelsey has already produced results. She’s behind the new patent we’re filing for.” Christian switched up the tone.

A wave of shock swept through the room.

The executives exchanged whispers, clearly taken aback by Kelsey’s achievement.

Kelsey was baffled as well. She looked into Christian’s eyes, her eyes welling up.

“Christian…”

He gave her a look of assurance. “Relax. No one gets to look down on you on my watch.”

Standing at the door, Tabitha gripped the doorframe to stop herself from falling.

It never occurred to her that the secret development project she had been working tirelessly on would be handed on a silver platter to Kelsey by Christian himself.

Tabitha dropped her jaw to say something, only for Christian to pull her out in no time.

“I’m sorry, Tabitha, but you saw what was happening in there. I had to do that to give her standing in the company.

Tabitha’s voice was raspy. “Are you sure this is what you want to do?”

“It’s just for now. I’ll make it up to you later.”

Fighting back the agony, Tabitha smiled and uttered callously, “Don’t bother.”

Christian didn’t have to go through the trouble because there was no future for them down the line.

Stepping out of the building, Christian looked at his watch and suggested that they could still make it to the wedding dress fitting in time.

However, the moment was lost for Tabitha.

A furious scream cut through the air.

Out of nowhere, an armed assailant jumped out and pointed his knife at Tabitha.

“You must be Christian’s lover.

“You ruined the lives of my family, so I’m taking yours today!”

He slashed the knife at Tabitha.

“No!”

In that split second between life and death, Christian threw himself in front of Tabitha and took the hit for her.

As the blade plunged into his flesh, blood gushed out.

Christian slumped to the ground in agony, his hands over his abdomen.

The sight of blood sent the assailant into a panic, and he threw his weapon aside and took flight.

Tabitha held Christian up shakily, her breath hitched.

The bleeding wouldn’t stop. Yet, Christian fixated his gaze on Tabitha as if numb to the pain.

“Thank goodness you’re safe, Tabitha.”

Tabitha was quick to dial the emergency services and stayed by his side all the way to the ER.

She couldn’t wrap her head around the whole thing.

Christian was in love with Kelsey, even to the point of letting her crash the wedding. Yet, there he was, throwing his life on the line to save Tabitha.

What was all that for?

Three hours later, the doors to the operating room swung open.

The doctor emerged, looking exhausted. He peeled his gloves and mask off.

“Fortunately, the blade missed his vital organs by mere inches. However, the patient has lost a lot of blood, so he needs rest.”

Tabitha and the secretary, who had rushed over upon hearing the news, were relieved to learn that he was out of the woods.

The secretary expressed emotionally, “Mr. Loader risked everything to save you, Miss Bray. He loves you more than life itself.”

Tabitha remained silent.

Before, she had absolute faith that Christian loved her with all his heart. However, he redirected his devotion to someone else.

Yet, he took the knife for her in the face of danger. Tabitha could not read him.

Tabitha’s heart only had room for Christian.

Christian, on the other hand, could fit a lot more than one person into his.

Tabitha lowered her gaze.

She would never settle for such cheap, shared affection.

Once the anesthesia wore off, Christian demanded to see Tabitha.

Despite the medical staff’s protest, Christian yanked the IV off his arm and stumbled out of bed.

He bumped straight into Tabitha as she entered the ward with food.

Christian held Tabitha tight, his voice carrying fear.

“Thank goodness you’re okay, Tabitha. You have no idea how scared I was to lose you when he came at you with a knife.”

Tabitha broke free from his grip with composure.

“The doctor said that you need rest. You should stay put in bed.”

Tabitha’s presence steadied Christian’s nerves. Lying back down, Christian was compliant as the nurse hooked him up on a drip.

Noticing the packed food in Tabitha’s hand, Christian said with a smile, “I’m all wrapped up in bandages. I don’t think I can eat on my own.”

Tabitha sighed and opened the container to spoon-feed him.

With his belly filled, Christian rested his head on Tabitha and squeezed her hand.

“I had a terrifying dream that you left me, Tabitha. I woke up terrified, and my only thought was to find you.

“I’m so glad that it was just a dream. You’re never going to leave me, right?”

He looked up and stared intently into her eyes.

Tabitha paused and turned her head away, attempting to dodge the subject.

However, Christian was unusually persistent in getting an answer.

“Why aren’t you saying anything, Tabitha? Just tell me—Yes or no?”

The secretary emerged, holding a stack of papers.

“Mr. Loader, we’ve identified the assailant from yesterday and established his motive. Here are the details.”

Christian straightened his back, ruthlessness flickering across his eyes. He quietly took and read the papers.

As his eyes scanned the pages, Christian grimaced, and his breathing became shallow.

His voice shook.

“Hurry! Rally the security team now!”

Christian burst out an order before ripping out his IV once again. Not even taking a glance at Tabitha, he scrambled out of the hospital.

Tabitha stared at the dumped file on the floor in confusion before leaning over to pick it up.

She flipped through the pages, her hands trembling.

Everything made sense the moment Tabitha saw the name on the papers.

It explained the panic Christian was in.

Once more, it all came back to Kelsey.

Tabitha wasn’t meant to be the attacker’s target. Kelsey was the intended mark.

Kelsey, taking the role of Christian’s assistant, was responsible for external communications, but her incompetence had led to the downfall of multiple projects.

The assailant was a victim of one of those failed business ventures.

Upon arriving at the office building, the attacker mistook Tabitha, standing next to Christian, for Kelsey.

Christian was thrown into a panic, fearing the assailant would turn on Kelsey once he realized his mistake.

Surely, Tabitha would be in Christian’s thoughts too since her safety was compromised as well.

Maybe he simply didn’t care about her.

For the coming week, Christian didn’t even come home.

It dawned on Tabitha that Christian had reassigned his security detail, including the office’s security team, to protect Kelsey.

He even spared no expense to hire private investigators to track the attacker’s whereabouts.

It never occurred to Tabitha that Christian, a man defined by logic and composure, would get carried away over another woman’s well-being.

Due to Christian’s blatant favoritism, those in their friend circle were eager to see what Tabitha, the fiancée, would do.

Another week passed, and Tabitha read about the assailant’s arrest in the papers.

That night, Christian returned home all worn out.

He gave Tabitha a hug from behind.

“Stay still for me, Tabitha. Let me hold you.”

Catching a whiff of another woman’s perfume on Christian, Tabitha felt sick to her stomach.

She asked in a dry, hollow voice, “Do you still love me, Christian?”

Christian froze as a wave of fluster washed over him.

He nuzzled against her neck and pulled her closer into his embrace.

“Don’t be silly. Why would I marry you if I didn’t love you?

“In less than ten days, I’ll get to tell the world that you’re mine.”

With the wedding around the corner, Christian scaled back on his workload.

When he wasn’t overseeing the wedding arrangements at the venue, Christian stayed close to Tabitha.

One night, Christian left his phone on the nightstand to take a shower.

While rummaging through her things for her passport, Tabitha looked up and saw his phone lighting up. She happened to catch a glimpse of the notification.

It was a text message from Kelsey.

“I’m standing right outside your house, Christian. I must see you today, come rain or shine.”

Tabitha furrowed her brows.

She unlocked Christian’s phone and scrolled through their chat history. Christian hadn’t been responsive to Kelsey’s messages lately.

Christian had been keeping by Tabitha’s side in the last couple of days, and Kelsey was starting to get desperate.

Tabitha put down the phone and made sure the message was marked as unread.