A nurse came in, silently re-bandaged Avah's bleeding hand, dimmed the harsh overhead lights, and quietly slipped out of the room.

Avah leaned back against the stiff pillows. She closed her eyes, her chest rising and falling heavily as she tried to digest the brutal reality of the last hour.

The slightly ajar hospital door suddenly creaked. It hadn't been fully latched after the nurses rushed out, and a small, brightly colored toy car rolled into the room, bumping against the leg of the visitor's chair. A tiny force pushed the door open wider, making a soft squeaking sound. The boy had clearly slipped away from the adjacent suite while his caretakers were distracted.

Avah's eyes snapped open. Her body tensed, thinking her father had returned. Her fingers instinctively reached for the call button again.

A small boy, no older than four, poked his head into the room. He was dressed in a miniature, perfectly tailored suit and a little bow tie.

The boy had the most striking, deep ocean-blue eyes. He blinked, staring curiously at Avah lying in the hospital bed.

Avah froze. The tight knot of anxiety in her stomach instantly unraveled at the sight of the beautiful child.

The moment the boy got a clear look at Avah's face, a massive spark of pure joy exploded in his blue eyes.

His little legs moved fast. He ran straight past the chairs, entirely unafraid, and threw himself headfirst into Avah's arms.

"Mommy!" The boy's voice was soft, sweet, and laced with a desperate, emotional relief.

Avah's entire body went rigid. The word "Mommy" acted like a live wire, sending a violent shock straight through her heart.

Her mind went completely blank. Her first instinct was to gently push this strange child away.

But the boy wrapped his little arms tightly around her neck. The faint, sweet scent of baby powder and milk drifted to her nose. Avah's hands hovered in the air, unable to push him away.

The trauma of losing her own child three years ago hit her hard. Her breathing turned ragged. Her eyes burned, and hot tears threatened to spill over.

Her hands trembled as she finally lowered them, gently rubbing the boy's small back. She tried to steady her voice. "Sweetheart, I'm... I'm not your mommy."

Outside in the hallway, the heavy, rhythmic sound of expensive leather shoes hitting the tile floor approached rapidly.

"Leo." A deep, freezing male voice called out. The footsteps stopped right outside her door.

The hospital door was pushed wide open. A tall, broad-shouldered man stood in the doorway, backlit by the hallway lights.

He wore a dark, immaculately tailored suit. A suffocating aura of absolute dominance and power radiated from his large frame.

Avah looked up. Her eyes collided with a pair of deep, icy blue eyes-the exact same shade as the little boy's.

The man's dark eyebrows pulled together in a slight frown when he saw his son clinging to a strange woman in a hospital bed.

He stepped into the room. His polished shoes clicked against the floor, tapping out a dangerous, deliberate rhythm in the quiet space.

Atticus stopped two feet away from the bed. He looked down at Avah, his gaze heavy and calculating.

His aggressive eyes slowly scanned Avah's pale face, dropping down to her messy, tangled curls.

Leo turned his head, looking at the towering man. "Daddy! I found Mommy!" he yelled, his voice full of excitement.

A dark, unreadable emotion flashed through Atticus's blue eyes, but it vanished instantly, replaced by a cold, hard mask.

He reached out a large hand with prominent knuckles. His tone left no room for argument. "Leo. Come here."

Leo stubbornly shook his head. He buried his face in Avah's neck, hugging her even tighter, as if protecting his territory.

Avah felt incredibly awkward caught between the father and son. She gently tried to pry the boy's arms off her neck.

Atticus suddenly leaned down over the bed. The crisp, clean scent of cedarwood and expensive cologne instantly enveloped Avah, making her breath catch.

Atticus's broad chest was inches from Avah's shoulder. The intense, predatory heat radiating from his body made her hold her breath.

He didn't touch Avah. Instead, his large hand accurately grasped the back of Leo's collar.

"I apologize for my son's intrusion," Atticus said. His voice was a low, magnetic rumble that vibrated in the small space between them.

He stood up straight, holding the boy. "I am a representative of the hotel where the fire occurred. I am here to handle the aftermath for the injured guests."

The moment Avah heard the word "hotel," the warmth in her eyes vanished. Her expression turned to frost. Any sympathy she felt for the man evaporated.

"I don't need your compensation," Avah said coldly, her voice flat. "I just want you both to leave my room. Now."

Atticus raised a dark eyebrow. He seemed slightly surprised by the sharp thorns she suddenly aimed at him.

Leo, dangling from his father's grip, kicked his little legs in the air. "No! Don't leave Mommy!" he cried out in protest.

Desperate to end this chaotic encounter, Avah threw off the thin hospital blanket and swung her legs over the side of the bed to show them out herself.

The moment her bare foot hit the floor, a blinding, agonizing pain shot up from her sprained ankle.

Avah lost her balance instantly. She pitched forward, a sharp gasp escaping her throat as the floor rushed up to meet her.

Atticus reacted with terrifying speed. With Leo tucked under one arm, his free hand shot out and clamped firmly around Avah's slender waist. The sudden exertion caused a violent, barely perceptible flinch in his broad shoulders. Beneath the crisp fabric of his left sleeve, the raw, blistering tissue of a severe, fresh burn pulled taut, sending a blinding spike of agony up his arm. But his grip remained absolute.

Even through the thin cotton of her hospital gown, Avah could feel the scorching heat of his large palm burning against her skin.

She looked up in panic. Her lips nearly brushed against his sharp jawline. Their breaths tangled together in the tight space.

Atticus's blue eyes darkened like a stormy sea. Without a word, he tightened his grip and effortlessly lifted her entire body off the floor.

The sudden weightlessness made Avah's stomach drop. Her hands flew up, instinctively grabbing the lapels of his dark suit jacket to steady herself.

Right at that highly intimate moment, the door to the hospital room was shoved open violently from the outside. Taking advantage of a brief shift change at the security desk, and aggressively flashing his VIP Hopkins family credentials to intimidate the floor nurses, Kain stood in the doorway. He had returned to do his superficial duty of checking on his fiancée after settling Jaclyn.

Kain's eyes immediately locked onto the sight of Atticus holding Avah tightly against his chest.

His handsome face twisted into an ugly mask of pure jealousy and rage. His skin turned a mottled red.

Kain stormed into the room, pointing a shaking finger directly at Avah's face. His voice dripped with acid.

"Did you really just get dumped and immediately spread your legs for some bottom-tier hotel employee?" Kain spat.

At the words "bottom-tier employee," Atticus's sharp jawline instantly tightened. A chilling, dangerous glint flashed deep within his eyes, completely imperceptible to the hysterical man before him, but his surface expression remained an impenetrable, stoic mask.

Atticus didn't put Avah down. Instead, he pulled her closer against his chest, adopting a highly possessive, protective stance as he faced Kain.

Avah was thoroughly disgusted by Kain's shamelessness. She struggled against Atticus's chest. "Put me down," she demanded through gritted teeth.

Atticus gently lowered her onto the edge of the mattress and carefully pulled the blanket over her legs.

Kain watched this tender exchange, his blood boiling. He lunged forward, raising his hands to shove Atticus out of the way.

Atticus merely shifted his weight. His right hand shot out, grabbing Kain's wrist, deliberately keeping his injured left arm shielded. Ignoring the fierce throb radiating from beneath his sleeve, he moved with a brutal, fluid motion, and twisted it hard.

A loud crack echoed. Kain let out a pathetic scream of agony. He stumbled backward, his legs tangling, and crashed hard into the leather visitor's sofa.

Atticus stood over him, looking down with eyes as cold as a glacier. "Watch your boundaries," he warned, his voice a lethal whisper.

Kain scrambled up from the sofa, cradling his red, throbbing wrist against his chest. He glared at Atticus with pure hatred.

Realizing he was completely outmatched physically, Kain cowardly shifted his vicious attack back to the woman sitting on the bed.

He looked Avah up and down with extreme disgust. "You have always had filthy blood running through your veins, Avah."

Kain raised his voice, making sure the words hit as hard as possible. "Did you forget the bastard child you carried three years ago? You brought shame to your entire family."

"You never change," Kain sneered. "You'll hook up with a broke loser carrying a piece of baggage just to satisfy yourself."

The vile words hit their mark. Avah's face drained of all color. Her knuckles turned white as her hands gripped the bedsheets in a death grip.

The air around Atticus instantly dropped below freezing. A terrifying, murderous intent rolled off his broad shoulders.

He pushed Leo behind his leg and stepped forward, fully intending to give this arrogant fool a lesson he would never forget.

"Stop." Avah's voice cut through the tension. It was ice-cold and completely steady.

She looked at Atticus. "This is my trash. I will take out my own trash."

Avah took a deep breath. Gritting her teeth against the screaming pain in her ankle, she shifted all her weight onto her uninjured right leg. Her knuckles turned white as she gripped the edge of the mattress for support, forcing herself to stand up. Despite her trembling left foot hovering just above the floor, her spine was completely straight.

She looked Kain dead in the eye. There was no trace of the weak, accommodating woman she used to be.

"You left me to burn in that room," Avah stated, her voice slicing through the air like a blade. "You ran to Jaclyn."

"Don't use my past to cover up the disgusting fact that you've been sleeping with my stepsister," she finished, hitting the bullseye.

Kain's face went from pale to green. His eyes darted around nervously. "You're crazy! You're making things up!" he yelled, his voice cracking.

Avah didn't give him another second to perform. She reached for her left hand and forcefully yanked the massive engagement ring off her finger.

She threw the million-dollar diamond ring violently at Kain. It struck him hard in the center of his chest.

The ring bounced off his suit and hit the floor with a sharp clink, rolling away into the dark corner of the room.

"The engagement is over, Kain," Avah announced, her voice loud enough to echo in the hallway.

Kain stared at the ring on the floor. His male ego had just been publicly crushed into the dirt.

He pointed a shaking finger at her. "Without me, who would want a stained woman like you?" he roared.

"Marrying you was a PR nightmare waiting to happen anyway," Kain spat, trying to salvage his pride.

"The Hopkins family will withdraw every single cent of funding from the Astraea Group immediately," he threatened.

Avah let out a cold, sharp laugh. "Even if Astraea goes bankrupt tomorrow, I will never be your disgusting puppet again."

Seeing that his ultimate threat had zero effect, Kain shot her one last venomous glare.

He aggressively smoothed down his wrinkled tie, desperately trying to reclaim some dignity.

"You will crawl back to me on your knees," Kain sneered, before turning and slamming the door so hard the walls shook.

The deafening sound of the door closing faded. Avah's rigid shoulders finally slumped.

She collapsed back onto the mattress, her chest heaving as she gasped for air. Her eyes were rimmed with red, but she stubbornly refused to let a single tear fall.

Atticus stood quietly, watching this woman. She was as fragile as shattered glass, yet as sharp as a knife. A strange, dark desire to conquer her flared to life in his chest.