Chapter 722

I instinctively hid the bag behind my back, which only made the two men chuckle as they stepped into the elevator. When the doors closed, I turned toward Demi’s room. But after a few steps, unease hit me like a punch in the gut. Something was off. I spun around, staring at the elevator doors. My heart was pounding before I even realized I was running.

“Demi!” I yelled, shoving her door open.

She blinked at me, startled. “What’s wrong?”

Nothing had happened—at least not to me. But the fear that something might have happened to her had me panicked. Seeing her sitting there, fine, I exhaled sharply and stepped inside. As I went to set the food on her bedside table, my eyes caught something—a fat stack of cash. Hush money. My stomach churned as it clicked. Those two men had been here to make sure Demi stayed quiet.

“Keira, can you help me put this money away?” Demi’s voice was steady, too steady.

I froze, staring at the bills. “Why did you take it?”

She stared blankly at the ceiling. “Because taking it makes them think I’ll keep my mouth shut. It’s the only way I’ll get another chance to go back.”

Her tone was hollow, her face resigned. It broke something in me. “Demi, we don’t have to go back. We’ll figure out another way, I swear.”

She just shook her head, her voice flat. “There’s no way out. I have to take revenge—for myself.”

I couldn’t argue. After everything she’d been through, how could I tell her to just move on? I’d seen her wounds. I’d heard her stories. Those people had broken her, and she had every right to want them to pay. The food sat untouched on the table: Demi hadn’t wanted risotto or pork belly—she just needed space to deal with her pain.

I left her alone and headed to Hayden’s room.

The two men from earlier had me on edge, but no one had bothered him. It helped that he looked so convincingly unconscious. In the ICU, access was tight, and anyone looking for something from him wouldn’t get much out of a coma patient. When I walked in, two doctors were hovering over him. My heart jumped, and I rushed closer, only to realize they were just changing his bandages.

I’d seen him get hurt, but nothing prepared me for how bad it actually was. My chest tightened as they worked, each cut and bruise making it harder to breathe.

“Wait,” Hayden’s voice broke through, stopping the doctors mid-motion.

They stepped aside as his eyes flicked to me. “Come here,” he said softly.

I moved closer, rounding the bed. He grabbed my hand, pulling me down to sit beside him. “Don’t look,” he murmured, his voice firm but gentle.

Even now, in this much pain, he didn’t want me to see him like this. That was Hayden—always shielding me, always putting me first. So I didn’t look. There was no point in pushing when it would only make us both feel worse. His hand in mine was ice-cold, and I could feel the weight of his pain even without him saying it.

Demi had mentioned that talking helped distract from pain, so I decided to give it a shot. “Hey, Hayden… you never explained how you pulled off that whole live-person-to-ashes trick back then.”

A faint smile tugged at his lips. “Ever been to a magic show?”

“Seriously?” I raised an eyebrow.

“It’s all sleight of hand and misdirection,” he said, his voice lighter now.

He started explaining the setup—step by step, walking me through the details like it was just another clever illusion.