It was already one in the morning.


    Evelyn had turned off the lights and gone to bed at eleven, but for two long hours, sleep had eluded her. She hadn''t suffered from insomnia in ages, but tonight, shey awake in the darkness, eyes open.


    She sat up, pulled open her nightstand drawer, and found the half-finished bottle of mtonin she''d been using.


    Just as she was about to take some, her phone-resting on the nightstand-lit up with an iing call.


    She hadn''t saved Aiden''s number, so she didn''t know who it was. But somehow, as if she knew, Evelyn reached for her phone and answered. "Hello?"


    "Ms. Evelyn, it''s Aiden."


    Aiden stood outside the hospital room, watching through the ss as Charles suffered on the bed, wracked with a fever that wouldn''t break. His voice was hoarse. "Mr. Jenkins is in a bad way. He was barely conscious on the drive back to the hospital, and his fever hasn''t gone down despite everything the doctors have tried."


    "Ms. Evelyn, could youe see Mr. Jenkins...?"


    "I''m not a doctor. I can''t help him."


    Evelyn''s grip tightened around her phone, but her voice remained icy.


    "Ms. Evelyn, I know you resent Mr. Jenkins. I know it''s hard to forgive what he did


    to you and Miss Josephine," Aiden pleaded, his voice cracking. "But he''s in real danger. If his fever doesn''t break tonight, he could lose his leg..."


    "Mr. Jenkins is such a proud man-if he loses his left leg..."


    Aiden couldn''t finish, his throat tight with emotion.


    He''d been by Charles''s side for years, loyal to a fault. Seeing Charles brought so low pained him deeply.


    When Jenkins Holdings had faced a devastating crisis, Charles had worked himself to the bone, barely sleeping, pushing himself until he''d saved thepany. He''d sacrificed everything, even drinking himself into ulcers and hospital visits, just to keep Jenkins Holdings on top.


    People thought Charles''s drive was all about power and prestige.


    Aiden had once believed that, too—until the night he drove Charles to the hospital after yet another episode of stomach bleeding. Charles, pale and weak in the hospital bed, had held a small silver locket in his hand, gazing at it with a tenderness Aiden had never seen. "You can only protect the people you love if you have the power," he''d murmured, gently brushing his thumb over the locket. "I never want her to get hurt."


    But fate had yed a cruel trick.


    Charles had tried to protect the wrong person all along.


    The one he''d wanted to protect more than anyone-he''d hurt the most. When Charles learned the truth, how much pain must he have felt? But that pain, he never spoke of.


    Aiden knew the damage Charles had done to Evelyn and Josephine could never be undone.


    But he couldn''t stand by and do nothing while Charles suffered like this.


    So he lowered his voice, pleading, "Please, for the sake of what he did he risked his life to save you and Ms. Josephine-can youe see him, just this once?" "Since he fell unconscious, all he''s done is call your name... He just wants you by his side, even for a moment."


    Evelyn''s grip on her phone tightened, but she didn''t answer.


    Just then, Josephine''s voice came from her bedroom doorway. "Eve..."


    Evelyn looked up, unable to mask the turmoil in her eyes. Josephine saw it all.


    She entered the room, gently taking the phone from Evelyn''s hand. To Aiden, whose voice was on the verge of copse, she said, "Eve will be there soon." Then she hung up.


    "Mom?!" Evelyn stared in disbelief. She hadn''t expected Josephine to agree for her.


    She knew how her mother felt about Charles how she''d always hoped Evelyn could move on, hoped she''d choose Brooks, that Charles would stay far away from their lives.


    But Josephine only said, "Eve,


    Charles did save both of us. He''s in a


    critical condition now-going to see


    him is the right thing to do.


    ve


    Afterwards, whatever happens, you''ll


    have no regrets."


    As she spoke, Josephine pulled out clothes for Evelyn, her eyes soft and loving.


    A mother always knows her daughter''s heart.


    The anger was real. The hurt,


    irreparable. But the fact that Charles had risked his life for them, and was now so gravely injured... thato


    Evelyn deeply, too.


    "Drive safe," Josephine said softly as Evelyn changed. She walked her to the


    door, reminding her to be careful.


    Evelyn nodded, told Josephine to get some rest, and left the house.


    As she watched her daughter''s slender figure fade into the night, Josephine couldn''t help but sigh quietly.


    Why did Charles have to realize his mistake sote? If only he''d recognized Evelyn for who she was, all those years ago. But life didn''t work that way.


    At the hospital


    Aiden, having heard Josephine''s promise, waited outside the hospital entrance, checking his watch, nerves taut.


    When Evelyn''s car pulled up, he rushed over and led her upstairs, stopping outside Charles''s room.


    He held the door for her, stepping aside so she could enter.


    Evelyn walked in and saw Charles-pale, gaunt, hooked up to machines.


    From his dry, cracked lips, he whispered her name over and over, lost in fevered dreams.


    Her eyes stung, emotions swirling behind them.