?Chapter 1336:


    When it was over, he tossed a towel beside her. “I told you,” he saidzily, “your body admits the truth even when you don’t.”


    Shame burned through her. She grabbed the towel and fled into the bathroom.


    Water thundered down as she stood under the shower, tears mixing with the stream until she couldn’t tell which was which.


    When she finally stepped out, wrapped in the thin hospital robe, the door opened. A doctor walked in.


    If William had been slower, they would have walked in on a scene that would’ve destroyed what little dignity she had left.


    He really didn’t care.


    The doctor’s startled expression softened into reprimand. “Why are you out of bed? You should be resting. Come on, lie back down.”


    Ste forced a weak smile. As if she’d wanted to be out of bed after an emergency like that.


    Under the doctor’s supervision, she returned to the same bed she’d just been pressed into moments earlier. Nausea rose up her throat, but she swallowed it back and kept her expression still.


    The doctor flipped through her chart and addressed William, who sat nearby as if nothing had happened. “The patient’s condition is stable, but she can’t drink alcohol again. Even a small amount could be dangerous.”


    William nodded, face unreadable.


    “She also needs to avoid spicy food and eat more nutrient-dense meals. She’s severely malnourished. As her boyfriend, you should take care to keep her diet bnced. Her health is fragile.”


    Ste’s heart jumped. Before William could speak, she blurted out, “He’s not my boyfriend!”


    Stay connected gα?ησv????s


    Her denial came too fast, too sharp. William’s faint smile vanished, reced by a cold, sullen look.


    William scoffed. “She’s a grown woman, isn’t she? Yet she can’t even manage basic self-care. What do you expect, for me to babysit her every meal?”


    Caught between them, the doctor didn’t darement. He finished the check-up quickly and excused himself, leaving the tension in the room thick enough to choke on.


    That evening, a wheelchair was delivered to Ste’s hospital room. Luca pushed it in without a word. William stood by the door, hands in his pockets, face cold as stone. “Get up,” he said. “We’re going back to the vi.”


    Ste’s stomach dropped. The hospital hadn’t been kind, but at least it felt open. The vi? That was a cage—and she was its sole prisoner.


    Still, she said nothing. Refusal wasn’t an option.


    On the drive back, she sat in the back seat, silent and pale. The city lights passed by in a blur, and only when the weight on her chest became unbearable did she speak. “When will you give me back my phone?”


    Luca nced at her through the rearview mirror. Her voice was soft, edged with a subtle caution.


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