Chapter 429 Settling The Debt
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“Debt? What do you owe me?” Rowan demanded, confusion creasing his brow as he faced Julius.
Julius let his gaze slide past Quinn to Rowan. “When you were stranded in Celosia, you reached out to me for help before, but I turned my back on you. So now, I’m donating my bone marrow to the woman who saved your life. Consider it my repayment for not saving you then.”
Rowan stopped in mid–breath, stunned. The story Julius recounted rang no bell; his memory -already riddled with holes–offered nothing but an unsettling silence.
Back in those aimless months wandering Celosia, the fog in his head had been so dense he sometimes forgot his own name.
<i>Could </i>it <i>have </i><i>been </i><i>during </i><i>that </i><i>haze </i><i>that </i>I first <i>collided </i>with <i>Julius</i><i>? </i>
“Tha’s enough, Julius!” Quinn seized his sleeve with sudden force, eyes bright with anger. “I told you before: back then, you had no idea who my brother was, so you were never obliged to save him. You owe Rowan nothing, and you owe me even less.”
“Yet in the end, didn’t you break up with me because of that? Julius asked quietly.
“I… That was…” Quinn faltered, words tangling before they could take shape.
“I know,” he whispered, “It’s because I kept the truth from you. But for me, the oue was the same.”
His gaze settled on her face, and a raw bitterness seeped through the dark of his eyes.
“When we were dating, I lived in fear every day,” he confessed. “I kept waiting for the moment you’d uncover what I’d done. I feared you would leave the instant you learned I had left your brother for dead. And fear, as fate loves <i>to </i>prove, calls forth exactly what we dread. In the end, you left me after you learned the truth.”
In the years that followed, remorse gnawed at Julius with sleepless persistence. He reyed that moment of cold inaction again and again until the memory tasted of rust and ash.
The regret became a splinter embedded deep in his heart; he longed to yank it free, <i>to </i>be done with the pain–quickly,pletely.
Quinn opened her mouth, searching for words, but Julius cut her off before sound could form.
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Chapter 429 Settling The Debt
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“You don’t need to say anything,” he murmured. “I just want to get the donation over and done with soon. That way, I can finally end these nightmares.” <fnd5c1> Chapters first released on f?i?n?d?n?o?v?e?l?</fnd5c1>
Quinn blinked, confusion spilling across her face. “Nightmares? What are you talking about?”
Without answering her, Julius turned to Rowan. “I’ll tell the doctor to schedule the transnt as soon as possible. You don’t have to feel bad about it, Mr. Bridger.”
With that, Julius pivoted on his heel and strode away, refusing to wait for any reply.
“Rowan, the surgery can’t happen now,” Quinn said urgently, eyes following Julius‘ retreating form. “I’ll persuade him to postpone at least six months. Please, promise me you won’t press him…”
“Don’t worry,” Rowan answered, voice calm but resolute. “I’ll talk to Lena. Although I want her on the road to recovery soon, I will never want it at the cost of someone else’s well–being.”
Relief loosened the tight knot in Quinn’s chest, and she let out a slow breath she hadn’t realized she was holding.
“There’s something else…” Rowan said, his expression turning grave. “Did you really break up with Julius because of me?”
“Julius meeting me in Celosia and choosing not to help was only the spark. It isn’t the true reason for our split,” Quinn answered softly. “Now, though, I finally understand what he felt back then. Rowan, I want to give us another chance and be with him again. Will you me me for that?”
Rowan raised a hand and gently ruffled his sister’s hair, just as he used to before the amnesia robbed him of such reflexes. “me you? For loving someone who once failed to save me? Never.”
Even when memories drifted away like photographs hurled into the wind, the body would never forget. Reflexes, cravings, the urgent tilt toward safety–those wordless instincts stay etched deeper than thought.
“Like you said, Julius had no idea who I was back then. To him, I was simply a stranger, a line on a medical chart, little more than a fleeting pulse beneath a white nket. He had no obligation to help me. People insist he is cold, detached, unwilling to lift a finger for anyone outside his orbit. That’s why I was thunderstruck when I learned he was donating his stem cells to Lena… Tell me the truth, Quinn. Do you truly love and want to be with him? Or are you doing it only because he’s donating his stem cells to Lena?”
Whatever her answer was, Rowan felt a knot tightening beneath his ribs; thest thing he wanted was for his sister to exchange her heart’s peace for Lena’s survival.
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Chapter 429 Settling The Debt
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+10 Free Coins
“It’s because I love him, Rowan! I love Julius, and it’s not because of anyone or any matter,” Quinn replied resolutely.
Rowan studied the unwavering light in his sister’s eyes, then allowed a quiet grin to loosen his jaw. “All right, then. Since you’re already in Celosia, why don’t we find a day to visit Grandma together? Uncle Everett has yet to tell her about us, though. He’s worried she might not take the news of Mom’s passing well. The doctors will have to evaluate her emotional state first before we reveal our identities.”