What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger novel Chapter 68

A sudden sharp pain shot through the back of my hand as the needle jabbed roughly into my skin. I hissed involuntarily.

"God, stay still, please!" The nurse's voice carried the sharp edge of barely contained contempt.

She increased the pressure deliberately, turning what should have been a routine procedure into a warning.

"Just my luck," she muttered venomously. "Everyone else gets to fawn over precious Miss Bennett alongside Mr. Thorne, while I'm stuck here with the blind charity case."

Her bitter laugh scraped against my nerves. "If Miss Bennett could put in a good word for me with Mr. Thorne, I wouldn't have to deal with pathetic patients like—"

The sound of shattering glass violently interrupted her tirade.

"Who dares—"

Her voice transformed from anger to terror. "Mr... Mr. Thorne! I... I didn't realize..."

"Get. Out." Eugene's voice filled the room, the temperature seemed to drop with each syllable.

"If I ever see your face in this hospital again..."

The threat hung in the air like frost, leaving the nurse's panicked footsteps echoing down the corridor in her wake.

Familiar arms enveloped me, and I felt Eugene's body trembling slightly against mine.

"Victoria, my love, I'm so sorry," his voice cracked with what seemed like genuine remorse. "I should have been here sooner. I never meant for you to be treated this way. I'm so sorry..."

A bitter smile twisted my lips. Such righteous anger over a rough nurse, while he orchestrated the surgical theft of my future.

Yet he held me tighter, as if he could somehow protect me from the very pain he'd inflicted.

"Take me home," I whispered, feeling his warm breath stir the hair at my neck. "Please... I can't stay here anymore."

His lips brushed against my temple. "Soon, darling. After the doctors check you over, I'll take you home myself."

What Eugene failed to realize was that "home" held a different meaning for me - not his luxurious estate, but the towering Montgomery mansion in Boston.

Memories flickered through my mind: the family power struggle that forced my father to hide me in Eastbrook, though even there, danger found me.