Hearing the heartbreak in her voice, Adrian Quincy was consumed by guilt. His own heart ached as if it would shatter, and a wave of regret so immense threatened to pull him into an abyss.

He blamed himself. He’d made the wrong decision, and it had hurt her.

For a moment, he was at a complete loss, terrified of losing her.

And so, he said nothing, simply holding her in silence.

Claire struggled, but she couldn’t break free. Exasperated, she balled her hands into fists and began to beat on him. "Didn’t you hear me? Let me go! Adrian Quincy, how long are you going to keep humiliating me?"

"Claire, I’m sorry." His only response was an apology. His arms remained wrapped around her, refusing to let go no matter how hard she struck him.

’If I let go now... I’ll lose her, won’t I?’

Claire tired after only a few blows. The frustration and pain remained trapped inside her, building and building until she couldn’t bear it anymore. Finally, she shrieked, "Was I born just to be toyed with by you people?"

’Why does everyone treat me this way...’

’First, they give me a piece of candy, only to slap me viciously across the face. Then they tell me, ’This candy isn’t for you. You can’t have it. You don’t deserve it, you worthless bitch!’’

’My sister was like that, my father was like that, Logan Linden was like that, and now even Adrian Quincy is doing the same thing!’

’Who can I possibly trust?’

’Who am I supposed to trust?’

’I’m so, so tired...’

’Sister, why did you have to leave me with this man?’

’Why did you force a home on me that was never meant to be mine...’

’I’m not happy here.’

’I want to escape...’

Her sobs grew more and more distraught, and her breathing became heavier until she failed to draw her next breath. Her body went completely limp in his arms.

"Claire? Claire?"

The pride and composure that Adrian Quincy usually wore on his face shattered in an instant.

He was frantic—gripped by a panic unlike any he had ever known.

He almost forgot which way the hospital was. Fortunately, Aiden Howkins appeared just in time...

Claire Sinclair was rushed into the emergency room.

Her heart stopped for ten minutes. They almost couldn’t bring her back.

When the doctors emerged from the emergency room, their faces were etched with exhaustion.

Those ten minutes had felt as long and arduous as ten years. Thankfully, they had saved her.

Adrian Quincy rushed over. "Doctor, how’s my wife?"

"The patient was in cardiac arrest for ten minutes, but we managed to revive her. We’ll need to keep her under observation for a while. If there are no complications, she can be discharged..." 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Cardiac arrest for ten minutes...

The words echoed in Adrian Quincy’s mind.

In a moment of inattention, she had left this world for ten minutes...

Thank God it was only for ten minutes.

...

Ten minutes, for Claire Sinclair, was nothing new.

Two years ago, when she heard the devastating news of her sister’s death, her heart had stopped then, too.

Her father had beaten her unconscious, only taking her to the hospital after realizing she had stopped breathing. Later, the doctors told her that her heart had stopped for ten minutes.

But those ten minutes were just the time the doctors had spent reviving her. No one knew how long her heart had actually been stopped before that.

Claire had never told anyone about these events.

But today, her own attending physician brought it up—right in front of Adrian Quincy, while she lay unconscious.

"Claire Sinclair... I knew that name sounded familiar. She came to our hospital two years ago for the same thing—cardiac arrest for ten minutes. Except back then, she had physical injuries, too. We asked her how she got them, but she wouldn’t say a word. She just hid from everyone like a scared kitten, ignoring anybody who tried to talk to her..."

"And she checked herself out the very next day, without even paying the full bill. I remember wondering why she would leave so suddenly when she was so seriously injured. I heard later that her family just didn’t have the money, so we never pursued it. It wasn’t a huge amount, just a few thousand..."