The class reunion had just ended when the villa hosting it suddenly collapsed.
Priscilla Hobbs and I were both trapped beneath a massive concrete slab.
Her legs were pinned down by steel bars, while mine had been crushed, the pain unbearable.
Joel Xander arrived with the rescue team at this critical moment.
One of his subordinates hesitated and asked, “Mr. Xander, Mrs. Xander’s condition doesn’t look good. Should we get her out first?”
But without a second thought, Joel picked up his tools and began prying the slab off Priscilla.
“Priscilla is an actress. If her legs are broken, her life will be ruined.”
His voice was cold, as if I were nothing more than a stranger.
Fighting through the pain, I pleaded with tears in my voice, “Joel, you know I have a congenital blood clotting disorder. If you keep prying that thing, my legs will break. I’ll bleed out and die!”
Even now, I naively hoped that Joel would show me a sliver of compassion.
We had spent seven years together. Even if he didn’t love me, shouldn’t he at least care about me?
But the only response I got was the searing agony of my bones gradually being crushed under the slab.
With no anesthesia, the pain of my bones shattering gnawed at me.
Blood soaked the ground beneath me, mingling with my tears.
I was in so much pain I nearly passed out, but I still heard Joel’s cold voice through the haze. “Aurora, I can only save one of you. Just hold on.”
I stopped struggling. My broken heart finally gave up.
The pain of my bones being torn apart was nothing compared to the pain inside me.
Seven years—long enough for a tree to root deeply.
Yet Joel, a living, breathing man, remained cold and heartless.
By the time I was carried into the ambulance, my unstoppable bleeding had soaked my clothes.
Through my blurred vision, I saw Priscilla throwing herself into Joel’s arms, her face streaked with tears.
As he carried her onto the vehicle, I closed my eyes forever.
A weight lifted from my body, and my soul drifted out of the ambulance.
Then, it floated into Joel’s car.
