They Were My Lover and My Best Friend, Until They Became Each Other’s Chapter 04
“Serena!”
Damien’s roar tore through the air.
Ignoring Sloane’s startled cry as she stumbled after being shoved aside, he sprinted straight for the edge of the cliff.
But he was too late.
Dust smeared across his expensive tailored suit, yet for once, the man obsessed with appearances did not care.
His eyes locked onto the violent ocean below, onto the water that had swallowed Serena whole. His expression darkened into something terrifying.
“Send everyone out,” he barked. “Lock down this entire coastline and get my wife out of that water!”
The second the words left his mouth, Sloane froze.
My wife.
The panic in her eyes stiffened instantly.
But Damien never even looked at her. He was already moving toward the mountain road, desperate to get down to the shore himself.
“Damien!”
Sloane staggered forward and grabbed his arm.
He shook her off instinctively.
“Serena’s out there fighting for her life. I have to find her!”
Sloane nearly lost her balance. Her face, usually so proud and stubborn, was pale and fragile now. Blood soaked through her clothes at an alarming rate.
“And what about me?” she cried. “I was just stabbed! You’re calling her your wife now, so what exactly am I to you?”
Tears streamed down her cheeks as she grabbed his hand and pressed it against her stomach.
“Our baby can’t wait that long. Please… can you take me to the hospital first?”
For the briefest second, Damien’s gaze wavered.
Then his voice turned cold and absolute.
“Stop making this harder than it already is. I’ll have someone escort you to the hospital. Serena needs me right now.”
No matter how desperately Sloane begged, he never looked back again.
She collapsed onto the dirt behind him, fingers clawing into the ground as her expression turned hollow with despair.
For Damien’s love, for the illusion of a home and a future with him, she had betrayed the person she once considered family.
She had arranged for Serena to be humiliated in front of Damien.
Manipulated Damien into destroying Serena’s unborn child.
And now, she had even gambled with her own pregnancy just to frame Serena, pushing her into a situation where she might already be dead.
Was any of it worth it?
On the way to the hospital, the baby’s heartbeat gradually faded.
The medical staff fought frantically to save Sloane.
As she was wheeled into surgery, she stared blankly at the blinding operating light overhead.
Again and again, the doctors tried calling Damien.
Again and again, the calls went unanswered.
Sloane slowly closed her eyes.
Tears rolled silently down her face.
The moment she felt the emptiness in her womb, it was as if something inside her soul had been ripped away too.
“Serena…” she whispered brokenly. “I lost.”
To Damien, she had never been anything more than excitement. A temporary obsession.
But Sloane had clawed her way up from nothing her entire life. She had fought for every opportunity, every scrap of status, every ounce of survival. Somewhere along the way, she convinced herself that love could be won the same way.
Maybe Damien’s promises had sounded too beautiful.
Maybe she had thrown herself into the fantasy too recklessly.
By the time she realized the truth, it was already too late.
She had made choices she could never undo.
And she had completely destroyed the one person who had truly loved her.
Meanwhile, while Sloane was being rushed through emergency surgery, Damien sealed off the entire coastal area near the cliffs.
For three days and three nights, his men searched nonstop.
And Damien stayed there with them the entire time.
No sleep. No rest.
The man who had always appeared untouchable now looked utterly wrecked. His once-pristine suit was wrinkled and filthy.
One of the men who had worked under him for years finally lost patience.
“Mr. Blackwood, that woman was nothing but trouble,” he muttered bitterly. “After all this time, the ocean probably already carried off whatever’s left of her. You should stop wasting your energy on a dead woman…”
Click.
A black pistol was suddenly pressed against his forehead.
The subordinate went deathly pale.
Without hesitation, Damien pulled the trigger.
The gunshot echoed across the shoreline.
The man screamed as the bullet tore through his hand.
“Find her,” Damien said coldly, lowering the gun. “She’s alive.”
His icy gaze swept across the trembling crowd behind him.
“And if I hear anyone say otherwise again, the next bullet goes through your skull.”
At that moment, his assistant approached carefully with a file in hand.
“Sir… this was delivered for you.”
The moment Damien opened it, a medical report slipped onto the ground.
An ultrasound report.
A pregnancy test.
The color drained from Damien’s face instantly.