Chapter 268

The winding mountain road became increasingly treacherous as the car climbed higher.

Evelyn's fingers dug into the leather seat. "Uncle Julian, are we lost?" Her voice trembled slightly.

His lips curled into a chilling smile. "Not at all."

"Then where—" Her words slurred as a wave of dizziness hit. She turned toward the backseat, only to find her adoptive parents slumped motionless. She hadn't even noticed when they'd lost consciousness.

"Mom... Dad... wake up—"

"Uncle Julian, what did you—"

The car screeched to a halt.

Julian stepped out, his polished shoes crunching on gravel. He yanked her door open and dragged her limp body into the cold night air.

Her limbs felt like lead. As he hauled her toward an unmarked building, she twisted weakly to glimpse shadowy figures in black dragging her parents into the dense woods.

"Mom! Dad!" Her vision blurred at the edges. The world tilted violently as blinding surgical lights assaulted her senses.

A high-pitched ringing filled her ears. Julian's voice cut through the noise like a scalpel. "Don't fight it, Cassandra. Soon you won't remember any of this."

Darkness swallowed her whole.

Agony exploded behind her eyelids—a thousand white-hot needles stabbing through her skull.

"Stay with me, Cass! Look at me!" Liam's desperate voice pierced the haze.

A metallic bang echoed as operating room doors slammed shut. A nurse's muffled voice: "Sir, you must wait outside!"

Machines beeped erratically. The scent of antiseptic burned her nostrils. Every nerve ending screamed as if her skin were being flayed from her bones.

Time lost meaning.

Somewhere in the void, Liam kept calling her name like a prayer. She wanted to answer, but her eyelids weighed more than mountains.

When consciousness finally returned, golden sunlight streamed through half-drawn hospital curtains.

Her body felt alien—heavy and unresponsive. Turning her head took monumental effort. There, in an armchair, Liam slept fitfully, his stubbled jaw tense even in rest. Dark circles bruised his eyes.

Memories of her coma-dreams crystallized with terrifying clarity.

"Liam." The whisper barely left her cracked lips.

He jolted awake as if electrocuted. Bloodshot eyes locked onto hers, disbelieving. His calloused hands trembled as he mashed the nurse call button.

"You're awake." His voice broke. "Thank God, you're finally—"

She withdrew her hand gently. The ghost of a smile touched her lips. "You look terrible."

Liam froze. Tears welled in his eyes as he searched her face—this woman who called him by his given name for the first time in years. Was Cassandra Wright truly back?

"Seven days," he rasped. "You've been out for seven days."

Her smile turned bittersweet. "I think it's been three and a half years."

Liam's broad shoulders crumpled. His tears fell silently onto the sterile sheets, each drop carrying the weight of their stolen time.