Chapter 182

The night was deep when Zachary Evans pushed open the hospital room door. Ethan Roscente had just set down his fountain pen.

"Did you find anything?" The man lifted his gaze, his eyes sharp as a blade.

Zachary swallowed hard, tightening his grip on the file folder.

"Mr. Roscente..." He hesitated. "The results... might not be ideal."

Ethan tapped the desk with his fingertips, his voice icy. "Get to the point."

"It's about... you." Zachary gulped. "That incident six months ago."

The temperature in the room plummeted.

The pen rolled halfway across the desk before clattering to the floor. Ethan narrowed his eyes. "Me?"

"The night you ordered Sophia Lowell to deliver documents." Zachary forced himself to continue. "When she was trapped in the elevator."

Memories flooded back. Ethan recalled the inexplicable irritation after that business dinner, the laughter between Sophia and her male classmate over the phone, the absurd command he'd given in his drunken haze.

"Go on."

"Someone in the executive office tampered with the elevator." Zachary's voice grew quieter. "It was stuck for eight full hours..."

Ethan shot to his feet, his chair screeching against the floor.

"She was unconscious for two days." Zachary closed his eyes briefly. "You thought she was just throwing a tantrum."

Suddenly, the details he'd deliberately ignored became painfully clear—Sophia's pale complexion, her evasive gaze, the way her fingers trembled slightly every time she stepped into an elevator afterward.

Slap!

Ethan struck himself hard across the face, his knuckles turning white, regret churning in his eyes.

Zachary stumbled back in shock.

"Am I a complete bastard?" Ethan's voice was hoarse.

Zachary stared at his shoes, not daring to respond.

Moonlight filtered through the curtains, casting dappled shadows across the hospital bed. Ethan moved closer, his thumb brushing lightly over the dark circles beneath Sophia's eyes.

In her sleep, Sophia frowned and instinctively curled deeper under the blankets.

"Hot..." she murmured, her lashes fluttering.

Ethan immediately loosened the covers, but as he withdrew his hand, her fingers unconsciously wrapped around his wrist. Her warm breath ghosted over his cold skin—like a flame, searing his heart with pain.