When Cline saw Runa, he quickly closed the car door, preventing her from seeing the woman inside.
She could only peer through the thick tinted windows, staring coldly at the woman in the passenger seat. "Cline, who is she?" she demanded.
Cline had already proposed to her and even set a wedding date. Yet here he was, holding another woman.
What's more, Cline was known for his aversion to intimacy with women due to his mental disorder. How could he be the one to initiate such an embrace?
Runa's face was a mix of disbelief and anger. "Cline, why won't you speak?" she shouted.
Ignoring her, Cline walked around the front of the car, got into the driver's seat, and closed the door without a word.
Runa watched as the stretch Lincoln sped away, her usually gentle expression now cold and frosty.
She took out her phone and made a call. "Find out immediately who the woman who accompanied Cline to the Beverly Hills Hotel today was!"
Luana, barely clinging to consciousness, turned her head with all her might to look at Cline, who was driving furiously.
"You... go chase after your fiancée... leave me alone..." she managed to say in a broken voice, exhausting herself in the process.
[$]
She leaned weakly against the passenger seat, gasping for air, but the feeling of suffocation wouldn't subside.
Cline frowned deeply, glanced at her, but remained silent, driving the car swiftly towards the hospital.
Seeing Cline carrying her into the hospital, Luana weakly reached out and grabbed his white shirt.
"I... don't want to go to the hospital..."
When her fingers touched Cline's skin, the cold sensation made his heart jolt. It was as if her body temperature was plummeting in her final moments.
"Be good, listen. The hospital has oxygen," Cline said softly, holding Luana tightly and walking straight to the triage desk.
[$]
The hospital administrator, who was on duty at the triage desk, quickly approached upon seeing Cline.
"Mr. Moriarty..."
"Eva, she has a heart condition. Get her on oxygen now!"
Cline interrupted before the administrator could speak.
Eva glanced at Luana, who was struggling to breathe, and quickly led them to a nearby ward.
"Mr. Moriarty, this way, please!"
After pushing open the door to an empty ward, Eva waited for Cline to lay Luana on the bed. She swiftly brought over an oxygen mask and quickly placed it on her face.
As fresh oxygen filled her lungs, Luana felt like a fish returned to water, regaining vitality.
She clutched the mask, inhaling deeply. Her heart, which had been starved of oxygen, finally received the supply it needed.
Seeing a hint of color return to her face, Cline's tense expression gradually softened into his usual cold detachment.
She looked at Eva, who was examining Luana, and asked, "How is she?"
Eva listened to Luana's heart for a moment and sensed something was off.
"After oxygen, she's stabilized, but we need to conduct further tests to be sure," she said cautiously, not wanting to make any premature statements to Cline before the results were in.
[$]
Cline coldly ordered, "Perform a full-body examination on her."
Eva nodded and said, "I'll go arrange it."
Luana, who was on oxygen, heard their conversation and gave up struggling.
Her condition was no longer a secret. Cline would find out sooner or later.
After Eva left, Cline called Russell. "Two things. Delete the hotel's surveillance and make sure Calvert keeps quiet."
Russell respectfully replied, "Yes, sir."
Cline put down his phone and looked down at Luana, asking, "You have a heart condition. Why didn't you tell me?"
His expression was as indifferent and aloof as ever, more like he was reproaching her for hiding it than genuinely worried about her health.
Seeing his cold demeanor, the brief flicker of emotion in Luana's heart began to fade.
She tried to remove the oxygen mask to speak, but a hand with prominent knuckles grabbed her wrist.
"Don't," Cline's voice sounded in her ear, stirring her heart again and sending ripples through her.
[$]
She pressed her hand against her irregularly beating heart, trying to steady its rhythm, but Cline's sudden closeness made it race even faster.
His tall and imposing figure loomed over her, pressing her into the bed. Luana couldn't help but shrink back.
Cline, seemingly unaware, pinned her to the bed and looked down at her pale face, asking softly, "Are you feeling any other discomfort?"
Cline rarely showed such concern for her. In fact, it had almost never happened before. This sudden gentleness was something Luana wasn't used to.
She pressed her back tightly against the bed, creating some distance between them, and then let out a slow breath.
She lowered her eyelids and whispered, "My back..."
Her meek and quiet demeanor was just like when she used to follow Cline around, as if she had never changed.
Cline's usually stern features softened slightly.
He unbuttoned Luana's coat and examined her back.
Three dark red marks from the iron rods were almost embedded in her flesh, so deep that they seemed to reveal the cracked bones beneath, a sight that was painfully striking.