Divorce Me Before Death Takes Me, CEO

Chapter 69

Blake’s POV

Audrey tumbled down the stairs before I could react. Her slight frame hit each step with sickening thuds that echoed through the marble halls, finally coming to rest in a crumpled heap at the bottom.

In that split second, it felt as if I didn’t know how to breathe. Without conscious thought, my body was already moving toward her, driven by an instinct I couldn’t understand.

But just as I had descended two steps, a voice came from behind me.

“Blake darling…” Laurel slumped to the ground, clutching her neck, her voice filled with misery. “It hurts… I can’t breathe…”

I froze mid–stride, torn between the woman lying at the bottom of the stairs and the one currently on the ground, one hand pressed dramatically to her neck. The sound of Laurel’s labored breathing filled the silence.

“I can’t breathe… Blake… please…”

Her cancer. As I thought this, my eyes drifted to where Audrey lay. She was already pushing herself up, using the banister for support.

The weight of my promise from five years ago pressed down on me like a physical thing,

I let out a sign, turned back, catching her just as her knees buckled. “Laurel? Are you alright?”

Her skin felt cold and clammy as I lifted her into my arms. She curled into me immediately, her body trembling. ‘It hurts… everything hurts…”

I didn’t respond but stared at Audrey downstairs. The sight of her managing on her own helped ease the knot of guilt in my chest. She was fine. She had to

be.

Audrey’s POV

The world tilted and spun as I struggled to push myself up from the floor. Each movement sent waves of agony through my body.

Compared to the physical pain, the grief welling up in my heart at this moment swept over me like a tidal wave. Here I was, having just tumbled down an entire flight of stairs, while Laurel played the victim in Blake’s arms.

my trembling legs to hold my weight. A small, bitter

down. “Don’t worry about me… check on Miss Sinclair… she

fine, don’t worry

that I was even conscious was nothing short of miraculous. The height of those stairs… I should consider myself lucky to

of regret.

tongue so easily. I watched as Blake pulled

know, he murmured.

hear it from Miss Sinclair

up at them, disbelief warring with fury in my chest. After pushing me down a

Blake’s voice carried that familiar edge of command. “Come up here and tell Laurel

are you out of your mind?” I forced myself to stand straighter, ignoring the protest from every bruised muscle. Across the

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Chapter 69

the staircase, I met their eyes –

My voice came out steady.

knew it… she hates me… Blake darling… I

pallid face. Within seconds, his

you attacked her first. She just defended herself. That makes you even. Would it kill you to say a few

flicker of hope I’d foolishly allowed myself to feel it all turned to ash in

said calmly. “She saw me desperate to find Snow, then deliberately said those

My voice hardened. ‘But it was barely a touch, and you know

“Look at her neck. Show me these terrible marks I

hand flew to her throat. But Blake had already seen. His grip gentled as he moved her hand away, eyes narrowing as they traced the flawless skin of her

in his expression

continued, my voice steady despite the pain. “But she made sure I hit every step on the way down. You

the door. There was no point staying here to watch their romantic performance – not when Snow was

the front door froze me mid–step, accompanied

the doorway, a cat carrier dangling from his hand. His eyes widened as his

the stairs and