Substitute Wife For The Blind CEO

Chapter 187 - 187: Wake Up

The hallway felt longer than it should have. Stefan's bare feet touched the cold floor as he made his way slowly, his body weak and unsteady, yet pulled forward by something stronger than exhaustion — the desperate need to see her.

Ethan followed him closely, ready to catch him if his knees buckled again, but Stefan barely noticed. His mind was a storm, his chest a battlefield of pain and love and guilt.

When they reached the ward, Rayna was sitting outside on a plastic chair, her face pale with worry. She stood the second she saw Stefan, shock flickering across her eyes.

"Stefan—you shouldn't be out of bed," she started, but one look at his face stopped her. He was beyond reason.

"I need to see her," he said, his voice a rasp of iron and breaking glass.

Rayna's throat tightened, but she didn't argue. She only stepped aside, her eyes filling with tears as she placed a hand briefly on his arm, a silent promise that she understood.

Stefan nodded before going ahead to push the door open.

The smell hit him first — the faint sting of disinfectant, mixed with the sterile cold of hospital air. The room was dim, the blinds drawn, the only light coming from the monitors at her bedside. The soft, steady rhythm of machines filled the silence, each beep a cruel reminder that those machines were doing the work her body couldn't yet manage.

eyes landed on

the crisp sheets. Her lips, though no longer blue, were colorless, her chest rising and falling only because of the oxygen mask fitted over her face. Her wrists

both heartbreakingly fragile

stop them, hot trails sliding down his smoke-burned

through fire, through pain, through suffocating smoke to save her — but nothing prepared him for the sight before him. Seeing Ruby like this, lifeless yet alive, was a torment greater than

He lowered himself into the chair beside her, his bandaged hand trembling as he reached for hers. The

voice cracked, a whisper carried on shattered breath. "God, I'm

down, one after another, falling onto the back of her hand. He pressed her fingers against his lips, clinging to her as though she were his

I wasn't strong enough." His words broke into sobs he could no longer contain. "You don't know how much you wanted that baby. How your eyes lit up every time you touched your stomach. I saw it, Ruby. I saw how much you already loved it. And

chest heaving with grief. The loss hollowed him out,

helplessness, the unbearable pain of knowing he'd have to look into her eyes one day and tell her the truth — it all poured out of

hand tightened around hers, his breathing ragged but steadier. He wiped his face roughly with his uninjured hand, dragging

fall apart. Not now. You need me. I have

leaned closer, his forehead

baby. I don't know how we'll survive that pain. But Ruby…" His voice softened to a broken vow. "I swear to you, if you just wake up, I'll spend every breath I have protecting you. You're all I have left. Please don't leave me, too. You have to wake up, baby. You