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

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 were bandaged where the ropes had bitten into her skin, her hair fanned across the pillow like a brown

she looked both

them, hot trails sliding down his smoke-burned

her — but nothing prepared him for the sight before him. Seeing Ruby like this,

beside her, his bandaged hand trembling as he reached for hers. The warmth of her skin against

voice cracked, a whisper carried on shattered breath.

of her hand. He pressed

protect our baby. I wasn't fast enough. 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 I couldn't save her.

freely now, his chest heaving with grief. The loss hollowed him out, leaving a raw, aching emptiness that threatened to

knowing he'd have to look into her

ragged but steadier. He wiped his face roughly with his

softly, his voice still trembling but firmer now. "I can't fall apart. Not

closer, his forehead resting gently against her

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