Obsession His Runaway Bride (Noelle and Adrian) novel Chapter 123

Chapter 123: Trampled

Chapter 123: Trampled

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The fluorescent lights above were harsh and Mateo squinted against them as he blinked awake. But it wasn’t the brightness that set his jav tight. The moment his eyes opened, the memories of Grace flooded his mind. She was the first thing his mind called for. The first thing he searched for with panic–stricken eyes.

But the chair beside his bed which was where she used to sit in during every injury, every sickness…was empty.

And with that, something inside him snapped to life.

Marco jolted upright in a sudden and desperate need overriding caution, only to be met with a brutal, burning pain that tore through his lower back. A guttural groan escaped his throat, but he didn’t stop. He tried to swing his legs off the bed but that’s when he realized.

He couldn’t move.

Leather restraints bound his wrists and ankles to the rails of the hospital bed.

“What the hell?” he snarled, yanking at the straps with wild, uneven strength. “What the hell is this?”

His pulse spiked and the monitor beside him screamed in alarm.

“Where is she?!” he roared, thrashing against the bed. “Where the fuck is Grace?!*”

Two nurses immediately came rushing in, trying to hold him down, but the more they touched him, the more furious he became.

“Get off me!” he shouted. “I swear to God, let me go–let me go!”

“Mr. DeLuca, please!” one of them said, trying to check the IV that had torn free. “You’re going to rip your sutures—”

“I don’t care!” he snapped. His eyes were feral and unfocused. “Why the hell am I tied down?! What the hell is this?! You think I’m insane now?!”

He pulled at the straps on his legs so hard the bed shifted with every lunge.

“You’re not holding me here like a prisoner, do you hear me?! Where is she? Grace-!” His voice cracked.

The fury kept coming in waves, not just at the pain, not just at the restraints, but at the unbearable emptiness on his side where she should’ve been. The one constant in his life. The one person who always stayed.

But she wasn’t here now.

He thrashed again, more desperately this time. His muscles burned as he fought against the

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Chapter 123 holed

leather that held him in place. Rage and fear clawed up his throat like bile.

“Let me see her!” Marco shouted. “I need to see Her! She’s all I have!”

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Suddenly, the door burst open with a sharp swing, slamming against the wall, and in stepped Dr. Everett in his usual calm and composed demeanor whilst adjusting the cuff of his shirt like he hadn’t just walked into chaos.

“All of you,” Everett said evenly, not even sparing, Marco a glance at first. “You can let him go and return to your tasks.”

There was no room for argument in his voice. The nurses, though flushed from the struggle, gave short nods and stepped away one after another. A moment later, the door clicked shut, leaving only the bitter sound of Marco’s heaving breaths.

Everett didn’t speak right away. He stepped forward, smooth and unhurried, and adjusted the last strap at Marco’s leg, inspecting it as though it were a routine check.

“I had you tied down,” Everett finally said, his tone maddeningly calm, “because I knew you’d act like this.”

He shook his head once, not in reprimand, but in weary expectation. Like he had already predicted Marco’s fury before it came.

But Marco wasn’t interested in measured words or the doctor’s clinical foresight.

“Where is Grace?” he snapped as his eyes burned into him. “Where the hell is she?”

Dr. Everett slowly raised his gaze to meet Marco’s. His expression remained unreadable, but the shift in his eyes betrayed more than his voice ever would.

“Who’s Grace?” he said with feigned innocence, casually turning his back to check the IV line like they were talking about some forgotten chart.

Marco’s body jerked against the straps again. “Don’t fuck with me, Everett!” he shouted, v hoarse with rage and panic. “Where is she?!”

Everett didn’t flinch. Instead, he turned around slowly, brows lifting as if Marco’s outburst mildly amused him.

“Oh, now you remember her?” he said with a dry chuckle, dragging a chair over with one hand and sitting at the edge of the bed like he had all the time in the world. “That’s rich.”

He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

“I remember her, too. The girl who stood by your side when you didn’t even bother to look in her direction. The one who stayed quiet every time you trampled on her feelings… gracefully, I might add… like it was her job to keep swallowing pain. She waited for you. Cared for you. And when she finally gave up… now suddenly, you look for her?”

Marco’s jaw clenched but Everett only smiled–tight–lipped and humorless.

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Chapter 123. Trampled

IS BORUS

“You’re strapped to this bed whining like a child, screaming her name like it means something now. But where were you when she was begging to be seen?”

He leaned back in the chair, crossing one leg over the other.

“Where is she?” he echoed mockingly. “Well, if had to guess… probably in someone else’s arms now. Someone who didn’t take years to figure out she was worth fighting for. Someone who didn’t call her a burden or look through her like air.”

Everett’s words hit him straight to his gut. Marco’s throat bobbed with a dry swallow as his hands curled into the sheets.

“Yeah,” Everett added. “Maybe while you’re in here tied to a bed… she’s out there finally learning what it feels like to be loved.” He said before he slowly stood, brushing invisible dust off his sleeve.

“You should rest.” Everett said as his voice dropped into a deadly calm. “You’ll need the strength if you ever plan to earn back even a fraction of what you threw away. That is… if there’s anything left to earn.”

Everett stepped back as he slipped his hands into his coat pockets.

“Oh, right,” he spoke again but with a hollow laugh. “I almost forgot. You don’t have the means to do that anymore, do you?”

Marco’s eyes widened in confusion.

“The bullet we pulled out of your back?” Everett’s gaze darkened. “It clipped the nerve bundle near your lumbar spine. The damage is permanent. so your legs won’t carry you anymore. No walking. No running. Not now, not ever.”

Marco’s chest rose sharply, as if to speak, but no words came out. Only the silence of realization, creeping in like cold.

Everett took another step back and smiled. “But maybe that’s fitting. Maybe now, you’ll finally understand what it means to live powerless in the hands of people you thought would protect you. Maybe now you’ll feel what Grace felt even when she had both abled feet beneath her.”

He then turned toward the door and paused.

“And the worst part? You weren’t just anyone to her. You were the one she waited for. You were her hope, but you took her for granted. You looked at her with empty eyes and chose apathy over love. You trampled on her heart… that she gave you so freely. Now it’s your turn to be crushed… but only lower than she ever was.”

With his hand on the door handle, Everett glanced over his shoulder one last time and left.

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Chapter 124 CIOB

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