He Never Loved Me Until the Day I Finally Left Him novel Chapter 364

"Doctor, we're losing her! Mrs. Hayes's blood oxygen is plummeting!" a nurse shouted, bursting through the double doors.

The surgeon scrambled back into the operating theater.

Sebastian was blocked from entering, the heavy doors slamming shut in his face.

Having caught wind of the disaster, Beau Sterling rushed straight to the hospital.

Taking in the grim scene, he fell into a heavy silence.

He didn't even know where to begin offering comfort.

The toxic tug-of-war between Janetta, Helena, and Sebastian had finally snapped.

But Sebastian's ultimate choice in the corridor had managed to shock even Beau.

After a long pause, Beau looked over at his friend. "You've cared about her for a long time, haven't you?"

Sebastian ignored the question.

His gaze remained fiercely locked on the glowing sign above the surgical suite.

Every agonizing second ticked by like a slow death.

The waiting was pure psychological torture.

"Did you care about Rory? You drove her away back then, and you still haven't ended up with Quinn, have you?" Sebastian shot back coldly.

Beau lowered his eyes, his demeanor growing even more solemn.

"My situation isn't the same. You and Helena don't have a blood feud tearing you apart. We did," Beau replied in an empty tone.

Sebastian absorbed the words but offered no rebuttal.

Everyone had their own private hell to navigate.

He couldn't even untangle his own complex feelings for the woman bleeding out on the table.

But he knew one undeniable truth: over the last seven years, he had grown addicted to her constant presence.

He had spent years feeding himself the lie that he was only with her for his grandfather's sake.

Convincing himself that divorce was simply off the table because of familial duty.

Then, he had used the inheritance clause in the old man's will as his primary excuse to keep her shackled to him.

But deep down in the darkest corners of his mind, he knew the truth.

The power to end the marriage had always rested entirely in his hands.

He was the one who absolutely refused to let her go.

By dragging it out and twisting their bond into a weapon, he had successfully destroyed them both.

Trapped in a spiral of bitter realization, he stood frozen like a statue.

Beau decided to drop the subject, letting the heavy silence reign.

Inside the OR, the atmosphere was suffocatingly frantic.

Helena's vitals were crashing fast.

It was a devastating tragedy.

"Get her to the NICU right now!" the standby neonatologist barked.

Through the slits of her blurred vision, Helena caught a horrific glimpse of her bloody infant being rushed away.

She couldn't even tell if the crimson coating the tiny body was her own blood or her daughter's.

That singular image utterly shattered her.

She plummeted back into the black void of unconsciousness.

The relentless clatter of surgical instruments was the only sound in the hyper-tense room.

It took hours of brutal work before the surgery was finally completed.

The medical team had practically fought the reaper to drag Helena back to the land of the living.

She was immediately transferred to the intensive care unit on life support.

She never even got the chance to properly look at her daughter.

Sebastian maintained his grim vigil in the hallway the entire time.

Joining his wait was the lead attorney for the Hayes estate.

The lawyer needed to verify the live birth to officially finalize the massive transfer of corporate shares.

But for that to happen, the infant had to stay breathing.