He Waited She Wilted (Ottilie and Yorath) novel Chapter 337

"I'm coming in. If you don't answer, I'm taking that as a yes."

Ottilie pushed the door open and froze. Marcella was slumped on the tiles in a pool of blood. Her wrist was slashed, and a cold fruit knife lay inches from her hand.

Ottilie lunged forward, kicking the knife away. She hoisted Marcella into her arms, carried her back to the bed, and screamed, "Yorath! Get in here! Your mother just slit her wrist!"

The Fordham brothers burst into the room instantly. Yorath grabbed a roll of gauze and immediately began applying pressure to the wound. Lyle sprinted out to get the doctor. They moved with terrifying efficiency, cold and precise.

Marcella wasn't unconscious. She wept weakly, her voice trembling. "Don't save me... I didn't protect your sister. I don't deserve to be a mother. She was so little, and they tortured her to death. I need to be with her..."

She buried her face in the pillow, sobbing inconsolably. The medical team rushed in, creating a storm of organized chaos, and eventually ushered them out.

Ottilie stood by the window, listening to Marcella's agonizing cries. The raw, guttural pain of it was devastating. For the first time in her life, she understood what real maternal love looked like. It was something she had never experienced, something other people were just born into. She felt a deep, twisting pang of envy.

It took hours of the brothers' comforting before Marcella finally cried herself to sleep. Lorenzo had rushed to the hospital after hearing the news, but he was barred from entering the room.

Lyle, who had basically been living at the hospital for two days, eventually had to leave for work. Yorath stayed behind to take the shift.

While Yorath stepped out to take a business call, Marcella woke up to find Ottilie dozing in the chair beside her bed.

"What are you doing here, Ottilie?"

Half-asleep, Ottilie mumbled, "I wanted to leave, but your son wouldn't let me. Mrs. Fordham, you really need to get better, or you're going to put me in an early grave with all this stress."

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