I Choose Him, Your Worst Enemy novel Chapter 175

Adriel's forehead was burning.

Wynette's worry deepened the moment she felt it.

She pushed herself up and rummaged through the room's first aid kit until she found a cooling fever patch, then pressed it gently to his forehead.

She settled back onto the carpet beside the bed and folded her arms on the mattress, keeping watch from there.

The moment her hand came to rest on the bed, she felt warmth against it.

It was Adriel's hand.

His fingers closed around hers, loose but deliberate.

Wynette looked down at his large hand resting over hers, then looked up at his face. He was still asleep.

She tried carefully pulling her hand back. His grip tightened just enough to keep her there.

She stopped trying.

By the time the ship docked, the fever patch had done its work. When she pressed her hand to his forehead again, the searing heat had eased.

Adriel was transferred to a hospital under the Holloways' name.

The wound on his hand had been aggravated by the ice water exposure and had become inflamed, which had driven the fever higher.

It was a fortunate thing they'd treated it when they did.

Gavin and Jamie had successfully contained everything that had happened on the ship, and Snow had been taken in for questioning by the police the moment the gangway touched the dock.

Wynette stayed at the hospital.

Once the doctor had confirmed Adriel was stable, she gently sent Jamie and Gavin home, and they'd listened.

She spent the entire night in the chair beside his bed.

By morning, she was also aware that the Shepherds were in full-blown crisis.

The news about Justin's illegitimate child had detonated across every platform overnight, and the Shepherds hadn't had a quiet moment since.

Wynette glanced at it briefly and moved on.

A nurse came early to change Adriel's IV line, and Shirley arrived not long after, carrying a thermos of homemade breakfast she'd gone out of her way to bring.

Wynette felt a little embarrassed. "You really didn't have to come all the way here this early."

"Wynette, if you say that one more time, I'm going to actually be offended," Shirley said, with a look that made it clear she meant it.

She set the thermos down and added, "The Zimmers sent someone to negotiate. They want to meet with you and Mr. Gallagher. Word is Snow has some kind of condition, something about being obsessive and unstable."

Shirley tapped the side of her head pointedly.

Wynette's smile was thin and entirely unsympathetic. "Tell them we're not meeting with anyone. And tell them that if Snow has a condition, she should be in treatment, not out in the world hurting people. The Zimmers can't afford what happens if she does it again."

Having a condition wasn't an excuse, and it certainly wasn't going to be Snow's exit from consequences.

Wynette had no intention of letting this go quietly.

Shirley leaned in closer and dropped her voice. "Noah's in this hospital too, still being treated. After the news about Justin's illegitimate child broke, Eve and Justin got into it. It turned into a whole scene right here in the hospital last night."

Adam had apparently checked himself out to avoid the chaos. The rest of the Shepherds were still here.

Shirley asked around before she came up to Wynette.

Eve had completely lost herself and gone after Justin physically, pulling a knife and threatening to use it, but Justin had dodged and in the struggle, the knife had ended up in Eve instead.

The Shepherds had become the subject of every whispered conversation in the city.

Wynette listened to all of it without a flicker of feeling.

"What about Edgar?" she asked.

"Lorelei somehow got him to take a million dollars and back off. He's leaving her alone for now," Shirley said.

Wynette had been running interference between Edgar and Lorelei for a while, but Eve had also been making things complicated on that front, and Wynette couldn't afford to dedicate all her attention there.

Still, hearing that Lorelei had handled Edgar herself was reassuring.

God, it felt like having a thousand razor blades stuck in my throat a while ago.

He'd been too lenient with them before.

Every time he let himself think about the fact that Snow had meant that water for Wynette, and that he'd come back to the room so late that night, the cold feeling spread further.

If Wynette had opened it and drunk it immediately, and he hadn't returned until hours later...

He didn't let himself finish the thought. He didn't need to.

The half-thought alone was chilling enough to make him shudder.

His grip on her hand tightened without him intending it to, and the sharp cold in his eyes froze further.

Wynette felt the shift and turned her hand over to hold his in return.

Adriel caught himself immediately and looked at her with a flash of remorse. "Sorry. Did I hurt you?"

Wynette shook her head, and meant it. "You didn't. I'm fine."

He looked down at their hands, his expression unreadable but deep.

"I filed the police report," Wynette said. "The Zimmers have someone trying to bail her out, but I'm not letting this go. Snow needs to face what she did. Gavin and the others have kept it out of the public eye."

She said it plainly, making her intentions clear.

She also knew she owed him the full picture. They hadn't had a real conversation about Snow and whatever history existed there, and Wynette thought he should hear where she stood.

Adriel listened, and looked at her simply. "Handle it however you think is right."

He said it without hesitation, without qualifications.

Wynette let out a quiet breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

In everything, big and small, he consistently left the decisions to her, genuinely and without reservation.

She looked at him, and something in her chest shifted, soft and unhurried, like the turn of a tide.

A small smile found its way onto her face.