Left for Dead Came Back for Everything novel Chapter 12

"You keep talking about making it up to me, but how? Can you put me back on that stage? Can you give me back the absolute devotion I poured into you?"

With every word, Eliza took a jagged step forward.

The rain washed furiously over her pale face, her eyes red with unshed tears.

Zander's breathing hitched, the color draining from his face.

Watching this frantic, broken woman before him, his mind violently flashed back to three years ago—to the dead, agonizing look in her eyes when she stared at him from beneath the rubble.

A bone-deep terror gripped him.

"Eliza... stop..." he murmured, his voice trembling as he stepped forward to hold her, only for her to shove him away without hesitation.

"Get out! Take your cheap pity and charity and crawl back to your precious family! Even if my leg rots off, even if I spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair, I will never accept a single favor from the Roths!"

Having screamed those final words, Eliza's chest heaved violently.

The extreme mixture of fury, grief, and the agonizing agony radiating from her left leg instantly drained the last ounce of strength from her body.

The freezing rain seemed to rob her of her body heat all at once.

Nausea rolled through her stomach. The sound of the downpour grew distant, and the world spun wildly before fracturing into suffocating blackness.

"Eliza!"

In the last second before losing consciousness, she only heard Zander's distorted, desperate scream. Then, she collapsed limply, plunging into an endless abyss.

The sharp, clinical scent of antiseptic burned her lungs.

Eliza frowned, slowly peeling her heavy eyelids open.

Her vision was filled with the stark, glaring ceiling of a hospital room, accompanied by the steady, rhythmic beeping of a heart monitor.

"You have no idea how terrifying the situation was. He was completely soaked. When he carried you into the ER, he looked completely unhinged, his eyes were totally bloodshot, and he was trembling all over."

The nurse glanced at Eliza, hesitating before adding, "You were unconscious for five whole hours, and he stayed right by your side the entire time. He only left just now to pay your bills and grab your medication from the pharmacy because the doctor said you were out of the woods. He should be back soon, so get some rest!"

With that, the nurse turned and left the room.

Hearing this, a look of utter disgust twisted Eliza's pale features.

She closed her eyes, hiding the cold, absolute finality in her gaze.

Belated affection was cheaper than dirt.

Zander's little performance of playing the devoted lover now only made her stomach churn.

Exhausted, she shut her eyes tightly.