Left for Dead Came Back for Everything novel Chapter 159

He stood behind the heavy iron door of the fire escape, unmoving as a statue.

Eliza walked up to the car just as Julian leaned over the center console, moving a small medical kit from the passenger seat to the back.

"Julian, you didn't need to drive all the way out here to get me. I could have just called a cab," Eliza said, her tone perfectly polite.

"It was on the way." Julian straightened up, nudging his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Besides, the roads out there are tricky, and GPS always takes the long way around. My family's old estate is on an unmarked road. Eight out of ten drivers wouldn't even be able to find it."

"How's the leg? Still hurting today?"

Eliza slid into the car and pulled the seatbelt across her chest. "It's alright. A bit stiff when I woke up, but it loosened up once I moved around."

"Mhm, just don't push yourself." Julian closed the passenger door and circled back to the driver's side. In the two seconds before he pulled his own door shut, he added one last thing.

"The main goal today is for Great-Aunt Teresa to take a look at your knee. She adjusted a new prescription and wants to personally check your recovery progress. Once the appointment is over, just rest. Don't stress yourself out over it."

"It won't interfere with work on Monday, will it?" Eliza asked.

"It won't. She said it's just a topical compress and some herbal supplements. A medicated patch at most."

"That's a relief."

The car doors locked shut.

The Porsche glided smoothly onto the street, merged into the main lane, and drove further and further away until it was swallowed by the city lights.

Behind the fire escape, Zander stood completely still.

He was still gripping his phone, his knuckles pale from the strain.

But his expression—after a brief moment of absolute rigidity—miraculously began to soften.

He slumped back against the brick wall and exhaled a long, heavy breath.

A vicious, profoundly relieved breath.

Her leg. A doctor. Prescriptions. Work.

From start to finish, the only thing the two of them discussed was her injury.

Their tone was strictly polite, the boundaries crystal clear.

There was zero ambiguity. Zero intimacy. Absolutely none of that suffocating, sickening sweetness that only belonged to a couple in love.

She was protecting him.

Zander's eyes snapped open.

His breathing grew rapid, a dangerous, obsessive light igniting in his pupils.

"I knew it."

His voice was a mere whisper, as if he were simply confirming a truth he had known all along.

"Eliza... you really do still love me."

He shoved his phone into his pocket and marched out from the fire escape.

His steps were much faster than before, practically buzzing with a desperate, euphoric energy. He broke into a jog, reaching his car at the end of the alley, yanked the door open, and fired up the engine.

He stared at his reflection in the rearview mirror—the dark circles under his eyes were still there, but the corners of his mouth were actually turned upward in a manic smile.

"All those things you said to me... they were all lies," he muttered to himself.