She's Too Busy Winning to Watch Him Cry novel Chapter 195

Back at the hospital, Lyra sat by her mother's bedside, consumed by a suffocating sense of dread.

In her past life, when Rowan had mistakenly believed she had hurt Jasmine, he had nearly killed her. She could still vividly remember the terrifying pressure of his hand wrapping around her throat, his eyes blazing with a murderous, predatory rage. The phantom sensation of suffocating still haunted her.

If he found out she had deliberately thrown wine on Jasmine this time, there was absolutely no way he would let her survive the fallout.

Word on the street was that Rowan was out of the country. If she remembered correctly, he was on a business trip to the Middle East—a highly volatile region crawling with rebel factions and constant danger.

What if she made sure he never came back at all?

The sheer intensity of the dark thought caused her hand to slip. "Ah!" Lyra gasped as the paring knife nicked her finger.

She quickly put the bleeding finger in her mouth to staunch the blood.

Delilah looked over, concern etching her pale features. "You've been so distracted today. Let me see your hand, honey."

Lyra offered a sheepish smile, hiding the tiny cut. "It's nothing, Mom. Barely a scratch."

Handing over the freshly peeled apple, she grabbed her purse. "Here you go. I need to step out for a minute, but I'll be right back."

"Wait," Delilah said gently, catching her daughter's wrist. Seeing Lyra constantly working herself to the bone, so alone in the world, shattered her heart. "Your father was taken from us so suddenly, and Caleb has his own life now with his new marriage. It's just you left. All I want is for you to find someone who will truly love and protect you. Once you're married and safe, I can finally be at peace."

Lyra hadn't realized her mother was still agonizing over her love life amidst all their family's chaos.

Why did her mother think a wedding ring was some magic shield that would protect her from the world's cruelty?

"I want to stay with you forever, Mom. Is that so bad?"

"It's wonderful, but..." Delilah sighed, her complexion still heartbreakingly pale as she squeezed Lyra's hand.

"Mom, Julian is only just starting his master's program. We have our whole lives ahead of us. There's no rush," Lyra deflected smoothly.

Delilah managed a weak smile. She hadn't been talking about Julian at all. She knew her own daughter—Lyra only saw that boy as a little brother.

"Alright, sweetie. Alright."

At that moment, Martha brought in a warm basin of water so Delilah could wash her hands before eating the fruit.

"I'll be back before you know it, Mom."

Slinging her bag over her shoulder, Lyra practically bolted out of the hospital room.

She just never imagined that this lethal sequence of numbers would only serve its purpose in her second life.

Even without that sweat-soaked scrap of paper in her trembling hands, she could dial the number flawlessly with her eyes closed.

Lyra purchased a burner phone and a completely untraceable SIM card from a black-market vendor, hooking it up to a digital voice scrambler.

After running a quick test, the device flawlessly masked her tone, converting her speech into the gravelly, menacing drawl of a middle-aged man.

Bypassing several proxy servers to mask her location, she finally dialed the number that was burned into her very soul.

The line clicked open. A cold, highly guarded voice spoke in fluent Arabic.

"How the hell did you get this number?"

Lyra, who was perfectly fluent in Arabic herself, replied without missing a beat. "How I got it is none of your concern. I have a hit."

"A billionaire tech magnate operating under the alias James. He's currently moving through the ancient city of Petra," she stated icily, laying out the target.

"You're ordering a hit... on him?" the man on the other end repeated, genuine shock bleeding through his professional facade.