The Cold Surgeon's Contract Bride novel Chapter 347

It was just that now, he was expressing it far more aggressively.

Or perhaps, he had already decided to make his relationship with Zoey completely public, which was why he let the bite mark on his neck be seen by everyone.

He wanted people to look. He was parading just how passionately in love he and his precious pet were, showing off the physical evidence of their intimacy.

"Ah, that..." Zoey, standing closest to Ferris, reacted first. Her brows knitted together as she let out a tiny gasp of shock.

Lucille saw it too. Her initial shock rapidly morphed into wild excitement, and she shot me a frantic look.

"This is completely out in the open. Why should I hide it?" Ferris frowned slightly, his long fingers adjusting his collar. His dark, bottomless eyes casually swept over my face, yet his expression remained entirely unapologetic and calm.

Out in the open. Nothing to hide.

My guess was dead on. Ferris was doing this intentionally. By flaunting the bite mark, he was signaling that he was ready to go public with Zoey.

It made sense. He had already agreed to draft The Marital Dissolution Agreement, meaning he was about to be a free man.

In the past, he was forced to keep his precious pet a secret, making her suffer in the shadows. But once he regained his freedom, he obviously couldn't let her suffer anymore. He would naturally go public the very first second he could, giving her his undivided, unapologetic love.

A sharp ache pierced my palms, but it couldn't mask the agonizing, suffocating wave of despair in my chest. My throat felt like sandpaper, and even breathing hurt.

It hit me then, with crushing clarity, that I still cared.

Even though I had told myself over and over that having no expectations meant I wouldn't be disappointed, that not caring meant I wouldn't hurt... I hadn't managed to control my own heart.

"Your moral character has hit rock bottom, but your shamelessness has reached new heights! I never should have expected anything from you," Leon sneered, clearly infuriated by Ferris again.

The corners of Ferris's lips twitched upward. His indifferent gaze drifted over my face again, his tone dripping with sheer arrogance. "You really shouldn't have any expectations. Because you're destined to be disappointed."

He genuinely didn't care about Leon's insults; if anything, he seemed highly amused.

It was Zoey's.

Ferris wasn't with me last night; he was with Zoey.

Before seeing that bite mark, a tiny, pathetic part of me was still second-guessing. Maybe my hallucination was real. Maybe Ferris really had come home, undressed me, and bathed me before leaving again.

But seeing that bite mark shattered everything. The truth was blindingly clear.

It was a hallucination.

Everything last night had been my own pathetic, fabricated dream.

Ferris hadn't come home. While I was hallucinating him massaging my head and bathing me, he was wrapped in the arms of his true love in their little nest, having the time of his life, wrapped in sweet passion, leaving marks of their intimacy on each other's skin.