The Cold Surgeon's Contract Bride novel Chapter 481

"Selena."

It felt as though someone had flicked my forehead, or an invisible bullet had struck right between my eyes. A deafening roar echoed in my mind, yet my body remained frozen, unable to move a muscle.

Someone else moved for me.

Ferris's arm reached over. His broad palm rested against my shoulder, pulling me effortlessly back into his embrace with a gentle, commanding force.

My head rested against his arm, while his other arm banded around my waist, pulling me snug against his chest. He rested his chin on my shoulder, his voice a soft murmur against my ear. "Go to sleep... you're too exhausted."

I was definitely exhausted. I hadn't slept well in days, but at that moment, sleep was the furthest thing from my mind.

The sheer shock of his words left me reeling, making me wonder if I was still trapped in a dream.

Otherwise, why would Ferris say something like that?

Wasn't the 'wife' he spoke of supposed to be Zoey?

I desperately wanted to ask him, to confirm if he had just misspoken, but his breathing had already deepened into a steady, rhythmic cadence. I turned my head and saw his eyes tightly shut. He was fast asleep.

Because he was in such a deep sleep, his body relaxed, and the iron grip around me loosened. I easily slipped out of his embrace, stepping out of bed barefoot, and stood frozen by the nightstand for a long time.

The digital clock on the nightstand told me it was 3:30 AM.

I remembered arriving home in the late afternoon. The house had been empty, and I had fallen asleep in the bathtub. When had Ferris come back?

Had he carried me out of the tub and put me to bed?

Snapping out of my daze, any lingering exhaustion vanished. I turned to look for my phone, but realizing it wasn't nearby, I padded barefoot into the bathroom.

Surprisingly, the bathroom was spotless. The water in the tub was drained, and even the floor was completely dry, looking as though it had just been scrubbed clean.

My phone wasn't in there, so I turned around, walked out of the bedroom, and headed into the living room to search.

I stood there in a daze for a long time, my emotions an absolute tangled mess.

Finding my phone on the living room coffee table, I slumped down onto the sofa, pulled a throw blanket over myself, and unlocked the screen.

Oddly, the notification screen was completely blank. It was highly unusual.

I opened my messages and finally saw a few threads.

At the very top was a message from Lucille—a massive block of text that practically amounted to a short essay.

A quick skim told me exactly what she was playing at. I closed the chat window without even bothering to type a reply.

Below that was a text from the head nurse, asking if I had gone home to rest, how I was feeling, and if I could work my shift tomorrow.

But the strangest part was that all these messages were already marked as read.