The Cold Surgeon's Contract Bride novel Chapter 793

It was the distinct buzz of a text message notification.

I instinctively reached over to grab the phone. It wasn't until I swiped the screen to unlock it that I realized it wasn't mine.

It was Ferris's phone.

We had the exact same model, and he had programmed his security settings to accept my Face ID.

Without meaning to, I immediately saw the preview of the text message at the top of the screen: "Mr. Sterling, Mr. Hayes's condition has stabilized. Please rest assured, the hospital will continue to monitor him closely. If he shows any signs of waking, we will notify you immediately."

Mr. Hayes?

Was it about Maxwell?

I was never the type to snoop, and I certainly hadn't planned on digging through my husband's private messages.

My initial instinct was to toss the phone back onto his nightstand, but after seeing that preview, my fingers moved on their own, tapping directly into the message thread.

I desperately needed to know if the "Mr. Hayes" they were talking about was Maxwell.

Was Maxwell finally waking up?

Driven by a force I couldn't control, I opened the chat and scrolled through the history.

Right above the new text was a message Ferris had sent last night: "How is his condition?"

And just above that was an incoming voice call log from 9:38 PM the night before last.

The night before last. That was the night he had been called away by a sudden phone call from his father. He hadn't come to my hospital room, and he hadn't texted me.

I hadn't reached out to him either, but when the nurse tried to block me from being discharged the next morning, she had called Ferris, only to find his phone turned off.

Later, Ferris had told me his father had called him away.