The Plane Tickets He Hoarded The Wife He Hid novel Chapter 82

82 Chapter 82 The Price Of Indifference

82 Chapter 82 The Price Of Indifference

Blanche’s POV 1

Minutes ticked by before I finally opened the hotel room door.

Zain didn’t spare me a glance. He simply walked down the hallway with purpose. “Follow me,” he commanded, his voice completely

emotionless.

His tone revealed nothing, and I couldn’t decipher what he was thinking from his expression.

I had no choice but to trail behind him.

Zain pushed through the stairwell door at the corridor’s end. He stepped inside, and I followed suit.

The moment the door shut with a soft click, he positioned himself against it, obviously planning to keep Vincent from following.

I observed everything unfold, my pulse racing with a cocktail of surprise and terror.

Throughout our five–year marriage, I had cherished and honored Zain. When I’d made the decision to divorce, I’d begun releasing that

love and respect, learning not to care anymore.

But never before had I felt this kind of fear toward him.

Zain propped himself against the door and pulled out a cigarette.

The lighter’s flame briefly lit up his stern face, highlighting features that were rigid and completely lacking any warmth.

He appeared threatening, sending shivers down my back.

After taking a deep inhale, he finally gazed down at me. “You’re coming with me,” he stated through the smoke.

I simply stared back at him. Any notion I’d harbored about him feeling wounded or upset disappeared, replaced by a harsh, ridiculous

reality.

So that’s how it is, I realized. A man who genuinely doesn’t love you won’t even react if you’re unfaithful.

If Joanna had betrayed him somehow, he’d be going crazy right now–enraged, devastated, completely out of control.

My heart sank. I wanted to weep, to laugh, but I couldn’t manage either. I just felt empty inside.

Zain began descending the stairs. When he saw I wasn’t moving, he looked back. “Blanche, my patience is running out.”

It served as both a threat and a command.

But I was beyond caring now.

He’d never given a damn about me, so why should I start worrying about his feelings?

When he’d first appeared at the door, I’d actually experienced a moment of remorse.

Perhaps I shouldn’t have gone through with this, not until the divorce was finalized.

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But seeing him now, I understood how ridiculous that thinking was. It was all in my imagination.

I mechanically followed him down the steps.

Eventually, we reached the parking garage.

Zain slid into the driver’s seat without even bothering to open my

door.

That was typical of him. He treated Joanna and me like we were completely different species.

If it had been Joanna, he would have opened her door, protected her head as she entered, smoothed her dress, and fastened her seatbelt

himself.

I climbed into the back seat. I had no clue where he was taking me, and we rode in total silence.

Zain didn’t mention Vincent and me even once.

He appeared to be rushing, driving aggressively. In the rearview mirror, I could see his jaw was tight, his mouth set in a hard line.

His phone buzzed repeatedly, the screen flashing over and over, but he paid it no attention.

I couldn’t make out who was calling, but I was certain it wasn’t Joanna. He would never ignore one of her calls.

When the car finally came to a stop, I saw he’d brought me to Oakwood Hospital, my workplace.

He exited the vehicle and headed toward the entrance without waiting, simply instructing me to keep pace.

He guided me to an observation room in the emergency department.

Through the slightly ajar door, I spotted a man lying on the bed in the room’s center.

Looking more carefully, I recognized it was Demetrius.

I stopped cold, bewilderment washing over me.

I instinctively reached out to push the door wider.

But Zain caught my arm. “I need to speak with you.”

My eyes were burning as I turned to glare at him. “What do you want to discuss?”

Zain’s eyes narrowed. “Get Demetrius to do a surgery.”

With those words, everything became clear,

I grasped why he had abruptly returned to Oakwood, why he had hunted me down at the hotel, and why he was in such a hurry.

Everything he was doing centered around this operation.

And whoever required it, I knew, mattered far more to him than his own wife did.

During our five years of marriage, I had experienced Zain’s indifference more times than I could remember.

I recalled when Carry was barely walking, getting into everything. I had developed a high fever, my head was pounding, and I felt

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completely exhausted.

Carry was being difficult, constantly making messes, and I simply couldn’t cope. I sent Zain a message: [Can you come home and help with the baby? I have a fever and I can’t handle this.] is response came back immediately: [Take some medicine. I’m not a doctor. Heidi

is there, have her put Carry to bed.]

Reading those words felt unreal. I understood what each word meant individually, but together, they seemed to come from a complete

stranger.

I spiraled into depression afterward. It was only much later that I discovered why he hadn’t come home: he was out seeking revenge for

some insult against his assistant.

He cared deeply about many people. As his wife, I didn’t even rank on that list.

How pitiful was that?

Returning to the present moment, I looked up at Zain. “Who needs the surgery?”

Zain avoided the question. “That’s not your concern.”

I didn’t push further. “I can’t make Demetrius’s decisions for him,” I said. “Plus, he’s a patient right now. We don’t even know his condition

or whether he’s medically cleared for surgery.”

“It’s an extremely critical surgery,” Zain stated bluntly. “I’ve done my research. He’s the only surgeon capable of performing it.”

For a moment, I drifted off, recalling what Demetrius had said to me—to trust him, that he could deal with Drew Stewart’s threats.

Maybe this surgery Zain was demanding, the one only Demetrius could do, was the solution.

But regardless, I held my position. “You should speak to Demetrius directly. I don’t have the authority to make decisions for other

people.”

Zain remained quiet for a moment. When he finally spoke, his voice was strained. “Blanche, this is life or death. If I had enough influence

to persuade Demetrius Jake on my own, I wouldn’t be here wasting time talking to you.”

His anger was clearly building.

I looked up at him and released a bitter laugh. “A crisis? So when it’s your emergency, it’s a crisis, but everyone else’s problems are just

trivial matters?”

Just yesterday, I couldn’t reach Demetrius and even made the trip to Windsor to locate him. What was their response then?

Why is it that when the situation is reversed, he can’t simply dismiss it as unimportant?

Zain obviously had no desire to revisit old grievances. He got straight to the point. “Drew’s mother was admitted to the hospital with a sudden condition. It’s a brain tumor. She’s everything to him, and Demetrius is the only surgeon who can perform this procedure. You two have a relationship. If you make the request, he won’t turn you down. But if I ask, what do you think his response will be?”

I didn’t want to listen. “How would I know?”

Zain wasn’t interested in debating. His expression turned icy as he made his threat. “You can choose not to ask him. And I can make a

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single phone call, and every member of the Callum family will suffer the repercussions.”

That only fueled my anger further. “You’re always so damn presumptuous, Zain,” I snapped. “After everything Drew put Demetrius through, if you were in his position, could you just let it go?”

Zain said nothing.

I continued. “Go ahead, target my family. But you’d better consider carefully whether Demetrius will still be willing to do that surgery

after you do.”

Zain just studied me for a long moment. Then, without saying another word, he turned and left.

I didn’t follow him. Instead, I pushed the door open and entered the observation room.

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