The Year I Stopped Being His novel Chapter 70

"Tilly... please... please..."

Abigail wailed into her hands. Professor Harrison gripped Coach Jensen's arm with bruising force, his eyes bloodshot.

Cough... Waaaah!

The next second, the girl violently gasped for air, exploding into a fit of hacking coughs and shrill cries.

"She's back! She's breathing!"

A collective, massive sigh of relief ripped through the crowd.

Paramedics surged onto the scene, quickly loading the little girl onto a stretcher and rushing her toward an ambulance. After stammering out endless, tearful gratitude, the Harrisons hurried after her. Abigail's legs completely gave out, so Josh rushed over to help support his mentor's wife as they made their way to the flashing lights.

Watching the chaotic scene fade into the distance, Sloane exhaled a shuddering breath of scalding air. Her adrenaline-fueled nerves finally slackened.

But the very next second, a blinding, skull-crushing agony detonated in her brain without warning.

It felt like a sledgehammer had slammed directly into her temples.

She swayed precariously on her feet.

No... why now... why is the illness acting up now?!

*

"Sloane?"

When Garrison turned around, she was gone. His predatory gaze swept over the chaotic perimeter before he finally spotted that familiar silhouette bracing herself against a large oak tree.

Damn it, was she trying to slip away?

Didn't she think she owed him an explanation for why she was at this gala as a member of the Antarctic expedition?!

He closed the distance in a few long strides, grabbing her roughly by the arm.

Then, she collapsed completely.

Garrison's heart violently seized! He instinctually threw his arms out, catching her freezing body against his chest. Sloane's eyes were shut lifelessly, cold sweat dripping down her temples. That desperate plea for "pills" struck his chest like a lethal arrow. In a blinding flash, a memory struck him—the graveyard on that stormy night, the chilling discovery of those abandoned pills.

Not daring to delay a second longer, Garrison swept her up into his arms and bolted toward the road, desperate to rush her to the hospital.

Just then, Josh ran up from behind.

He threw an arm out, physically blocking Garrison's path. The young man's eyes were filled with naked panic for Sloane and a burning, unapologetic hostility toward Garrison.

"Dr. Foster, what happened to her? Where are you taking her?!"

Garrison's face was a mask of absolute ice. His pale eyes were dead calm, yet radiating a terrifying, suffocating dominance.

"Do I really need to remind you?"

"She is my wife."