Trick Him Into Divorce, Then Flee With His Unknow Kid novel Chapter 468

Chapter 468: Chapter 468 The First Breath After

The surgical lights were blinding.

Everything around Ryan had begun to blur—the ceiling, the figures moving around him, the steady beeping of the monitors.

His consciousness was slipping away.

Then, in those final seconds before the anesthesia took hold, he felt something warm against his hand.

Someone gently squeezed his fingers.

Just once.

Ryan’s heart seemed to stop.

It felt like a hallucination.

The warmth disappeared almost immediately.

But before his eyes closed completely, Ryan’s lips moved soundlessly.

Rose.

*****

Outside the operating room, Robert’s team was fully prepared.

They were among the most experienced neurosurgical and neuro-oncology specialists in the country, and because of the complexity of Ryan’s case, nearly the entire surgical team had been assembled specifically for him.

The operating room had been taken over by their personnel.

Everyone else could only wait.

Grace and Nathan sat together with the latest scans and medical records spread across the table.

Neither of them was idle.

Ryan’s condition was extraordinarily complicated. There were too many variables, too many things that couldn’t be predicted until the surgeons actually reached the tumor.

Even after decades in medicine, neither Grace nor Nathan had encountered many cases this difficult.

They continued reviewing the records, discussing possible complications and contingency plans.

But no matter how clinical the conversation became, the weight in the room never disappeared.

A life was on the line.

And for Rose, this wasn’t simply another patient.

It was the man she had once loved.

The man who had spent years hiding his illness from her.

Rose had chosen to enter the operating room herself.

She wasn’t performing the tumor resection—Robert was leading the surgery—but she would personally operate the surgical platform she had developed, using its real-time imaging and precision instruments to assist him.

She would also use a specialized microsurgical instrument designed for delicate work around critical vessels and tissue.

That meant Rose would see everything.

Every sudden drop in blood pressure.

Every unexpected bleed.

Every moment when Ryan’s life hung by a thread.

And if her emotions overwhelmed her even once, it could affect her judgment.

But Rose knew the system better than anyone.

She had designed it.

She had tested it.

And if she was going to be in the operating room, this was the place where she could contribute most effectively.

"How long do you think the surgery will take?" Charlotte asked.

She had come to wait with everyone else, and despite trying to hide it, her worry was obvious.

Grace looked at the clock.

"At least ten hours."

She paused.

"Possibly longer."

A deep brain tumor surrounded by major blood vessels and critical neurological structures could not simply be removed quickly.

Every millimetre mattered.

And with Ryan’s impaired clotting function, the team couldn’t afford to rush.

Oliver’s expression grew even more troubled.

"Rose is unbelievable. She said she wouldn’t see him, and she really didn’t."

He shook his head.

"Even when Ryan was being anesthetized, she didn’t say a word to him."

His voice carried a hint of frustration.

"If something happens to Ryan, won’t she regret that later?"

"If Ryan doesn’t make it through, saying too much beforehand won’t change the outcome."

James’s voice was cold.

"And if she turned it into some emotional goodbye, she’d only make the situation harder for both of them."

Oliver looked at him.

James didn’t even blink.

"Rose knows what she’s doing. She’s been working on this case day and night. She has her own plan."

Oliver fell silent.

James added, "You don’t get to decide what she should say to him."

Oliver pressed his lips together.

"But people aren’t machines."

His voice softened.

"Ryan may have told her not to come, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t want her there."

The patient was lying in an operating room fighting for his life.

Why make him feel abandoned on top of everything else?

Charlotte folded her arms.

"Your Ryan understands Rose better than you do."

Oliver looked at her.

Charlotte continued bluntly, "That’s why he didn’t go looking for her himself. He knew she meant what she said."

"If he really wanted to see her, nothing was stopping him from asking someone to bring her."

Oliver opened his mouth.

Then closed it again.

He couldn’t win against both of them.

What was going on with these people?

Even Charlotte was defending Rose now.

He had once assumed the proud, sharp-tongued Charlotte would be the last person to stand on Rose’s side.

Apparently, he’d been wrong.

The younger generation continued arguing quietly.

Grace and Nathan didn’t join in.

But Grace’s gaze remained fixed on the operating-room doors.

"No wonder Ryan never tried to win her back."

Her voice was low.

"He’s been holding himself back from the beginning."

If he couldn’t promise her a future, how could he allow himself to give her hope?

He had probably decided that it was better for Rose to hate him than to spend years watching him slowly disappear.

Nathan stroked his chin thoughtfully.

"He’s been sick for years."

He sighed.

"Perhaps he decided a long time ago that his death was inevitable. He didn’t want Rose tied to him."

Grace’s expression tightened.

"That would explain a lot."

Ryan had been told years ago that surgery was too dangerous.

Since then, all he’d been able to do was manage the disease and buy himself more time.

He knew the clock was running down. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

So instead of giving Rose something to hope for, he had given her reasons to hate him.

If she hated him enough, perhaps his death wouldn’t destroy her.

Nathan’s brows drew together.

"Still..."

He shook his head.

"That’s a brutal way to protect someone."

He had carried all the pain himself.

He had deliberately done things that went against his own feelings, watching the woman he loved slowly turn her love into resentment.

Every year he had added another layer between them.

Every cruel word.

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