Chapter 16
Amara instantly turned her face away, her breathing catching painfully in her throat as nausea rose inside her chest.
Her eyes burned.
For a second, she couldn’t even breathe properly.
But then—
A low groan suddenly filled the room.
It sounded strained.
Painful.
Amara immediately turned back around.
Elias was reaching toward her weakly, his hand trembling in the air while his eyes remained tightly shut as if he was struggling to stay conscious.
His expression looked tortured.
Bianca snapped her head toward the door in shock.
“What the fuck is wrong with you people?!” she screamed furiously. “What are you doing here?!”
Her hair was messy, her breathing uneven, and panic flashed across her face when she realized they had seen everything.
She hurriedly tried to cover Elias possessively as if attempting to block them from seeing him, but it was already too late.
Felix immediately rushed to the bed.
“Mr. Creed!” he called out in alarm.
That was when Amara finally looked at Elias properly.
And her expression changed instantly.
It wasn’t what she thought.
Elias didn’t even seem fully aware of what was happening.
His breathing was rough and uneven, sweat covering his forehead while tension strained every muscle in his body. His face had turned unnaturally red, almost purplish around the edges, and he looked seriously unwell.
Amara’s heart skipped violently.
Felix looked horrified as he stared at Elias’s condition.
“Mrs. Creed…” he said tensely. “Something is seriously wrong with Mr. Creed.”
Amara immediately rushed toward the bed.
“Elias—”
The second she reached him, Elias suddenly grabbed her wrist weakly and pulled her hand toward himself. His fingers trembled violently around her skin as he struggled to force out a single word.
“Drug…” he muttered hoarsely.
Amara’s eyes widened.
That was when her gaze suddenly landed on the small device beside the bed that was still spraying something into the air.
Her face instantly changed.
Without hesitation, she grabbed it.
The second Elias saw it, he suddenly used what little strength he had left to snatch it from her hand before violently throwing it to the floor.
Crash.
The device shattered into pieces instantly.
At the same moment, Felix hurriedly stood up and pulled out his phone.
“Yes, security?” he said urgently into the phone. “Come to room 54 immediately.”
Bianca looked completely unhinged now.
Her hair was disheveled, her mascara slightly smeared, and her eyes were wide with fury.
“What the fuck is wrong with all of you?!” she screamed hysterically. “I was having a good time with my boyfriend and you barged in like this?!”
But neither Felix nor Amara paid attention to her anymore.
Both of them were focused entirely on Elias.
He looked like he was barely holding himself together.
His fingers kept twitching against the sheets while his breathing became heavier by the second, almost like he was struggling against whatever had been forced into his system.
Before Bianca could react further, she suddenly grabbed her purse from the side table and tried to run toward the door.
But the second she reached it, hotel security rushed inside and stopped her.
“Let me go!” Bianca screamed while struggling against them.
Felix’s face darkened instantly.
“Take her to the police,” he ordered coldly. “We’ll deal with this matter later.”
The guards immediately dragged Bianca out of the room despite her furious screaming.
The room finally fell silent.
Only Elias’s strained breathing could still be heard.
Amara sat beside him anxiously, staring at his flushed face while worry filled her eyes. It was obvious now that he had been drugged with something.
Elias looked completely out of sorts, barely able to control himself as his breathing continued growing heavier.
Felix looked between the two of them awkwardly before finally rubbing the back of his neck.
Then he glanced at Amara and pointed nervously toward Elias.
“Mrs. Creed…” he said hesitantly. “I think you should stay with Mr. Creed.”
He gave her a sheepish smile before awkwardly gesturing toward the door.
“Should… should I leave the room?”
Amara’s head snapped up instantly, her eyes sharpening as she shot him a glare.
“Stop being an idiot,” she snapped. “This isn’t a fucking joke. Get your boss to the hospital already.”
Felix instantly looked embarrassed.
“R-Right. Sorry about that,” he said awkwardly before quickly pulling out his phone.
Without wasting another second, he hurriedly dialed for an ambulance.
Two hours later, Amara stood quietly beside Elias’s hospital bed while the doctor finished checking on him for the final time.
After several injections and treatment, Elias finally looked more stable. The dangerous redness had faded from his skin, and his breathing had returned to normal, though exhaustion still lingered heavily on his face.
But the condition of his body still looked terrible.
His chest was covered in deep red scratch marks and bloody streaks. Some of the buttons on his shirt had been torn off completely, and there were clear signs of struggle across his arms and neck.
It looked like he had fought Bianca off with everything he had left in him.
And judging by the injuries, it had not been easy.
The doctor gave a few final instructions before leaving the room.
The second the door closed behind him, silence filled the hospital room.
Amara crossed her arms over her chest before finally looking toward Elias coldly.
“Mr. Creed,” she said flatly, “I think you should be more restrained with your fantasies involving your girlfriend.”
Elias frowned immediately.
Amara continued before he could speak.
“Even if you want to fool around in a hotel room, at least make sure the substances you take don’t nearly destroy your body.” Her eyes remained icy as she looked at him with clear displeasure. “You’re not a teenager anymore.”
Elias stared at her in disbelief.
“What the hell does that even mean?” he asked sharply, irritation flashing across his face. “I wasn’t there because she’s my girlfriend. Bianca has nothing to do with me.”
Amara let out a short laugh filled with disbelief.
“Sure,” she said dryly. “Because walking into a hotel room alone with another woman is clearly something completely normal.”
She shook her head before looking away from him.
“Whatever it is, I don’t care anymore.”
Her voice became colder with every word.
“I want nothing to do with your personal life, so from now on, keep it separate from mine.” She looked directly at him again.
“If you want to spend time in hotel rooms with your girlfriend, then do whatever you want. Just keep my contact number out of your phone and your assistant’s phone so you stop dragging me into your mess. ”
Elias winced slightly as he pushed himself upright against the hospital bed, pain flashing across his face from the movement.
“I told you already,” he said through clenched teeth, frustration evident in his voice. “She is not my girlfriend.”
He ran a tired hand through his messy hair before continuing.
“She called saying she was sick, so I went there to help her. That’s all.” His jaw tightened angrily. “I had no idea she was planning something like this.”
Amara stayed silent.
Her expression didn’t soften even slightly.
Finally, she looked away and said quietly, “I still think it’s better if we keep our lives separate.”
She grabbed her bag and turned toward the door.
“Whatever you choose to do with her has nothing to do with me anymore.”
She started walking away.
But the very next second—
Elias suddenly reached out and grabbed her wrist tightly.
Amara stopped abruptly.
Her eyes widened slightly as she immediately tried to pull her hand free, turning back toward him with irritation.
“Let go.”
But Elias didn’t release her.
Instead, he tightened his grip around her wrist while looking up at her with frustration burning in his eyes.
When Amara turned to look at him, Elias stared directly into her eyes and asked without hesitation,
“When are you coming with me to get remarried?”
Amara froze for a second, then looked at him like he had completely lost his mind.
“What? Why would I remarry you?”
Elias frowned slightly, her reaction clearly confusing him.
“Of course you’re going to marry me again,” he said, completely serious. “You’re my wife. Who else would you marry?”
Amara let out a disbelieving laugh.
“I’m not marrying you again.”
Her voice instantly turned cold.
“We have already ended our relationship. There’s nothing left between us after you betrayed me.”
Elias’s brows pulled together sharply.
“Betrayed you?” he repeated in confusion before immediately snapping, “I never betrayed you.”
Without warning, he suddenly pulled her toward him.
Amara gasped softly as she lost her balance and fell onto the hospital bed, landing right in his lap. Before she could move away, Elias locked one arm around her waist while his other hand caught both her wrists, pinning them behind her back.
“Elias—!”
Their faces were suddenly dangerously close.
Elias stared down at her intensely, frustration burning in his eyes.
“I never betrayed you,” he said sharply. “What the fuck are you talking about? Explain it to me.”
His grip tightened slightly around her wrists.
Amara sucked in a frustrated breath, anger flashing across her face.
“You seriously think I couldn’t see what you were doing during our marriage?” she snapped back. “You wouldn’t even touch me, but you were constantly going on foreign trips with your girlfriend.”
Elias frowned harder.
Amara’s voice became more emotional the longer she spoke.
“You kept hiding me while taking Bianca to parties with you. Everyone treated her like she was your actual partner while I stood there looking stupid.” Her eyes burned with humiliation and anger. “And somehow you still made me feel like I was the one doing something wrong.”
Elias looked genuinely confused.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said immediately.