Chapter 298 Ashton: The Weight of Silence
+15 BONUS
Chapter 298 Ashton: The Weight of Silence
I surfaced from the dark slowly, as though I were dragging myself out of deep water. My body felt heavy, my head thick, and for a long moment I couldn’t tell if I was awake or still lost somewhere in the fog of fever. Shapes swam in and out of view, a dull light cutting through the haze.
Then I saw her.
Mira, sitting in the chair by my bed, her chin testing on her hand, her eyes fixed on me as if she were willing me to open mine.
I thought I was dreaming again. My mind had played that trick before, conjuring her face when I drifted in and out of half–consciousness.
“Mira?” My voice was rough, barely more than a whisper.
Her head snapped up, eyes wide. Relief flooded her face so fiercely it almost hurt to look at.
She reached for my hand, holding it between both of hers as if she were afraid I might vanish.
“You’re awake. Thank God, Ashton, you’re awake.”
I tried to shift, the simple act of moving my right arm sending a bolt of pain up to my shoulder. I clenched my jaw, forcing myself not to flinch. My fingers barely responded, the dull weight of them making my
stomach twist.
She must have seen it. She didn’t say anything, but her grip tightened.
“How long?” I managed.
“Almost a week. You’ve been in and out, fever mostly. The doctors said you needed rest.”
Her voice was soft, steady, but I caught the exhaustion in it, the edges frayed from nights spent watching
over me. Guilt settled like lead in my chest. She shouldn’t have been here, wasting herself on me.
I closed my eyes for a moment, then forced them open again. “The company.”
Mira leaned closer, her lips curving into a faint smile. “LGH is safe. The moratorium’s been withdrawn.
Investors are calm again. You don’t need to worry about it anymore.”
Safe. Withdrawn. Words I wanted to believe, but I knew the cost of such victories. Nothing in this world.
came without a price. And if she was the one delivering this news, that meant she had been the one
paying.
I studied her face. She looked worn, shadows under her eyes, but there was fire in her expression, a determination I recognized. She’d been fighting for me. Fighting battles that should have been mine.
“What did you give up?” My voice came out rougher than I intended.
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Chapter 298 Ashton: The Weight of Silence
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She frowned. “Why do you assume I
“Because I know you,” I cut in, sharper than I meant. “You would throw yourself into fire if you thought it would help. What did you sacrifice this time, Mira? What did you risk for me?”
She shook her head. “Nothing that matters. What matters is you’re still here. That’s all I care about.”
Her words should have soothed me, but instead they twisted the knife deeper. I turned my head away, staring at the ceiling, trying to ignore the sick, hollow dread in my stomach.
The doctors‘ voices echoed in my memory, half–heard through fever. Nerve damage. Limited recovery. Possible permanent loss of function.
They hadn’t said it outright, but I had enough sense to know what it meant. My right hand might never work the way it used to.
And what use was a man who couldn’t fight his own battles, who couldn’t even hold a pen without trembling?
I let out a low laugh, humorless. “I may never use this hand properly again. Do you know what that
means?”
Her gaze snapped to me. “I don’t care.”
The words were out of her mouth before she could stop herself. Firm, desperate, raw.
I turned my head, meeting her eyes sharply. She looked as if she had just bared her soul, cheeks flushed, lips pressed tight as if she regretted the outburst but wouldn’t take it back.
My chest tightened. For a heartbeat, I wanted to believe her, wanted to let the warmth of those words
sink into me and banish the doubt clawing at my ribs. But then the thought crept in, insidious and cold.
She was here because she felt guilty. Because she thought she owed me. Because she didn’t know any
better than to throw herself into a cage and call it love.
I couldn’t let her chain herself to me out of pity.
So I closed my mouth, retreating into silence.
She searched my face, waiting. When I didn’t speak, her shoulders sagged slightly. She smoothed the
blanket over me, her touch lingering at my arm.
The door opened and doctors came in, checking charts, murmuring instructions, pressing stethoscopes to my chest. They nodded to each other, spoke to Mira more than to me, then left just as briskly as they
had come.
The room was quiet again. Mirà hovered, eyes filled with questions I wasn’t ready to answer.
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Chapter 298 Ashton: The Weight of Silence
“I need rest,” I said, keeping my tone even, polite, the words carefully chosen.
Her lips parted, the faintest flicker of hurt crossing her face. She nodded slowly. “Of course.”
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She stood, smoothing her skirt, gathering her bag. She gave me one last look, as though hoping I’d change my mind, call her back, say something to stop her.
I didn’t.
When the door shut behind her, the silence was deafening.
