Chapter 4

I knew Julian would receive that automated rejection notice within seconds.

City Central Hospital was where I had been doing my oncology treatments, and my lead specialist worked there. I texted him ahead of time, asking him to arrange a quiet consultation room on the top floor.

When I stepped out onto the rooftop lounge, a tall figure in a charcoal trench coat was already waiting by the glass balustrade.

He stood with his back to me, gazing out over the sprawling city skyline, broad-shouldered and imposing.

Hearing my footsteps, he turned slowly.

His face was striking, with sharp, aristocratic angles—dark, piercing eyes under sculpted brows, a straight nose, and thin lips pressed into a faint, cool line.

Damon Thorne.

I had only ever seen him on the covers of "Forbes" and "Bloomberg". In person, his presence was overwhelming.

"Dr. Miller," he spoke first. His voice was a low, resonant baritone.

"Mr. Thorne," I nodded, handing him the printed contract. "All the terms are inside. If you agree, sign it now."

He took the papers, but he didn't look at them. His gaze stayed fixed on my face, full of quiet scrutiny.

"I'm curious," he said. "Walking away from three hundred and fifty million dollars just to spite your husband? You don't strike me as an impulsive woman."

"Impulsive?" I laughed, the sound hollow and dry. "Mr. Thorne, when a person has almost no life left, do you really think green pieces of paper matter?"

His dark eyes narrowed slightly.

Before he could respond, heavy, frantic footsteps echoed from the stairwell.

"Nora!"

Julian.

He had tracked me down faster than I expected.

He burst onto the terrace, chest heaving, his face contorted in disbelief and fury.

When his eyes landed on Damon Thorne standing beside me, and the legal documents in Damon's hand, his remaining composure shattered.

"Are you out of your mind?!"

He lunged forward and grabbed my wrist, his fingers clamping down like iron cuffs, nearly snapping the bone.

"Do you have any idea what you're doing?! Selling the patent to Thorne Enterprises?! You're betraying me!"

Agony shot up my arm, turning my vision white.

I wrenched my hand away with everything I had, stumbling back until my spine hit the cold concrete wall.

"Betrayal?" I whispered, looking at him with sheer disgust. "Julian, the second you ripped off my oxygen mask on that mountain, we were done. My work belongs to me. I'll sell it to whoever the hell I want."

"You—" His face flushed red with rage. He turned on Damon, pointing an accusing finger. "What did you promise her? Double the money? A seat at your table? Marriage?!"

Damon let out a soft, amused chuckle. He stepped forward smoothly, blocking me from Julian's sight.

"Mr. Hayes, you misunderstand," Damon said calmly, uncapping a heavy silver fountain pen and scrawling his signature on the final page. "Dr. Miller didn't ask for a dime. Quite the opposite. She just handed me a priceless gift."

He closed the folder, turned, and handed it to me with effortless elegance.

"The SN-01 patent now belongs to Thorne."

Julian's eyes turned bloodshot. He looked like a rabid animal cornered in a trap.

He glared past Damon, his teeth grinding audibly.

"Nora... you are going to regret this for the rest of your life."

I looked down at the contract in my hands. A strange, serene peace settled over my chest.

Regret?

From the day I fell in love with him, every single choice I made was a regret.

One more wouldn't make a difference.

Julian's venomous threat hung in the freezing night air.

Looking at his twisted, furious face, something inside the burned-out ruins of my heart cracked wide open.

I actually wanted to laugh.

I raised my chin, meeting the burning fire in his gaze. My voice was barely a whisper, yet it rang out with razor-sharp clarity:

"Julian, the only thing I truly regret in this life... was digging you out of that avalanche seven years ago."