Too Late, Hubby: You're Dead To Me

The private hospital was unusually quiet, except for a few nurses chatting softly behind their station.

"Mr. Harrison really takes care of Ms. Wright. He's here for every checkup, and he's always so patient with her. I never would've guessed he could be like that outside the office."

"Yeah, but Mrs. Harrison was here for a whole week, and he didn't show up even once. She came in by ambulance too, and there wasn't a single family member with her."

"Then things between them must be pretty bad."

One of the nurses looked up and noticed Sarah. The others quickly followed her gaze, and the conversation stopped. They looked awkward after realizing Sarah had heard everything, so no one said another word.

Sarah didn't let anything show on her face, but the little hope she'd still been holding onto was gone.

Now she knew why.

Shawn hadn't gone a whole week without contacting her by accident. He'd been too busy giving Lindsay all of his time.

Sarah smiled bitterly and walked up to the counter. She set her bill in front of the nurses. "Since you all seem so worried about me, can you send this over to Harrison Group's finance department? Make sure they know I almost died in a car crash while Mr. Harrison was too busy looking after Ms. Wright to take care of my hospital bill."

Sarah left as soon as she finished speaking. She only wanted to get home and finally end a marriage that was already over in every way that mattered.

She was almost out of the hospital when a black sedan pulled up by the entrance.

The window came down, and Sarah found herself staring at someone she hadn't seen in years. She knew that face immediately, but after so much time apart, he almost felt like a stranger.

Jason Yates.

Sarah stopped in her tracks.

Her father had adopted Jason years ago, and the two of them had grown up together. But when Sarah chose Shawn even after Jason tried many times to stop her from marrying him, everything between them fell apart.

They hadn't seen each other since.

And now, after all those years, he was suddenly sitting right in front of her.

Sarah didn't move because she wasn't sure what to do.

"Get in," Jason said coldly.

She hesitated for a moment before reaching for the door. Sarah pulled it open and got inside.

Sarah looked down. They had been apart for so long that she couldn't think of anything to say to him.

Jason was the first to speak. "So you're not even going to say anything to the guy who saved your life?"

Sarah quickly looked at him in disbelief. "You saved me? You're the one who got me out of the car?"

"Who did you think it was? Shawn?" Jason's voice turned sharp. "If I'd left you there waiting for him, you probably wouldn't be sitting here right now. You gave up everything to marry that guy, and now he couldn't even be bothered to check if you were okay during your entire stay in the hospital."

Sarah gripped her clothes tightly. Shame washed over her, and she couldn't bring herself to look at him.

She tried to answer, but nothing came out at first. Several seconds passed before she finally said, "Thank you."

The formal way she said it only seemed to hurt him more.

"That's seriously all you're going to say?" Jason kept his eyes on her. "Sarah, have you even looked at yourself lately? What happened to the confident woman I grew up with? Marriage promised you happiness, but somehow you ended up like this..."

He almost called her a bitter wife, but he stopped himself before the words came out.

"Just look at yourself. You're nothing like you used to be, and Shawn doesn't even seem to care, does he?" he said, unable to hide his frustration anymore.

Sarah said nothing.

She had married the wrong man. No matter how miserable her life had become, she knew that choice had been hers.

Jason noticed the defeated look on her face, and his anger slowly faded. Seeing her like that hurt too much for him to keep scolding her.

He let out a quiet sigh before speaking in a softer voice. "It's been years, Sarah. After all that time, all I get is a distant thank-you? We were so close, weren't we?"

The way he spoke felt so familiar that Sarah could only stare at him.

For a few seconds, it almost felt like they were back in school. Whenever Sarah skipped classes and Jason caught her sneaking out to hang out with her friends, he would give her a serious lecture. Still, once he had finished scolding her, he would always help cover for her before their parents found out.

Even after all those years, Jason was still the same protective brother she remembered.

A dull ache spread through Sarah's chest, and the tightness in her throat refused to ease. It took her a while before she finally managed to say his name. "Jason..."

The moment she said it, she could no longer hold herself together.

Sarah had been forcing herself to stay strong ever since the tragedy with her parents. When she later went through something terrible herself, Shawn hadn't been there to comfort or protect her. He had only doubted her and blamed her with words that cut even deeper.

She hadn't even given herself the chance to break down. Now, everything she'd forced herself to keep inside finally came rushing out.

Jason pulled her close and held her in his arms. He rubbed her back gently and comforted her the same way he used to when they were young.

Sarah leaned into him and cried without making a sound.

It took a while before she finally calmed down. She wiped her face and straightened herself in the seat.

Sarah took the tissue Jason handed her before asking, "Did you find the person who took me before the accident?"

"Yeah. We found him, but he killed himself before we could get anything out of him."

Sarah looked at him in shock.

"But there's something else," Jason said seriously. "Your dad didn't choose to jump. I think the people who took you might've had something to do with his death too. I'm still looking into it."

Sarah's heart began pounding hard in her chest.

After her father died, Shawn had told her that the pressure had become too much for him. According to him, her father had fallen into a deep depression because of the accusations against him and eventually taken his own life.

But what Jason had just told her changed everything. There was a chance her father's death hadn't been a suicide at all.

Sarah's breaths came faster, and her hands curled tightly into fists. Whatever the truth was, she needed to find it.