My Cold-Hearted Husband Wants Me Back
Chapter 109: Things Left Unsaid

Chapter 109: Things Left Unsaid

Eryx stood outside the ICU room, gazing through the glass.

Lilith Hayes lay motionless in the hospital bed, her face pale against the white sheets, a nasal cannula delivering oxygen with each faint rise and fall of her chest. The beeping of machines created a steady rhythm, cold and clinical. But all Eryx could focus on was how fragile she looked.

"She’s holding on, but barely," the doctor said quietly beside him. "Her oxygen levels have dropped significantly over the last forty-eight hours. We tried to contact Miss Hayes, but..."

"I know," Eryx replied, his voice low. "She hasn’t been well either."

The doctor nodded in understanding. "If there’s anything that can be done to bring some peace to her... I’d suggest doing it soon."

Eryx didn’t respond right away. His gaze stayed on Lilith through the glass, her face pale and sunken, the skin around her eyes drawn tight. But despite the toll illness had taken, something about her features tugged at him. A strange, lingering sense of familiarity.

His brow furrowed slightly, and the question slipped out before he could stop it. "How old is she?"

The doctor blinked, caught off guard. "Sorry?"

"Lunara’s mother," Eryx clarified, still watching the unmoving figure on the bed. "How old is she?"

The doctor flipped through the chart in his hands. "Fifty-five," he confirmed. "Born in May."

Eryx didn’t speak. His frown deepened.

Fifty-five. Same age as his mother, Regina.

But that wasn’t what unsettled him.

He felt like he had seen that face before. He was almost sure of it.

Not like this, not fragile and unconscious beneath hospital machines. But somewhere, sometime, long before he knew who Lunara was. He felt like he had crossed paths with Lilith.

Or perhaps someone who looked exactly like her.

"What is the cause of this?" he asked, his voice steady, though the question hung oddly in the air. A son-in-law should already know something so basic but his curiosity was louder than his embarrassment. He couldn’t wait.

The doctor turned to him with a somber expression. "She suffered a fall. Head trauma, along with pre-existing pulmonary fibrosis. From what we can tell, her condition had been worsening for weeks before the incident. It’s possible the fall accelerated everything."

"A fall?" Eryx frowned. "Where?"

"At her home," the doctor replied. "She was found unconscious by her daughter. There were signs she had collapsed in the hallway. No signs of struggle reported, but..."

He trailed off, as if choosing not to speculate.

Eryx remained quiet. He had read enough files in his life to recognize when something was being left unsaid. He had never paid much attention to Lunara’s mother before, perhaps because he’d been too busy dealing with his own mess. But now, with curiosity beginning to stir, he figured it was time to speak with Callum and dig deeper into the details.

He gave the doctor a brief nod. "Thank you for the update. Please let me know if there’s any change."

The doctor excused himself, leaving Eryx alone in the corridor once again. He glanced at Lilith through the glass, her frail frame nearly swallowed by the tubes and wires surrounding her. There was a familiarity in her features that refused to be dismissed like a ghost of a memory he couldn’t quite place.

Pulling out his phone, he tapped out a message to Callum.

"I need everything we can find on Lilith Hayes. Background. Medical history. Known associates. Also, investigate what happened a month before her collapse. Be discreet."

He hit send, then stood there for a moment longer.

With one final glance at the ICU room, Eryx turned and made his way out of the hospital, heading back home.

The mansion stood tall under the quiet evening light, its familiar structure unchanged but something in the air had shifted. The house, usually echoing with a cold kind of stillness, now felt heavier. Not just silent, but weighed down by grief.

Mila’s absence was everywhere.

The staff moved more slowly, voices dropped to murmurs. A vase of lilies sat untouched on the console table, their scent strong and unwelcome. Even the walls seemed to mourn, absorbing the sorrow that hung in the air.

Eryx loosened his tie and stepped inside.

Opening the door to his room, it was dark. He reached over and slowly turned on the side table lamp.

The soft light spilled across the room, revealing Lunara still curled up on the bed, asleep.

Her face was half-buried in the pillow, hair tousled and tangled from sleep. The blanket had slipped slightly off her shoulder, and one hand rested limply on the mattress, as if she’d fallen asleep mid-thought.

He stood there for a while, quietly watching her. There was something almost fragile about the way she slept, like she was trying to run from the waking world even in her dreams.

Eryx didn’t move to wake her. Let her sleep, let her rest from this cruel world.

Instead, he sat down on the edge of the bed, one hand running across his face, exhaling slowly.

So much had changed in just a few days. Too much.

Without a word, he stood up and walked to the bathroom, turning on the shower. As the water ran, he slowly peeled off his coat and shirt, his movements sluggish. The scent of the cemetery clung to him, a mix of wilted flowers and cold earth. He stood under the water longer than necessary, hoping it would wash away more than just the physical grime.

The steam filled the room, fogging the mirror and softening the edges of his thoughts, until a soft knock tapped against the door.

He turned off the water, grabbing a towel as he walked over.

When he opened the door, Lunara was standing there, her hair a little messy, her eyes half-lidded with sleep but alert enough to search his face. She looked like she had just woken up.

"Did you just come back?" she asked, her voice quiet but steady. Then, after a brief pause, her brows furrowed slightly. "Did Mila already fall asleep?"

There was something fragile in the way she asked, like she’d convinced herself she had only dozed off for a minute, like she hadn’t missed anything at all.

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