Sean was admitted to the hospital with a fever of 104 degrees. Any later and he would have burned to death.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The doctor wasn\u2019t gentle while treating his wounds, making Sean grunt in pain.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He stayed in the hospital for many days.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sean thought he needed to do something to win Nina\u2019s heart back.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He remembered the photo he had torn up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Maybe if he gave Nina another gift that reminded her of her mother, she would forgive him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So Sean went to David, and through a mix of threats and persuasion, he finally got a pocket watch.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The pocket watch had a photo of Nina\u2019s mother on it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nina didn\u2019t have any of her mother\u2019s belongings, but that didn\u2019t mean her father didn\u2019t.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sean looked at the pocket watch in his hand. You could still see the beauty of Nina\u2019s mother in the old photograph.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nina and her mother looked almost identical.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He took the pocket watch and prepared to go to The Bronner Estate again, but this time he was stopped before he could even get up the mountain.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sean tried to force his way in, but the bodyguards raised their fists. The wound on his back was still aching, so he had to give up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So he waited at the foot of the mountain, day after day.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The anniversary of Nina\u2019s mother\u2019s death was approaching, and she planned to take Zackery to visit her mother\u2019s\u00a0<\/p>\n
grave.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They drove down the mountain.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Just as they were about to reach the bottom, the brakes suddenly failed. Zackery frantically stomped on the brake ped- al, but there was no response.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The moment the car crashed, Zackery threw himself over to shield Nina, holding her tightly in his arms.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Shattered glass rained down on them, cutting Zackery\u2019s skin in multiple places. Blood gushed out instantly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But Zackery held Nina securely, not letting her get hurt in the slightest.\u00a0<\/p>\n
0.0 %\u00a0<\/p>\n
22:57\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 22\u00a0<\/p>\n
Only when the car came to a complete stop did he ask in a hoarse voice, \u201cNina, are you hurt?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Blood dripped from Zackery\u2019s head onto the back of Nina\u2019s hand, warm.\u00a0<\/p>\n
288 iVouchers\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tears instantly welled up in Nina\u2019s eyes. She hugged Zackery, who had collapsed on top of her, her voice choked with sobs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cZackery, Zackery, wake up!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nina dragged her body to open the car door, then used all her strength to pull Zackery out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Before they could get far, the car exploded with a loud bang, bursting into flames.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Feeling the searing heat from the flames, a wave of fear washed over Nina.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This was the closest she had ever been to death.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sean ran over from nearby. He looked at Nina, worried, \u201cNina, are you okay!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nina ignored him, her tears dripping onto Zackery\u2019s face.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sean\u2019s heart ached. He couldn\u2019t stand seeing Nina cry.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Finally, amidst Nina\u2019s sobs, he gritted his teeth and took Zackery to the hospital.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nina paced restlessly outside the operating room, her face full of worry.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Zackery had just completely shielded her with his body, leaving her unharmed, but he himself was seriously injured.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Five hours had passed, and he still hadn\u2019t come out of the operating room.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nina had stopped pacing and was now just standing there, waiting.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She didn\u2019t know how long she\u2019d been standing when her body swayed. Just as Nina was about to steady herself against the wall, someone from behind caught her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sean looked at the haggard Nina before him, his heart aching. He couldn\u2019t describe the feeling in his heart.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The woman he loved was grieving for another man, and there was nothing he could do.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEat something, Nina.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nina pulled her arm back and stood far away from Sean, watching him warily.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sean couldn\u2019t stand the way Nina was looking at him. His chest ached, and it felt like something was caught in his throat.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He reached his hand out to Nina. \u201cNina\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nina turned her back to him, her voice hoarse. \u201cLeave me alone.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sean had said those words to Nina many times after Isabelle returned, but this was the first time Nina had ever said\u00a0<\/p>\n
43.0 %\u00a0<\/p>\n
22:57\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 22 them to him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He couldn\u2019t quite place the feeling.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But Sean slowly took the pocket watch from his pocket, walked over, and handed it to Nina.\u00a0<\/p>\n
288 Vouchers\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nina was growing more irritated and was about to slap away the object in front of her, but when she saw the photo in- side the pocket watch, she froze.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s Mom\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n
92.5%\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland\u2019s breathtaking cold.<\/p>\n
Loomwood Galleries Framed Pilgrim Murals by Iris Vaughn 22 Sean was admitted to the hospital with a fever of 104 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-girl-in-the-shadows-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24311\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}