Regret Came Too Late

Grace woke up in the middle of the night, feeling like there was a heater beside her.

She jolted upright and pressed a hand to Liam's forehead. He was burning up.

"Liam!" She called out to him, but he didn't respond. He was already delirious from the fever.

Grace quickly dialed the local rescue hotline, but the earliest they could reach her was at daybreak. She tossed

more firewood into the flames and pulled Liam closer to the heat.

Even then, he resisted. He was curled into himself, mumbling nonsense. At one point, he stirred, cracked open

his eyes, and slurred, "Who... who are you?"

If he wasn't sick, Grace would've given him another slap. She took a deep breath, ripped off a strip of fabric from

her shirt, and packed it with snow to bring his temperature down.

His face was flushed a shade of bright red. His hands were flailing, reaching toward the fire like he was trying to

grab something. Grace yanked them back and tied them down. Her voice was steady.

"I'll deal with you when we get back to Druville," she huffed.

Liam's eyes fluttered open again, looking glassy and lost. "Are you really worried about me, or are you just faking

it? Do you want the Lambert family legacy that badly? Grace, | don't even know if | should still call you my sister.

What are you really after?"

He sounded more broken than when Quentin died.

Grace just held him down and kept tending to him.

The rescue team arrived at 6:00 am. Liam had spent the entire night drifting in and out of consciousness,

rambling on about whether her concern was real.

Grace brushed it off as fever-induced nonsense.

As soon as they landed in Druville, Grace rushed him to the ER. The doctors were clearly rattled and said his

mental state was unstable. The fever would likely stick around for a few more days.

Standing in the hallway after hours of waiting, Grace asked with a straight face, "Doctor, he's not going to end up

brain-dead from this, is he?"

The doctor glanced at her. "It's hard to say. He's not doing great. He needs his family to take care of him."

"I'm his family," Grace replied. "I'll stay with him."

Right as she said that, Andrea burst through the door. God knows how she'd heard about any of this.

When she saw Grace there, her expression turned startled before she ran to Liam's bedside, throwing herself at

him and sobbing tically.

Grace felt a headache coming on. "Can you stop crying? He's burning up. He needs to rest."

Andrea wiped her tears with one hand and glared at Grace with the other. "You did this, didn't you? You're trying

to kill Liam so you can take over the whole Lambert family fortune yourself! You manipulative bitch!"

She flew into a full-on tantrum, screaming and accusing Grace of scheming to get rid of Liam for good.

Grace's expression darkened, and she calmly pressed the call button to summon hospital security.

Andrea kept shouting as two guards cin and dragged her out. "I won't let you get away with this, Grace! You

should've died out there. This was your plan all along!"

Grace didn't say a word and just sat back down next to Liam's bed.

Once Andrea got kicked out of the hospital, she was fuming, and her scalp tingled with frustration. She stormed

into a hallway, pulled out her phone, and dialed Joanne.

"Joanne, you toldthose guys would make sure Grace was dead! Why the hell is she back? And now Liam's

the one hurt? If he dies, I'm taking you down withand telling Grace everything."

Joanne, sitting across town and admiring her new manicure, rolled her eyes and sighed. Honestly, she was

getting sick of Andrea.

She hadn't expected Grace to survive either. The guy she sent never checked back in-he was probably dead.

Maybe Ethan had stepped in?

That thought made her blood boil.

Meanwhile, Andrea kept threatening her. "Figure something else out, or | swear I'll blow the whole thing wide

open. | want her gone in a week, or I'm throwing you under the bus."

Joanne chuckled coldly. "What's the matter, Andrea? | thought you were doing all this to get back at Grace. What,

you sleep with Liam and now you're catching feelings? Seriously? Liam's just a dumb rich boy. You really think he

holds a candle to Ethan?"

Andrea's face flushed red. Her voice cracked as she snapped back.

"I'm carrying his baby! Of course | care about him! | don't want anything to happen

to him, and | sure as hell don't want Grace controlling everything. You have one week. Kill her, or | won't

guarantee | won't sell you out."

Joanne lowered her gaze and smiled. Andrea was too easy to manipulate.

Fine, then. If Andrea wanted to be useful before dying, she'd make her burn everything to the ground, especially

whatever bond was left between Grace and Liam.

"Relax," Joanne said."l've got it handled. And yeah, you were right—Grace is in this for the Lambert family's

fortune. She doesn't give a damn about Liam. He'll probably die thinking she loved him, but we both know the

truth. You're the only one who can save him now."

Andrea's eyes lit up. Right-she could protect Liam. She could be the one who saved him. She couldn't let him die

because of Grace.

She drew in a slow breath-Joanne's words had a way of grounding her.

"Alright. I'll wait for your call," Andrea said.

After hanging up, she rested a hand on her stomach.

She was really pregnant with Liam's child. Pregnancy had a way of sharpening a woman's instincts, making

everything feel closer, more personal.

At first, this had all been about revenge-hurting Grace. But as the days passed and the baby grew, her feelings

for Liam had started to change in ways she hadn't expected.

Maybe it was the hormones or something deeper. But lately, she'd found herself genuinely wanting to marry him-

to settle down, to have a normal life.

Considering where she cfrom, marrying someone like Liam was the best she could ever hope for. He was

her one shot at a better life. And that was exactly why she couldn't let anything happen to him.