Chapter 996

Noah let go of Hailey just as suddenly as he had choked her, shoving her to the side like some piece of trash.

She crumpled to the floor, clutching her throat as violent coughs racked her body.

Noah’s fingers had left their mark on her skin—a stark reminder of her narrow brush with death.

Jack heaved a huge sigh of relief. He turned to the servants, who had frozen in fear as soon as Noah arrived.

“Why are you just standing there?” he shouted at them. “Move!”

“Get a doctor, now!” Jack’s voice thundered through the room, his face flushed with urgency.

The stunned servants jolted to attention, their momentary paralysis shattered. They scattered immediately, footsteps echoing down the hallway as they raced to summon the family physician.

Hailey’s body convulsed with violent coughs, her lungs fighting for air until she finally gulped down a ragged breath.

She crumpled onto the icy marble, her once-perfect appearance now in ruins—tangled hair splayed across her shoulders, silk robe twisted awkwardly around her trembling frame.

Mustering what dignity remained, she raised her chin to meet Noah’s towering presence. His eyes bored into hers, glacial and unforgiving, stripped of even a flicker of compassion.

The terror gripping her heart dissolved, crystallizing instead into a potent mixture of humiliation and bitter resentment.

By what authority did he dare treat her this way? Was precious Sadie worth all this?

A smile twisted across Hailey’s lips—not one of joy, but a venomous curl that spoke of dangerous thoughts brewing beneath.

“Noah, remember this,” she rasped, each word scraping through her throat yet fortified with the steel resolve of someone with nothing left to surrender.

“I saved your life! Three years ago at Rosewood Hospital, you would’ve been nothing but a corpse without me! You owe me—your very existence! That debt follows you to your grave!”

She recognized this as her last remaining card to play. With calculated defiance, she thrust her chin upward, her gaze blazing with unwavering certainty.

“You accuse me of harming Sadie? Where’s your proof? What do these call logs actually demonstrate? Briley and I share a friendship—since when is communication a crime? Will you condemn me based on flimsy papers? Hear me clearly: I refuse to take this blame!”

A sense of security washed over her. Noah lacked any tangible evidence—a strategic advantage she’d ensured by keeping her own hands pristinely clean.

She had merely whispered poisonous suggestions into Briley’s ear—a woman already drowning in jealousy—through their seemingly innocent phone conversations.

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