The Enticing CEO’s Chosen Bride

Chapter 2073

Charlie and the doctor stood in awkward silence. Wasn't this a bit brazen? How could Seth admit that?

Even Cicely was taken aback before she scoffed coldly. "Did you leave your brain overseas or something? Danielle isn't a woman?"

Seth just grunted in response.

Charlie and the doctor exchanged perplexed glances.

Cicely frowned, giving Seth a look like he was some sort of alien creature. Nutjob.

She decided she'd had enough and turned to leave, but Seth caught her arm. "You're hurt, I'll carry you."d2

"Are you out of your mind?"

He didn't reply, just stared at her for a couple of seconds and then, bending down, lifted her in his arms.

"Seth!" Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g

"Stay still, my arm hurts."

His voice was a low, husky whisper, and the word 'pity' flowed from him with an ease that seemed out of place.

Cicely paused, "It's none of my business even if you're crippled."

His eyes darkened, and he gave her a haunting look. "You'd fall."

Almost instinctively, she tightened her grip on his shoulder.

A subtle smile apppeared on Seth’s lips as he glanced at Charlie, who hurried forward to open the door.

Cicely snapped back to reality, "Put me down. Charlie can carry me."

Charlie almost collapsed right there. Gosh. What was she thinking.

"No way," Seth immediately shot down the idea.

"Seth!"

"If you say another word, I'll fire Charlie."

Charlie clasped his hands together, pleading with his eyes, almost ready to kneel.

Cicely was speechless. Who taught Seth to be so shameless?

Meanwhile, in the distant land, within the top floor conference room of Obsidian Group's skyscraper, several CEOs sneezed one after another. Damon, sitting at the head of the table, glanced at them before picking up his phone.

His face was expressionless, so aloof it seemed he must be dealing with a project worth astronomical figures, but only Nate knew how many people had been deceived by that facade.

Nate watched as Damon opened the messaging app and typed: [I think I've caught a cold], even adding a 'pitiful' emoji.

Nate could only shake his head.

Chloe, on receiving the message, couldn't help but chuckle and replied with a 'hug and kiss' emoji, followed by, [I've prepared some medicine for you. Have a couple of bags when you get back as a precaution.]

Damon stared at the emoji for a long moment before he replied with a simple [Okay.]

Chloe sent back a 'good boy' emoji.

Damon put down his phone with a satisfied smirk. When he looked up again, his face was as cold as ice.

Nate sighed inwardly. He thought to himself that he was working for a man with split personalities.

*

From the hospital to the car, then from the car to the apartment, Cicely was gently laid on the bed, and Seth removed her shoes, setting them aside.

He had done things like this before, but times had changed. Now Seth was a top mogul of P City, a heavyweight in the entertainment industry, sophisticated, aloof, and untouchable, perched on a pedestal everyone looked up to.

To do such things for her now, who had fallen from grace and served time, seemed too much of a condescension. She didn't deserve it.

"Rest up for a bit. What do you fancy for dinner?" Seth asked.

Cicely seemed lost in thought before finally saying, "Before I rest, I'd like to freshen up."

Seth nodded, "I'll help you..."

"I'm not disabled." Cicely cut him off coldly, "I've survived on my own until now. There's nothing I can't get through."

She feared pain. She really did, but she had given birth to a child.

Seth's eyes, veiled in shadow, became husky with restrained emotion. "You don't have to now."

"No." Cicely uttered firmly, looking at the top of his head as he knelt before her, her fingers gripping the sheets behind her. "There's nothing more agonizing in this world than being with you. With you, days feel like years. Why else do you think I chose jail back then?"

Seth's dark eyes suddenly contracted. The room fell eerily silent, the air seemed poisoned, and each breath felt like a sting to Seth's heart. She was using her old tricks again. Without lifting a finger, just a few words from her mouth could land a precise blow to his heart.

"I'll have someone come up to assist you." He stood up, not wanting to continue the conversation.

"Seth, you don't have to feel sorry for me. Honestly, your apologies don't matter to me. No matter how sorry you are, it won't bring back what I lost, and no matter how much I hate you, I can't avenge anyone.

“An eye for an eye isn't something I believe in, and my dad wouldn't want me to throw my life away over it. Legally speaking, you haven't done anything wrong, so I can't hold you accountable. Even if I did, it would just be a waste of my time and effort.

"The best way for us to get along is to be strangers. There's no better solution than that. Seth, let me go, let's set each other free."

Cicely had never spoken to Seth so calmly. And now, she was saying so much in one breath. Perhaps it was because he had saved her today, and gratitude had stirred within her.

From the beginning, she had said she was easy to please. Just a few kind words or a gesture that didn't upset her, and she'd let bygones be bygones. Now, he had saved her. And he was so concerned about her injuries, that he'd gone out of his way. It grated on her, and it made her waver. She decided to retract her claws and have a heart-to-heart with him.

The last sliver of orange light on the room's carpet faded away, and the sky outside began to draw the curtains of night as the sun made its daily retreat.

Silence. A silence so profound it seemed to swallow even the sound of breathing.

"I can't let go."

It was a long while before Seth spoke those words.

Then, slowly, he lifted his gaze, his dark pupils settling on Cicely with an intensity that seemed to hold a thick, indissoluble torrent of emotions. Complex and contradictory, they wove together in his eyes.

"Setting you free doesn't mean setting me free. No one will ever set me free.”