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Sawyer hesitated before exhaling, his voice softer this time. "I apologize for how I spoke to you on the phone. I just... he didn’t look alright. Something was off. His head wasn’t in the right space, and I got worried." He shoved his phone into his pocket, glancing away. "I was afraid he’d have another paralytic attack like the one five years ago."
Ivy’s body went rigid. Her fingers clenched around her bag.
Her face twisted with confusion. "What paralytic attack?"
Sawyer froze.
"Fucking hell," he cursed under his breath, his jaw tensing.
He had assumed she knew—after all, it happened right after she met Christian five years ago.
But the look on her face made it clear.
She had no idea.
Sawyer took a deep breath before speaking. “Remember what I told you last time, when Christian was attacked? About his mother leaving him and the psychosomatic paralysis he’s suffered from since then?”
Ivy nodded slowly, her throat tightening.
Sawyer exhaled, his voice steady but distant. "Five years ago, just a few months after you joined Evans Holdings, he unexpectedly ran into his mother again. She showed up at his company, asking him to reconcile—to forget the past and move on."
His jaw clenched slightly.
"The shock of seeing her… it triggered something in him. The unresolved trauma, the memories—his body couldn’t take it. He collapsed. Completely paralyzed. That’s why his father took him abroad for treatment. He didn’t return until recently. It took him nearly five years to recover from that attack."
Ivy’s mind went blank for a second. Five years ago—he left because of this? Because he got sick? Not because he got tired of her?
Her lips parted, but no words came out. Her heart pounded so hard it felt like it might crack her ribs.
No.
It couldn't be that simple.
Her throat tightened. If he had truly cared about her, wouldn't he have told her? Wouldn't she have known?
Ivy’s voice was barely above a whisper. "So… is he cured now?"
Sawyer sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Not really," he admitted. Then, pointing at the door ahead, he said, "That’s his room. You can meet him now."
Ivy nodded, turning toward the door, but her mind was in chaos.
Five years ago… he had been her boss. Always around her. Making her feel special. He had slipped into her life so seamlessly, so effortlessly, that she never even realized when admiration turned into something deeper—when her world started revolving around him.
And then, out of nowhere, he vanished without a trace.
The pain of his absence had been unbearable. She had convinced herself it was because he had gotten bored, that she had been nothing more than a passing amusement. She had spent yearsresenting him, trying to erase the memories of how easily he made her heart race, how his gaze used to linger on her like she was the only person that existed in his world.
But now… this?
Had she been wrong all along? Had she hated him for nothing?
Or was she right all along?
Had he walked away first, only for this attack to happen afterward? Was it just a coincidence?
Or had he never wanted to leave her at all but fate cruelly ripped him away, forcing him to disappear without a word because of his illness—while she spent five years believing he had simply lost interest?
Her stomach twisted painfully.