Delete My Love for You novel Chapter 224

All hope drained from Xena as she collapsed onto the floor, her body limp and powerless.

Darren rose to his feet, looking down at her with icy disdain, as if discussing a piece of trash. “What a pity. Even using your blood to honor Shortie’s memory would be an insult.”

He turned to his men and gave the order, his tone chillingly casual. “Take her and her father. Dump them in the wasteland, let the wolves have them.”

“No! Darren! Please, don’t!”

Terror seized Xena, her mind reeling. As the guards moved in to drag her away, a desperate thought flashed through her mind.

Honor Shortie’s memory? Did that mean Darren didn’t know Shortie was still alive?

Clinging to her last sliver of hope, she lunged forward and wrapped her arms around Darren’s leg. “Darren, you can’t kill me! If you do, you’ll never know where the real Shortie is!”

Darren froze.

“Still using Shortie as your shield, Xena?”

“No! She’s really alive! Otherwise, how do you think I got that black onyx pendant?”

Darren’s hand clenched into a fist.

The black onyx pendant was Shortie’s keepsake. There was no way Xena could have gotten it by chance.

Suddenly, he reached down and gripped Xena’s throat, yanking her up off the ground, fury burning in his eyes.

“Xena, are you trying to make your death more painful? Speak! Where is the real Shortie?!”

Xena’s face flushed as she struggled for breath, her mind racing. If she revealed Shortie’s whereabouts now, she’d lose all leverage—Darren would kill her in a heartbeat. No, she had to take the risk.

Choking, she forced out a few words: “Let me… leave the country… I’ll tell you… where she is!”

“Let you go?”

By the time he reached the hospital, chaos had already erupted in Noah’s room.

Doctors crowded around the boy’s bed, their faces grave. One of them turned to Darren, voice heavy with urgency. “Mr. Harrington, the boy’s condition is deteriorating. The original seventy-two-hour window to wake him has shortened—we’re down to ten hours now.”

“If his family can’t bring him back in that time, he’ll be lost to us—a permanent coma.”

Lena was beside herself, tears streaming down her cheeks. “What are we going to do? Darren, Charlotte refuses to come! Are we just supposed to stand by and watch Noah slip away?”

Darren’s brow furrowed, an image of Charlotte’s resolute face from the night before flashing through his mind.

He knew all too well—if he went to beg, Charlotte would never budge. Even if he forced her to the hospital, unless she was willing, she wouldn’t lift a finger to help Noah.

Suddenly, an idea struck him—a glimmer of hope.

There was someone else. Someone who just might be able to convince Charlotte.