THE DIVORCE GAMBIT From Dumped Wife to CEO's Forever novel Chapter 463

Raven never imagined, not in her worst nightmares, that the Ridge Viper would actually come for her.

She was frozen in terror, her mind blank. Cold sweat broke out across her forehead, her face drained of all color. Every hair on her body stood on end.

No. This couldn’t be real. The Ridge Viper actually came for her? She had to be dreaming. This had to be a nightmare.

But in the next heartbeat—

Hiss!

A blur of motion.

The Ridge Viper lunged straight at her eyes.

A searing pain exploded across her face.

It hurt—God, it hurt so much!

For a split second, Raven thought she’d gone blind. Everything happened too fast for her to grasp. The viper struck before she could even flinch, its fangs tearing into her eye.

She instinctively slapped a hand over her left eye. Hot blood oozed between her fingers, a shocking crimson against her pale skin. The sight was horrific.

“Help! Help! Somebody help me!” Raven’s scream was raw, tearing from her throat, shattering the silence of the night.

But the Ridge Viper wasn’t finished. It struck again—her hand, then her neck—each bite more vicious than the last.

No one could possibly understand the agony Raven was in, and there was nothing she could do but scream. Scream for her life.

No one knew how much she regretted everything now. She regretted ever bringing the Ridge Viper’s egg home. She regretted ignoring Caitlin’s warning.

But there’s no such thing as a cure for regret.

What good did it do now?

Her desperate cries finally reached the security guards outside.

“That’s Miss Raven! The screams are coming from her room!”

“Hurry! Third floor, now!”

A group of guards thundered up the stairs.

The Cartwrights were jolted awake by the commotion. Raven’s mother scrambled into her coat, rushing into the hallway, while her father, Virgil Cartwright, snatched his glasses from the nightstand and hurried after her.

By the time they reached Raven’s room, the housekeeper had already forced the door open.

Raven’s mother was the first to burst inside.

The scene stopped them cold.

A thick, gleaming viper—almost as wide as a forearm—was coiled tightly around Raven’s neck. Blood soaked her face, her left eye nothing but a raw, gaping wound.

Blood was everywhere.

Raven’s mother had never seen anything so horrifying. She screamed in terror, her face twisted with panic. She’d thought her daughter was having a nightmare—or at worst, maybe a burglar had broken in and taken her hostage.

No one ever imagined this: her daughter being mauled by a viper.

Half an hour later, the doors to the operating room swung open.

Two doctors in blue scrubs stepped into the hallway.

“Doctor—how’s my daughter? Is she going to be alright?” The Cartwrights hurried over, voices trembling with hope and fear.

“Mr. and Mrs. Cartwright, please rest assured,” one of the doctors said gently. “Miss Cartwright is no longer in critical danger.”

The Cartwrights finally let out the breath they’d been holding.

But then the other doctor spoke, and their relief was shattered.

“Although Miss Cartwright’s life is no longer at risk, I’m afraid her left eye was completely destroyed. She’ll need a prosthetic eye in the future.”

He paused, then continued, “Additionally, the viper left deep wounds on her face. She will have permanent scarring. Please prepare yourselves for this outcome.”

Crash!

The world seemed to collapse around the Cartwrights.

They’d known Raven was badly hurt—but never imagined their daughter would be left disfigured and blind in one eye.

Blind. Disabled.

Raven was only thirty years old. She and Gordon’s relationship hadn’t even blossomed yet. After this, would anyone from a respectable family even consider her?

Raven’s mother couldn’t bear the blow. Her eyes rolled back, and she fainted right there in the hospital corridor.