Chapter 780

"Very well." Harrison swiftly drew a gleaming surgical scalpel from her medical kit. "I'll proceed immediately."

Nathaniel gave a composed nod. His breathing remained steady despite the gravity of the situation. "Do what you must."

His eyelids fluttered shut.

Harrison positioned the instrument with precision, its sterile point hovering centimeters from Nathaniel's chest.

"Wait!"

Isabella launched herself from the hospital bed with surprising agility. She threw her body between them, wrapping protective arms around Nathaniel's torso.

Nathaniel's dark eyes blinked open, focusing on Isabella's distraught face. "What troubles you, my love?"

Tears streaked down Isabella's cheeks as she shook her head violently. "I can't let you sacrifice yourself!"

Nathaniel traced a thumb along her jawline. "There's no price too high for your survival."

Her entire frame trembled. "Why show me such devotion? Our union began as a political alliance between the Lancasters and Blackwoods. I always believed... you felt nothing for me."

Nathaniel cradled her face between his palms. "True, our marriage started as a business arrangement. When we exchanged vows, I viewed you as just another social obligation."

As heir to the Lancaster empire, matrimony had always been a strategic maneuver rather than a romantic pursuit. Any suitable bride would have sufficed.

Isabella's shoulders slumped, the familiar ache of unrequited love settling in her chest. This painful truth she'd carried for years.

She began to withdraw from his embrace.

But Nathaniel continued, his baritone voice wrapping around her like velvet.

"At first, you meant nothing to me because we were strangers. But year after year, you carved yourself into my very being. Your relentless pursuit, your stubborn refusal to leave my side - you broke through every defense I erected. Before I realized it, you'd become my every thought, my every desire. Isabella... I've been yours for longer than you know."

Isabella's breath hitched. He loved her?

Nathaniel's gaze softened as decades of concealed emotion surfaced.

"During those endless years of your disappearance, do you have any idea how I suffered? I scoured continents searching for you and our child. Countless nights I lay awake imagining our reunion. And now I must ask... how could you be so cruel as to take our daughter and vanish? The emptiness you left nearly destroyed me."

The typically reserved billionaire had never bared his soul to any woman. Now his carefully constructed walls lay in ruins, revealing years of silent torment.

His heart had belonged to Isabella for longer than either could remember.

Tears blurred Isabella's vision before spilling over in torrents. All her resentment, all her bitterness toward Nathaniel stemmed from one terrible misconception - that he'd never cared.

She'd envied Eleanor. Coveted the affection Nathaniel supposedly showed her.

Now the devastating truth crashed over her - he'd loved her all along.

Nathaniel tenderly brushed away her tears. "Hush now, my heart."

Isabella rose on her toes, twining her arms about his neck, and pressed her lips to his in a kiss that held years of pent-up emotion.

Nathaniel stiffened momentarily in surprise.

She smiled through her tears. "And I love you, my impossible man."

His expression transformed.

Isabella's tear-streaked face glowed with joy as she confessed,

"As the Blackwood heiress, I was raised knowing I'd marry for advantage. But my parents always promised I could choose my groom. The moment I saw your photograph, I knew. I declared to my family I would wed no one but Nathaniel Lancaster. That's how our 'arranged' marriage truly came to be. Our first meeting? That scarlet gown wasn't accidental. I meant to captivate you, to make you love me as desperately as I loved you from that very first glimpse."