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After making sure that her daughter was asleep, Chloe went up to the penthouse, where she saw Vernon sitting with a laptop on his lap.

He seemed to be working on documents again, and Chloe walked to him with a hot herbal tea in her left arm. She brewed it downstairs because she knew Vernon would not let her do anything because of her injury.

She put the herbal tea on the table and sat beside him on the sofa. He stopped his work,  closed his laptop and tossed it to the smaller seat.

He glanced at the herbal tea and then at Chloe. He frowned disapprovingly, "Why did you make that? I don\'t ask for it."

"Well, you\'re going to stay up all night, so I thought you\'d need some energy boost…." Chloe replied. She wasn\'t scared of Vernon\'s disapproval because she knew that Vernon was just looking out for her.

"You\'re hurt, Chloe. You shouldn\'t be doing anything right now."

"My left hand is still functional," Chloe raised her left hand, which was proven to be a wrong move.

Because Vernon suddenly grabbed her wrist and pulled her closer, "V—Vernon— What are you—"

Vernon gave Chloe no time to protest. He grabbed Chloe\'s hips and lifted her up easily, allowing her to straddle his lap.

Now they were facing each other with Vernon gently tracing his hand around her hips and thighs, "I know you\'re a hard worker, Chloe. I also know you used to work in Vincent\'s mansion even after he hurt you."

"But I will not allow you to do anything while you\'re hurt," Vernon insisted. He looked up at Chloe, who sat on his lap. His expression showed a hint of pain despite him trying to hide it. "Why can\'t you listen to me?"

Chloe was stunned by Vernon\'s last sentence. She didn\'t realized how much her condition upset Vernon. But she was used to working on house chores in Vincent\'s mansion even after Vincent beat her up or fainted due to hunger.

She was afraid that Vincent would try to nitpick and yell at her for being a \'lazy-good-for-nothing-wife.\'

That fear of being yelled at already seeped deep inside her mind, making her subconsciously try to find something to do even when she was in so much pain.

Chloe looked down and observed Vernon\'s handsome face. Under the dim light, she could see the trace of exhaustion on him, making him age five years older in just a few days.

"Vernon, you need rest," Chloe muttered while tracing her fingers around the corner of his eyes down to his cheek.

She rubbed Vernon\'s cheek with her left thumb and added, "Your eye bags are so dark, are you suffering from insomnia?"

Vernon bit his lower lip, getting infuriated by Chloe\'s comment, "See? This is what I don\'t like about you, Chloe."

"Eh? D—Did I do something wrong?"

"Yes, you did," Vernon replied. "You keep worrying about someone else. You worried about me, Mackie, heck— you\'re even worried about Diamond! Yet, you have no worry about your own health!"

Vernon\'s eyes were filled with intense emotion that Chloe could identify easily, but she tried to ignore it because she didn\'t want her heart to catch feelings.

"I… I just want to keep my family healthy… and happy," Chloe muttered. "It\'s my duty as a—" Chloe quickly zipped her mouth. She almost said that it was her duty as a housewife. But she and Vernon weren\'t bound by marriage or any kind of intimate relationship. So she stopped and went silent.

"You— Don\'t you understand that your health is also my concern?!" Vernon started to grow frustrated. "Why can\'t you think about yourself for a second, be fucking selfish, seriously!"

"I—I can\'t be selfish…."

"Yeah, and that cost you this!" Vernon grabbed Chloe\'s cast and lifted it. "You said that Vincent tried to inquire about my identity from you. He intimidated and abused you for not telling him about my identity, right?"

…

"See? If you can be a bit selfish and tell him about me, it would save yourself from getting hurt," Vernon said ruthlessly. "Stop trying to be a martyr, I don\'t need your protection, I can fight him!"

His words were harsh, startling her and making her whole body stiff for a few seconds.

Vernon noticed her shock and sighed before burying his face in Chloe\'s chest. His voice muffled as he confessed, "I\'m sorry, Chloe. I got upset whenever I saw your injuries. I keep blaming myself and can\'t help but start making scenarios in my head."

"Scenarios?"

Vernon lifted his face to stare at his beloved\'s concerned eyes, "I keep making scenarios of what I should\'ve done in the past to prevent your abuse. I know there\'s nothing I could do to change the past, but I— I just can\'t help it."

"I shouldn\'t have left you alone for ten years. I shouldn\'t try to hurt you when you come to me, begging for help. I shouldn\'t be a damn-fucking-idiot who can\'t even protect you from Vincent today."

"Vernon," Chloe called his name to interrupt Vernon from all of his negative thoughts. "Don\'t blame yourself. It\'s never your fault in the first place."

"I am the one who\'s willing to marry Vincent. I didn\'t know how twisted he is until I married him, and that blame should be on me," Chloe stated boldly. "I was careless, blinded by love, and that\'s what got me roped into his twisted game."

Vernon opened his mouth, wanting to refute that argument. But realized that what Chloe said was right.

As much as he wanted to blame himself for everything, he had to admit that nobody knew how twisted Vincent was until recent years when he morphed into just like their father, Vaughn Gray.

"I know you must be working hard these days, having so many sleepless nights to find resources to fight him, right?" Chloe asked, and Vernon nodded in response.

He was working tirelessly to find a way to fight against his Big brother and slowly chipping away at all the foundation that the Gray family had made for the past decades.