While I Was Bleeding Out, He Lit Lanterns For Her

Chapter 4 This is just the beginning

Word Count: 757 | Released on: 09/03/2026

ns with doctors who looked at her with a mixture of pity and alarm. The heavy curtains

She was sitting up, watching Vera pe

e apple. She was staring at her phone resting on

room's energy immediately. "

er lip. Slowly, she picked up

and massive: Cole Compton Pledges $10 Million

a "rising star in the medical field," claiming the donatio

white lab coat, standing behind a podium with a fake, humble sm

physical nausea

rism of an unpublished thesis June had written when she was twenty y

of the phone. The last remainin

s to buy her a fake reputation, yet he had restricted June t

back to Vera. Her voic

heckin

azy? The doctor said you need at le

feet over the edge of the bed. "I've been rotting

ne signed the discharge pap

overhead televisions were broadcasting a live feed of

crophone. His voice echoed

he world," Cole said, looking at Alycia with

ounter, wearing large dark sun

Mr. Compton is so generous to his girlfriend. Hi

m at the nurse, but June grabbed he

oward the exit. "Let them climb a little

doors. The crisp New York air hit

Vera. "Take m

pulling her keys out. "

S. The private wealth manag

BS? June, you need a minimum of ten million

ched upward into a cold, sharp

rsche downtown in

as the towering skyscrapers of the

that had revolutionized nerve pain treatment. She had hidden her identity to

who couldn't survive without his credit

e massive, fortress-like en

simple black coat. Even without designer clothes, her post

who was staring at the

surprised?"

Chapter End

Claim Your Bonus at the APP

Open

While I Was Bleeding Out, He Lit Lanterns For Her

Katie Oettgen Romance

“As I lay on the floor of our manor, bleeding out from a ruptured ectopic pregnancy, I used my last ounce of strength to call my husband, Cole. I begged him for help, my vision blurring. But the only thing I heard was the clinking of champagne glasses and his mistress's giggle in the background. "Stop the drama, June," Cole snapped, his voice cold. "We're about to go on stage. Don't call again." He hung up, leaving me to die alone on the Persian rug while he accepted an award with another woman on his arm. I woke up in the hospital days later. My baby was gone. They had removed my fallopian tube. Cole finally arrived, smelling of expensive scotch and his mistress's perfume. He didn't hug me. He didn't cry. Instead, he leaned over my hospital bed, pressing his knee into the mattress until my fresh stitches tore open and bled. "You embarrassed me by calling an ambulance," he hissed. "My mistress, Alycia, says you're faking it. Clean yourself up." He left me bleeding again to go announce a $10 million donation to Alycia's "groundbreaking" medical research. I stared at the TV screen, numb. The research Alycia was taking credit for? It was mine. I wrote that patent years ago under a pseudonym. They thought I was just a poor, orphan housewife who needed Cole's money to survive. They had no idea I was actually a billionaire scientist hiding my identity. I pulled the IV needle out of my arm. A drop of blood fell onto the divorce papers I had been hiding. I didn't wipe it off. I signed my name right over it. Then I walked into the bank, reactivated my dormant account with $128 million, and bought the penthouse directly overlooking Cole's house. The mourning widow is dead. The avenger is born.”