Chapter 482 Is There Still a Place for Me?

Chapter 482: Chapter 482 Is There Still a Place for Me?

Trevor and Ryan faced each other in the climate-controlled garden at the Taylor residence.

Ryan sat comfortably in an armchair, one leg crossed over the other. When he heard footsteps approaching, he glanced up.

“Mr. Robinson. My wife isn’t ready yet. I’m afraid you’ll have to wait a little longer.”

Trevor walked over and took the seat across from him.

“Mr. Knight, you’ve certainly made yourself at home here. You don’t seem to have any trouble forgetting whose house you’re in.”

“Not at all.” Ryan lifted his teacup and took a leisurely sip. “Wherever my wife is, that’s home to me. If she’s staying here, then this is my home, too.”

Trevor shot him a cold look.

“Have you ever stopped to consider what Rose wants? Or are you too busy interfering in her life to care?”

Ryan chuckled softly, though his eyes remained cold.

“I can care about my wife’s feelings without letting other people dictate what I should do. Besides, you’re awfully fond of telling her how to live. You sound more like an overbearing older brother than anything else.”

He paused, then added with a faint smile, “Although, considering you’re a few years older than her, I suppose the role suits you.”

The insult was subtle but unmistakable.

Ryan had just relegated Trevor to the role of an older brother, making it clear that whatever history he shared with Rose, he wasn’t a romantic threat worth taking seriously.

Trevor had been competing with Ryan for years. He knew him too well not to recognize that something had changed.

Ryan was calling him Mr. Robinson at every opportunity, speaking with a cool politeness that felt more deliberate than courteous. His entire approach was different.

Trevor narrowed his eyes before giving a cold laugh.

“Let’s stop pretending we don’t know what’s going on here. Everyone knows I love Rose. I was prepared to give her the biggest wedding imaginable, one that would make our relationship official and give her the recognition she deserved. I could give her the status, the respect, and the public acknowledgment she never got from you.”

He leaned forward slightly.

“And what have you given her? Seven years of a secret marriage. Seven years of being your wife behind closed doors, without the name or status that should have come with it.”

His smile turned bitter.

“Don’t tell me how much you love her, Mr. Knight. Your actions over those seven years speak for themselves.”

Ryan slowly raised his eyes.

A cold smile appeared on Trevor’s face.

“Perhaps you need a reminder of what your marriage actually looked like.”

He continued, his voice growing sharper.

“You were married to Rose for seven years. I’ve been part of her life for six of those years. She was even willing to entrust Ariel to me just to avoid having anything to do with you. She wanted out so badly that she was willing to walk away from everything and turn to me for help.”

Bam!

Ryan’s fist slammed into Trevor’s face before he could finish.

The blow landed with brutal force, sending Trevor stumbling backward several steps. Pain exploded across one side of his face, leaving it numb. He tasted blood almost immediately.

He slowly looked up.

Ryan stood before him, his expression terrifyingly cold.

There was no trace of the calm, almost indifferent man who’d been sitting in the chair moments earlier. His eyes burned with a fury so raw it seemed to come from somewhere much deeper than anger.

Trevor had struck a nerve.

For Ryan, those words weren’t merely an insult. They cut into a part of his past he couldn’t remember clearly, a part of his relationship with Rose that he was desperately trying to understand.

Every word felt like another knife twisting into an already open wound.

Trevor’s lips twitched.

So he’d been right.

Ryan really didn’t remember what had happened before. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have reacted so violently to a few words about his own marriage.

Trevor wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with his thumb, then tasted it.

Without hesitation, he swung back.

But Ryan didn’t dodge.

The murderous fury in his eyes disappeared almost as quickly as it had surfaced. He stood his ground and took Trevor’s punch head-on.

The impact knocked him off balance.

“Ryan!”

Rose’s voice rang out from behind them, sharp with fear.

Trevor’s fist froze in midair.

He wanted to turn toward her, but Rose was already rushing past him.

She didn’t even look his way.

Her entire attention was on Ryan, who was still struggling to steady himself.

“Ryan, are you okay?” She grabbed his arm, searching his face anxiously. “Are you hurt? Does your head hurt?”

He was in pain.

Trevor hadn’t held back, and Ryan’s jaw throbbed from the impact. His head felt heavy and dizzy, and his vision blurred for a moment.

But when he saw the panic in Rose’s eyes, he reached for her hand.

His palm closed gently around hers, and he rubbed his thumb across her knuckles as if trying to reassure her.

“I’m fine,” he said softly. “I’m just a little dizzy. My vision’s blurry, that’s all.”

Rose’s heart was pounding so hard she could barely think.

Ryan had only recently recovered from a serious illness and undergone brain surgery. He was still in the middle of his recovery, and the last thing he needed was to take a punch to the head.

Her chest tightened with fear.

Then she turned toward Trevor.

“Mr. Robinson, did you come here just to start a fight with Ryan?”

Trevor’s expression shifted. His Adam’s apple moved as he swallowed.

“Rose...”

Anger flashed across her face.

“I used to believe you genuinely cared about Ariel. That’s why I was willing to let you spend time with her, even when things between us were complicated.”

Her voice grew colder.

“But I will not tolerate you using your relationship with her as an excuse to cross the line with me.”

“Rose, that’s not what I—”

“Enough.”

She cut him off.

“This ends here, Mr. Robinson. Don’t push me any further.”

Her words left no room for argument.

Only Rose knew how terrified she’d been when she’d seen Ryan take that punch.

She had fought desperately to save his life, dragging him back from the brink of death when she’d almost lost him for good. He was still weak, still recovering, and she couldn’t bear the thought of anything happening to him now.

She wasn’t going to stand by and let someone put him at risk.

Trevor looked at her as though she’d struck him.

“Rose, I never wanted to hurt you.”

His voice faltered, and he reached toward her.

Rose didn’t even turn around.

“Mr. Robinson, please leave.”

She took Ryan’s hand and led him away.

As they passed Trevor, Ryan glanced back at him.

It was only a brief look, but the cold hostility in his eyes was unmistakable.

Trevor went still.

For one terrible moment, it felt as though something inside him had been ripped apart.

He’d wanted to make Rose understand what Ryan had done to her. Instead, he’d only pushed her further away.

******

Rose didn’t speak during the walk back to the living room.

Once they were inside, she guided Ryan to the sofa.

“Sit down. Let me check your head.”

Ryan settled onto the cushions and watched her quietly.

Her expression was serious as she examined the area around his surgical incision, checking carefully for any signs of injury.

After making sure there was no obvious damage to the surgical site, she took out her medical supplies and began treating the bruising.

“Tell me exactly what you’re feeling,” she said. “Are you dizzy? Do you have a headache? Any nausea or changes in your vision?”

Ryan reached for her hand.

He could feel the slight tremor in her fingers.

“Rose, I’m okay. Don’t worry.”

She kept her head lowered, concentrating on his injuries for a long moment before finally speaking.

“What did you two talk about?”

Ryan studied her face.

Something flickered in his eyes, but he made no attempt to conceal what Trevor had said.

“He told me you’ve never really loved me. That you wanted to leave me so badly you’d do whatever it took to get away.”

Rose pressed her lips together.

“Don’t let him get into your head. That was all in the past.”

She didn’t want Ryan dwelling on any of it. He was still recovering, and she knew how important it was for him to avoid unnecessary stress and emotional upheaval.

But Ryan continued looking at her.

For a moment, his expression shifted, revealing something more vulnerable beneath the surface.

Then he reached up, slipped an arm around her waist, and rested his head against her.

“What about now?”

Rose froze.

Ryan held her a little tighter.

“Is there still a place for me in your heart?”

She hadn’t expected the question.

He lowered his voice, speaking slowly, as though every word cost him something.

“Is what he said true? Am I just a burden to you? Someone who makes your life harder? Do you hate me so much that you want nothing more to do with me?”

He paused.

“Is that all we are now? A doctor and her patient?”

His voice was quiet, but every word landed heavily between them.

Rose couldn’t bring herself to answer.

Not because she pitied him.

She had never been the sort of person who could build a life around pity.

Ever since childhood, she’d had to fight for whatever little happiness she could find. She’d been abandoned, pushed aside, and left to fend for herself more times than she cared to remember.

Building a life of her own had never been easy.

But Ryan had been different.

He was the one person she’d fallen for without hesitation, the one person she’d allowed herself to want even when she’d known how badly she could get hurt.

People might have thought she’d saved him when she’d found him in that remote place all those years ago.

But the truth was more complicated.

Back then, Ryan had given her something, too. His warmth, his attention, and the affection he’d shown her had made her feel special in a way she’d rarely experienced before.

He’d made her believe she mattered to someone.

That feeling had never entirely disappeared.

She’d simply convinced herself that she’d been holding on to something that was never meant to be hers. That she’d forced a relationship that had only ever brought her pain, and that the only way to protect herself was to walk away.

But now...

Now she understood so much more about what Ryan had done for her in secret. She understood that some of the cruel things he’d said and the ways he’d pushed her away hadn’t necessarily meant what she’d once believed they did.

The past had left her with wounds that ran deeper than she’d realized. Even when she understood the truth, her first instinct was still to protect herself from being hurt again.

She hadn’t stopped caring.

She’d just become afraid of what caring about him might cost her.

Ryan lifted his head slightly.

“Would you still let me stay by your side if I hadn’t lost my memory?”

His voice was rougher now.

“Or is this only possible because I don’t remember how things used to be? Because I’ve forgotten everything I once did that made you feel sorry for me?”

Rose stared at him, her heart tightening.

Ryan searched her face, looking for an answer she hadn’t yet found the courage to give.

“If I still remembered everything,” he asked quietly, “would you let me stay?”