Chapter 242 – Second Chance Love of the Missing Groom Novel

She had lost all hope when Diarmuid said that he was only being nice to her because of Tommy. Still, she did not want him to be coerced by lan because of herself, and decided to do one last thing for him.

After all, he was the only man she had ever loved!

Seeing that they were both together, lan remembered his dead mother and crippled father right then, and promptly pressed the detonator he was holding, intent on blowing them both up.

Abigail, however, sensed it before he could, and bit Diarmuid’s arm as hard as she could. The pain made him release her ever so slightly, and Abigail seized the moment to push him away.

“Save Tommy…” she cried as she leaped into the river.

Then, a thunderous boom erupted.

Even though Abigail managed to push him away, Diarmuid was still too close and was struck by the shockwave, knocking him to the ground even as water and flames rushed into the air, filling it with the choking scent of dynamite and splashing the riverbanks like a violent tide.

Just then, everyone in Diarmuid’s SUV rushed outside–he certainly did not go alone, and brought the giant car to hide them.

His men were all armed with tranquilizers, and were supposed to take out lan and his goons when the opportunity presented itself.

But it never did.

lan had already taken a machete from one of his goons and was walking toward Diarmuid to make sure he was dead–a tranquilizer dart hit lan square on the neck before he got too far, and he dropped unconscious immediately.

Soon, his goons were taken down as well, while the leader of Diarmuid’s men promptly barked, “Go! Search the river! We must find her…”

Diarmuid found himself in a hospital when he regained consciousness.

Remembering what he saw before he was knocked out, he asked immediately, “Where is she?‘

“They’re operating on her,” James assured him, having rushed to the hospital and was waiting as Diarmuid came to. “We’ve saved Sheryl and Tommy as well, and Stan is taking care of them as we speak. Don’t worry.”

As Diarmuid looked sharply at him, however, James quickly lowered his head.

“Take me to her,” Diarmuid growled as he got up and strode outside, asking as he did, “Is she going to be alright?”

James kept his head lowered and said nothing-he could barely recognize Abigail when he saw her, let alone be confident that she could be saved.

“Tell me!” Diarmuid barked.

James lowered his head further as he hurried along. “It was very serious. She was covered in blood when they fished her out of the sea, and her face was completely disfigured…”

Diarmuid stopped in his tracks and wheeled on James. “What was that?”

James did not dare to look up at all, and quietly said, “It’s very serious…”

Diarmuid’s fingers twitched, and he slowly clenched them into a fist, his knuckles cracking and turning pale even as the veins bulged.

“The doctors are doing their best. They might be able to save her,” James continued.

“Where… are they?” Diarmuid growled, his voice unwittingly quivering even though he was trying his best to stay calm, and he had to pause for a moment to finish.

“It’s the first room. The hospital put their best doctors on it too,” James replied.

Though Diarmuid headed toward the operating room steadily, he was actually a mess inside.

The indicator outside the operating room was still red, indicating that the doctors were still operating on her.

On several occasions, Diarmuid appeared to be ready to rush inside, and would really have done so if James did not stop him. “You’re really going to kill her if you disturb the doctors…”

Even so, he felt as if something was stuck in his chest and he could not breathe, and he was almost hyperventilating just to stop himself from suffocating.

He remembered the look of despair in Abigail’s eyes at the time, and he knew right then that she had clearly misunderstood him.

It was why she pushed him away and leaped into the river, prepared to die.

The indicator outside the operating room suddenly turned off, and the doors opened as a doctor stepped out.

Diarmuid rushed up to him, and he breathed with enormous difficulty, “Is she alright?”

The doctor appeared very apologetic and regretful. “We’ve done our best, but her injuries were too extensive…”

James’s heart skipped a beat and he promptly turned toward Diarmuid, whose face contorted with emotion. Knowing that he was treading on thin ice, he said, “Mr. Althoff…”

“Are you kidding me?” Diarmuid growled straight out of his throat.

The doctor appeared apprehensive but said, “We won’t joke about something like this, sir,”

Diarmuid did not want to believe it, but the doctor’s words were clear.

His neck was straight and stiff as his Adam’s apple bobbed repeatedly.

“You have to calm down, Mr. Althoff.” James tried to reason with him, but it did not work–if there was one moment when Diarmuid could not calm down, it was this.

He strode toward the operating room, but he stopped at the doorway after he opened the doors, his legs seemed to turn into lead just then.

All the doctors who took part in the surgery all stood in a row beside the surgical table, each of them keeping their heads down.

Stephen Carr stood at the front, his head lowered like the others and not about to talk to Diarmuid.

Silence was the best thing to do at a time like this.

As for Diarmuid, he could see the body on the surgical table from the doorway.

There were still tubes attached to it, and the face was thoroughly burned and disfigured.

Diarmuid’s eyes were red. Reluctant to believe that it was Abigail lying on the table, he laughed icily, “Are you trying to trick me with another corpse?!”

Stephen’s heart skipped a beat–how could he tell?!

The face was supposed to be disfigured beyond recognition!

Stephen then looked up and saw that Diarmuid was doing his best to hide his emotion, and knew right then that he did not actually know that the body was not Abigail’s.

Diarmuid was just in denial–refusing to accept the truth that Abigail was dead.

Mustering his courage, Stephen said, “We’ve done our best, but I’m afraid we can’t do anything. Her injuries were too extensive…”

Diarmuid leveled a sharp, murderous glare at him right then. “Or is it just because you’re incompetent?!” Stephen did not retort–doing so right now would only make things worse, and the situation might spiral out of control.

At the same time, Diarmuid swept a cutting glare over every doctor present and walked up to the surgical table–the face of the body lying on it was simply unrecognizable.

His breath left his lungs, and he started to suffocate as his whole body stiffened and trembled.

I–It was not her.

He refused to believe it.

He remembered a red birthmark on her right shoulder.

He pulled down the blue sheet covering the body, but saw that the shoulder was thoroughly burned. He could not tell…

On the other hand, James was worried that Diarmuid would lose control and get hostile against the doctors. Hence, despite knowing that Diarmuid was in a foul mood right now, he withstood the pressure and said, “No one wanted this to happen, but it did anyway. There’s still a lot of things you have to decide–for example, what should we do with lan Althoff?”

Although he was attempting to divert Diarmuid’s attention, he did not know that Diarmuid had lost his usual calmness and composure.

This was not the man of foresight and vision he knew.

“Kill him,” Diarmuid snarled.

James gasped–Diarmuid would never have said that before.

Even if he wanted lan dead, he would have devised a legal, logical move since murder was a crime regardless.

“We could come up with some way to torment him,” James suggested.

Diarmuid, however, was not playing along.

“All of you–out,” he said quietly.

James was still worried. “Mr. Althoff…” “Out!”

James sighed and said feebly, “Everyone, please leave.”

Given the circumstances, it was ideal to let him calm down right now.

As all the doctors filed out of the room, Stephen remained afraid to talk to Diarmuid, and so told James instead, “We really shouldn’t leave the body there. It needs to be sent to the morgue soon.”

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