Alessia and her group left the burn hospital, with Bianca suggesting that they take Jessie back to the old house for a while.
Dominic also needed to pick up the three children at the old house, so they decided to travel together. The two cars drove one after the other, with the front car stopping at a red light at a crossroads.
Dominic stopped the car and leaned against the window with one hand, looking at Alessia.
Alessia noticed Dominic's gaze and turned to him. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
Dominic's eyes were deep, and his long fingers, like those playing the piano, rhythmically tapped on the steering wheel, his expression unusually serious.
"I only realized today that beneath your cold exterior, there hides a fiery heart."
Although he wasn't in the hospital room when Jessie severed ties with Harrison, he saw outside how Alessia supported and encouraged Jessie.
Jessie had previously proposed to cut ties with Alessia.
He found in her generosity, tolerance, worldliness without being worldly, qualities that were like the sun's rays, drawing him in.
Alessia felt embarrassed under Dominic's intense gaze and blinked, looking away. She coldly refused to admit it.
"Don't label me wrongly. I just simply dislike Harrison."
"If you only dislike Harrison, why did you hand over Ramirez Corporation to Jessie to manage? You've always wanted to help Jessie, why not admit it?"
Her thoughts were exposed, and Alessia glared at Dominic irritably.
Dominic paused for a moment, then became certain. "You've always been like this, saying one thing but meaning another! Just like last time, when you told grandma you didn't like me anymore, but you haven't forgotten about me all these years."
Alessia raised an eyebrow. This time, she couldn't keep up with Dominic's train of thought at all.
"I know. Some feelings are uncontrollable, and I can't blame you." Dominic added.
Alessia's mind was full of question marks, not used to such self-indulgent and uninhibited speculation.
However, after spending such a long time together, she found that when Dominic was self-indulgent, she couldn't reason with him. The more she explained, the more he speculated.
Dominic looked at the silent Alessia, and a smile curved his thin lips.
See, Alessia admitted it tacitly. She truly had a heart that couldn't let go, loving him to the point of being unable to resist, and insisted on pretending to be cool.
After finishing his speculation, Dominic's mood improved instantly, forgetting about his squabbles with Enzo throughout the day.
He cheerfully glanced at the red light, which had now jumped to the number 10.
In the gray van on the left side, a middle-aged man nervously gripped the steering wheel.
He glanced at the black Mercedes-Benz on his right side, then at the traffic light, swallowing hard.
The person who sent him the message said that only the person in the black Mercedes-Benz needed to be injured, and he just needed to ensure that they were sent to the Hospital.
This intersection was only a hundred miles away from the Hospital, so if there was an accident, they would definitely be sent there.
And if the person was only injured and not killed, he wouldn't need to bear much criminal responsibility, but it required some skill.
With over a decade of driving experience, he believed he could handle it. As long as this incident was successfully completed, he could clear all his gambling debts.
As the man's thoughts regrouped, the number on the red light had jumped to 1.
The black Mercedes-Benz started moving. Every pore on the man's body opened up, and he turned the steering wheel sharply to the left, stepping on the accelerator, like an arrow leaving the bow, directly crashing into the black Mercedes-Benz.
"Dominic!"
When the van suddenly rushed over, Alessia noticed it.
"Brace yourself," Dominic also noticed it and calmly reminded her, while shifting gears and stepping on the accelerator.
Crossroads in the city center were always bustling with traffic, and as soon as the red light turned green, the cars that had just stopped almost simultaneously started moving.
With cars in front and behind, collisions were easy to occur.
Despite Dominic's quick and skilled actions, in order to avoid hitting other cars, the front of the car still collided with a flower bed and then a tree.
The windows shattered, the car abruptly stopped, and Alessia felt like she was being thrown up by the impact. Instinctively, she leaned forward, holding onto her seat belt tightly and dodging the flying glass shards.
There were too many glass shards, and while she dodged those from the left, she didn't notice the ones flying from the right.
Just as the shards were about to scratch her forehead, a large hand reached out, directly blocking the glass shards with its palm.
The glass shards cut through the skin, and blood flowed out, splattering a few drops on Alessia's face.
Feeling the warm bloodstains on her face, Alessia was momentarily stunned. This was the first time someone had bled for her in her memory.
"Alessia, are you okay?" Dominic hid his injured hand by his side and then turned to check on Alessia's condition.
"I'm fine." Alessia blinked, also turning her head to check on Dominic. She sighed in relief when she saw that he was uninjured. If it weren't for Dominic protecting her just now, she might not have even suffered this minor injury on her hand.
At this moment, it was as if an invisible tacit understanding had suddenly formed between the two of them. After checking on each other, they both looked back at the scene.
They saw that the van had not hit them. After losing its target, it seemed unable to stop, crazily crashing into a red sports car.
That red sports car happened to be Bianca's, which had been following behind them all along.
When the accident happened, Bianca was talking to Jessie. She hadn't even reacted when she saw Dominic's car crashing into a tree. Then, to her surprise, she saw the van rushing towards her.
In that split second, she couldn't avoid it.
Even she and Jessie only had time to let out a scream.
"Ah!"
After the screams, the scene became chaotic. Ambulances arrived, and both Bianca and Jessie were taken to the hospital.
Bianca only suffered a minor injury to her forehead and some superficial wounds, but Jessie was seriously injured.
Dominic accompanied Bianca to get bandaged up, while Alessia waited outside the operating room.
Fifteen minutes passed.
Jessie didn't come out, but Ava and Harrison did.
"Sia, are you okay?" Ava asked with concern as soon as she saw Alessia.
Harrison's gaze also fell on Alessia behind her. They were only a few steps away from them, but the operating room where the red light was on was deserted.
"I'm fine. You both came quite quickly!" Alessia looked at Ava and Harrison with a knowing gaze, filled with danger.
Ava's face showed no signs of awkwardness. She smiled and straightened out the hospital gown she hadn't changed yet.
"What are you saying? Of course, we would come when we heard about the accident."
"Yeah, we were worried about you," Harrison added.
Alessia's gaze fell on Harrison, not giving him any face anymore, and said mockingly, "Mr. Ramirez, you really opened my eyes. There actually exists such a selfless father in the world. Your daughter is still in the operating room, yet you have time to worry about a stranger with no blood ties to you."
Harrison choked, his face instantly turning red. He stammered, "Alessia, it's not my fault. It's that brat who wanted to sever our father-daughter relationship. She's brought this upon herself."
Truly shameless. How could such a person be worthy of being a father? Alessia's expression turned even colder.
Seeing Alessia's change in expression, Ava didn't want to provoke her further and quickly interrupted Harrison.
"All right, Harrison, you obviously came over because you were concerned about Jessie. Why do you have to be so stubborn? Does it make you happy to argue like this?"
After speaking, she looked at Alessia again, advising her with sincerity and concern.
"Come on, Alessia, don't be angry with my brother. Now is not the time to talk about this. I've said that Evelyn won't let you off. Now Jessie is injured because of you. If you don't fight back, who knows who will be injured next?"
Alessia looked up and met Ava's eyes, which were full of concern for her, as if she were thinking of her from the bottom of her heart.
....
X Hospital, Inpatient Department.
Gordon answered a phone call and walked out of the ward.
***