Chapter 421

Ethan clutched his dislocated leg, beads of cold sweat forming on his forehead.

Yet he forced his features into their usual arrogant mask.

"That's good." Vivian felt some tension leave her shoulders.

'This man's resilience is insane - surviving a multi-mile cliff fall without major injuries? Color me impressed.'

"How are you holding up?" Ethan gritted through the pain, inching toward Vivian in the darkness.

"Horrible! Pretty sure I've got a concussion, my leg's definitely broken, I'm exhausted, freezing, and starving to death!"

Vivian attempted to rise several times, but her shattered leg refused to cooperate, leaving her stranded. The gnawing hunger made her certain she was seeing the afterlife's welcoming light.

"How does someone even fall just from walking? Were you born this clumsy? Couldn't you have called for help?" Worry sharpened Ethan's words to a cutting edge.

'Four years later and she's still hopeless at self-preservation!'

"My phone's dead!" Vivian snapped back. "Like you're one to talk - you fell too! Just got lucky with fewer injuries!"

"I fell because I—" Ethan began heatedly, then abruptly silenced himself.

"Because what?" Vivian teased, smirking at his sudden reticence. "Too proud to admit your own stupidity? I warned you, yet you came charging in like the devil was on your heels!"

"Fine! I, Ethan Blackwood, am the world's biggest fool. Why else would I come rescue you at midnight?" His scoff carried icy frustration.

'Does she truly not realize I'm in this mess because of her?' The thought burned.

"I never asked for saving! I coughed because my throat was dry! You chose to come barreling in - don't blame me!" Vivian's stubbornness flared. She refused to owe him anything.

Their accounts were settled. No further entanglements needed.

"Give me your phone. I'll call someone to haul us out."

Ethan's leg pulsed with worsening agony, signaling graver damage than he'd admitted. Walking was impossible, let alone carrying Vivian to safety.

He tossed the phone toward her with characteristic arrogance. "Let's see who besides me would bother rescuing you."

Vivian immediately dialed Nathan's number, only to meet crushing despair when zero signal bars appeared. "What kind of cursed cave is this? No service at all!"

"No signal?" Ethan's frown deepened.

'If we can't call for help... Both injured in this remote pit...' His mind raced. 'The cliff's depth explains the dead zone. We need higher ground.'

Vivian recalled receiving Kevin's texts on the main road. Signal likely waited just half a mile upward - an impossible journey through dark, treacherous forest with their injuries.

"Then we climb." Ethan's voice held steely resolve.

"My leg—" Vivian gestured helplessly. "If I could move, I'd already be gone—"

Her words died as Ethan crouched before her. "Arms around my neck. I'm carrying you out."