Game Over, Mr. CEO: Your Wife Is Done (Winter and Chris) novel Chapter 211

A thin ribbon of smoke drifted up from the scented oil burner in the room, and the kettle hissed softly as the water boiled.

Other than that, the only sound was Mrs. Xander Sr.’s faint, dying breaths.

The silence was terrifying.

Only now did Mrs. Xander Sr. finally understand why Chris could never let Winter go, and yet always acted in ways no one could quite figure out.

It was because Winter didn’t just hold a place in his heart. It went even deeper than that.

Chris slowly unclenched his fingers, which had gone white from how hard he had been gripping them. A strip of shadow from the bed curtains fell across his brow and eyes. “I’ll have the doctor come in and check on you.”

Mrs. Xander Sr. only shook her head.

There was no light left in her eyes. It was as if she was hanging on by nothing but her last breath.

Chris understood as well as anyone that there was no point anymore. The moment he stepped into the room, he had already sensed that something was wrong.

“Are you going to promise me or not?” She clutched his hand tighter and stared at him with clouded, desperate eyes. “Chris, are you really going to let me die with no peace?”

Emotion surged through her as she dragged in a sharp breath. Her whole body stiffened and began to tremble. Her head fell back, and a strained, broken rasp kept catching in her throat.

Chris’s eyes trembled violently.

He gripped her hand even tighter, feeling the warmth leave her little by little.

Lowering himself to her ear, he said in a hoarse voice, “She and I…”

The words that followed seemed to be forced out of him, one by one, rough and low.

Mrs. Xander Sr. sank back against the pillow. Her eyes stayed fixed on the bed curtains hanging above her, but the focus in them slowly faded. Then her eyelids drifted shut.

“Good… good…”

Stopped outside by Mr. White, Winter couldn’t hear a thing. With the bedroom door shut, she couldn’t see anything either.

She was frantic. She asked Mr. White over and over why Mrs. Xander Sr. wouldn’t see her, but each time, he only shook his head.

A rush of hurried footsteps came from the stairs.

Steve was back.

His father was still on his way home from overseas, and after getting Steve’s call, Sasha had hurried back to the Xander estate too. The two of them met downstairs and came up together.

+25 Bonus

The moment Steve saw Winter, he quickened his pace and started toward her, but Sasha caught his sleeve and shook her head.

In a low voice, Sasha said, “Your grandmother’s in bad shape. If you stir things up with Winter and she sees it, she’ll only get upset. Don’t start anything right now.”

Chris’s grief–stricken shout suddenly came from inside the room.

A sharp ringing filled Winter’s ears. Her mind went blank. Acting on instinct, she lunged forward and slammed the door open.

The curtains around the antique bed hung halfway down. Mrs. Xander Sr. lay there with her eyes closed, her face gray and lifeless, without the slightest sign of life left in her.

Everything went black in front of Winter’s eyes, and tears burst free.

“Grandma!”

By the bed, Chris was gripping Mrs. Xander Sr.’s hand, which was slowly losing its warmth.

When he heard the broken sob from the doorway, his fingers stiffened.

In his ears echoed the words Mrs. Xander Sr. had said with her final breath:

“Promise me. No one from the Scott family is to appear at niy funeral.”

Chris placed her hand back on the bed, pulled the blanket over her, and without turning around, gave the order to

Gavin.

“Throw Winter out of the Xander estate.”