Rise To Ascension: The Poor Zillionaire

Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Shattered Glass

I tried to focus on his face, that looked very concerned about whether I lived or died and I couldn't understand why because it was out of character from him.

This wasn't the Damien Carter I knew—the smirking, arrogant businessman who seemed to exist only to torment me. This man looked terrified, his hands trembling as he checked my pulse.

"Why?" I managed to croak out, wanting to know the reason before I joined my ancestors.

"Don't try to talk," he said instead, wiping the blood from my forehead with his handkerchief. The same handkerchief he warned me never to touch because I was disgusting enough to infect his handkerchief with germs.

"Just focus on breathing."

"Why... are you helping me?"

Something complicated passed across his face. I almost believed for a moment that it was hurt because I was not expecting him to have mere decency towards me.

"Because I'm not the monster you think I am," he said quietly, looking away from my face.

I wanted to ask more, but the darkness at the edges of my vision was closing in.

The last thing I saw was Damien's worried face as I could hear the sirens in the distance.

"System initializing. Host connection established. Activation has been triggered by near-death experience."

The voice came from everywhere at all and nowhere in particular as I floated around in darkness.

"Congratulations, Alex Snow. You have been selected as a suitable host for the Insight System. Checking mental capabilities. Unlocking dormant powers. Mind-reading function has been activated."

The voice faded into the dark as it was replaced by beeping machines and the antiseptic smell of a hospital room. I opened my eyes slowly, wincing at the harsh white light that seemed to characterize almost all hospitals. .

A week. I'd been unconscious for a week.

"He's waking up!" a woman's voice exclaimed as I recognized the owner of the voice easily. It was Lily's voice.

My wife's beautiful face came into view, her eyes were red-rimmed, her makeup was smudged a bit to show that she'd been crying. She held onto my hand in hers, tightly like she was afraid that I would die and leave her here.

"Alex, darling," she whispered with love as she took a deep breath and exhaled. "You're finally awake. We've been so worried."

*I can't believe he survived. This complicates everything.*

I blinked, startled by what I had heard just now. Lily's lips hadn't moved at all after her initial sentence, but I'd heard her voice clear as day, speaking words that went against her concerned expression and act that she was putting up for me.

"The doctors weren't sure when you'd wake up," she continued aloud, stroking my hand gently as she wiped at another invincible tears. "The accident was horrible."

*The driver assured me he'd be dead. I'll have to find another way. Maybe a medication dose or a wrong drug entirely while he's vulnerable.*

I fought to keep my face blank as I could read her thoughts.

This couldn't be real. I must be hallucinating from the medication.

"The whole family is here," Lily said, gesturing to the room.

I turned my head slightly, suppressing a groan at the pain that shot through my neck.

My in-laws stood at the foot of the bed—Lily's parents, Richard and Eleanor Snow, and her brother Mark. All wearing solemn expressions on their faces as they looked at me with something unexplainable in their eyes.

*Great, now we'll have to foot his medical bills too. Useless burden.*

That was Richard's voice, though his mouth remained still.

*He looks pathetic. How Lily ended up with such a nobody is beyond me.*

That was Eleanor, although when I looked at her, her hand was pressed dramatically to her chest like she was genuinely distressed about my health.

*Wonder if I can get him to sign over his shares in the company while he's doped up on drugs and probably in and out of consciousness for a long while. Lily said we need to seal the deal before the merger.*

Mark, always the opportunist, and taking things that clearly didn't belong to him at all but he coveted and that was enough of a reason.

My head was pounding hard in my brain as their thoughts assaulted me.

This couldn't be happening. I must have suffered brain damage in the crash. That was the only explanation for what I was listening to.

"And you totaled your car," Lily added, her tone changing to that of slight irritation despite her sympathetic look that she was giving me.

"We'll need to figure out how to replace it once you're recovered. Money's tight with the expansion."

*As if he contributes anything significant anyway. Thank god I had the foresight to take out that life insurance policy.*

I closed my eyes, overwhelmed by the contrast with what I was hearing with my ears and what I was somehow able to read from their minds.

Had they always despised me this much? Had I been blind to it, or were these hallucinations that I was going through, my mind trying to play a cruel trick on me?

The door opened, and a new voice was heard, gaining all eyes on him.

"I see our patient is finally awake," Damien Carter said, striding in confidently with a bouquet of flowers that he set on the windowsill without looking at it again. If the flowers were for me, he clearly didn't see any need in handing it to me.

Lily immediately straightened when she saw that it was him, her hand leaving mine as she smoothed her hair. "Damien, you didn't need to come."

*God, he looks good. If only Alex had half his presence.*

I turned to look at Damien, bracing myself for whatever hateful thoughts might come from my archenemy. But instead of the clear, direct thoughts I'd received from the others, Damien's mind was strangely muted and broken into pieces.

*Have to maintain... can't let them see... protect him somehow...*

His thoughts were guarded, almost like he was keeping it obscured. It sounded like someone was speaking underwater

But the general sentiment that I was getting from him was not hatred or contempt. It was... concern?

"Snow," Damien said loudly, his tone dismissive as he scanned me from head to toe. "Looks like you can't even drive properly. Pathetic."