Free Web NovelChapter 104: Chapter 104: The Green Glow
"How long can they be held?" Alaric Blackwood asked.
He already knew the answer: not for long.
Mandy Halloway said she wasn’t sure, then narrowed her eyes and demanded, "How did you get involved with those thugs?"
"It was an accident."
’It was just a small dispute. I didn’t expect them to latch on like rabid dogs.’
’Would someone really be vile enough to stalk a person over a bit of compensation money, even ambushing them on the road?’
’The fact that they were waiting on that deserted road proved they knew my route. They must have put in the effort to follow or investigate me.’ freeweɓnovel.cѳm
’This isn’t simple.’
Alaric Blackwood’s brow furrowed in thought.
He didn’t have much of an appetite, so he only had a few bites of the porridge before stopping.
When Mandy Halloway saw him sit down on the adjacent bed, prop a pillow behind his back, and lean against the headboard to handle work on his tablet, she marched over and snatched it from him.
"A patient needs to act like a patient. The company isn’t so busy that you need to work while you’re sick."
Alaric Blackwood raised an eyebrow. "So I’m on leave?"
"Go ahead. Is a week enough?"
"It is."
"You should just take two months off. Once Sophie is out of the hospital, you two can go on a honeymoon."
At these words, Sophie choked on a mouthful of porridge and began to cough.
’She didn’t dare to imagine what Alaric would put her through over two months.’
Mandy Halloway patted her on the back. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
She coughed until her face was flushed red and said awkwardly, "Mom, I’m really busy with work. We can talk about a honeymoon later."
"The wedding was so rushed. You didn’t get to take wedding photos, and you didn’t have a honeymoon..."
"It’s really all right."
Sophie’s tone was soft yet firm, so Mandy Halloway knew not to press the issue.
She respected the children’s wishes.
Once Sophie had finished eating, Mandy packed up the food containers. She wanted to stay a while longer, but Alaric Blackwood kept giving her looks, signaling that it was time to go. Torn between laughter and tears, she had no choice but to grab the containers and leave the hospital room.
When she got to the parking lot, she sat in her car. Recalling that Joseph Shaw didn’t know about Sophie’s hospitalization yet, she hesitated for a moment before dialing his number.
"Something’s happened to Sophie. She’s in the hospital."
Joseph Shaw was alarmed. "What happened?"
"She and Alaric were ambushed on the road by a group of thugs last night. She hurt her head."
"How could that happen?"
"It seems they had some kind of dispute with them."
"Which hospital is Sophie in?"
...
After getting the name of the hospital and Sophie’s room number, Joseph Shaw stood up, took his overcoat from the rack, and instructed his assistant to have the driver prepare the car. He then walked briskly out of his office.
The new jewelry line had been successfully launched to great sales, and the advertising campaign was a huge success. He had just been appointed CEO and moved into the corresponding office.
He had barely settled in when he learned something had happened to Sophie. ’No wonder she hadn’t replied to his messages last night.’
He walked straight to the private elevator. The doors opened, but before he could step inside, Bianca Kane emerged.
Seeing the overcoat draped over his arm, clear that he was about to leave, Bianca Kane asked in surprise, "Where are you going?"
"Sophie’s in the hospital. She’s been hurt."
"The morning meeting is about to start."
"But Sophie..."
"Is it appropriate for you to skip a meeting right after being appointed CEO?"
Bianca Kane’s words held a blatant threat. After a moment’s hesitation, Joseph Shaw turned and walked back to his office.
He had just stepped inside when Bianca Kane followed him in.
The woman closed the door, walked up to him, took the overcoat from his arm, and hung it on the rack. She then returned to him in a few steps, wrapping her arms around his waist.
"Joseph, your daughter is a married woman. She has the Blackwoods to look after her now. You should be focusing on me and Joel. My father is gone; you’re all I can rely on. Don’t let me down."
Bianca Kane was usually domineering, but she had her softer moments in front of Joseph Shaw.
Ever since the old man passed, she’d been feeling very low and desperately needed Joseph’s comfort and companionship.
She tilted her head up to kiss his lips. The man perfunctorily brushed his lips against hers before patting her back. "We should prepare for the meeting."
"The meeting isn’t for another half hour."
She pressed her chest against him. Joseph Shaw subconsciously pulled back, but she shoved him onto the sofa.
She leaned down, pressing on top of him, only to be pushed aside.
"Bianca, don’t. We’re at the office."
Joseph Shaw was agitated; his mind was on Sophie.
She was his own daughter, after all. It was impossible for him not to be worried when she was injured and in the hospital.
Her rare advance had been utterly rebuffed. Bianca Kane’s expression turned frigid.
She stood, straightened her collar and skirt, and her high heels went CLICK-CLACK across the floor to the door. She yanked it open, but then, overcome with anger, she spun around, marched back to Joseph Shaw, and slapped him across the face.
Joseph Shaw’s head snapped to the side. A vivid red handprint immediately appeared on his cheek, swelling before his eyes.
He clenched his jaw, fighting to suppress his rage.
Having delivered the slap, Bianca Kane walked out with her head held high, took the private elevator upstairs, and returned to the chairman’s office.
Half an hour later, she was in the conference room presiding over the morning meeting, where she introduced the newly appointed CEO, Joseph Shaw.
The man’s cheek had been iced, and the mark was no longer visible. After delivering a rousing speech, he began discussions with the sales department about the next phase of the sales plan for the new product.
The meeting lasted an hour. Afterward, as the department heads were leaving, Bianca Kane singled out the designer, Lana Rhodes, asking him to stay.
The man was thirty-five and had been with the Kane Group for ten years, making him exactly a decade younger than her.
They were old acquaintances and longtime collaborators. She trusted Lana Rhodes completely, which was why she had felt comfortable entrusting Lynn’s design sketches to him.
She kept Lana Rhodes behind under the pretext of discussing the new product’s design, and no one found it suspicious.
Before long, only she and Lana Rhodes remained.
She jutted her chin toward the door. Lana Rhodes understood instantly, walked over, and locked it from the inside.
In an instant, the vast conference room became the venue for their illicit tryst.
...
Meanwhile, completely unaware he was being cuckolded, Joseph Shaw finished the meeting and had his driver rush him to the hospital.
He arrived at Sophie’s room and, through the glass window in the door, saw her applying medicine to Alaric Blackwood.
The man sat on the edge of the bed, his shirt off, revealing a back covered in extensive bruising and swelling.
Sophie was carefully dabbing ointment onto his injuries, her touch so light she hardly dared to apply any pressure.
"Does it hurt?"
Alaric Blackwood shook his head.
’He was a man, tough as nails. An injury like this was nothing.’
Once the ointment was applied, Alaric Blackwood didn’t rush to put his hospital gown back on. Instead, he turned to face Sophie.
She was sitting propped up against the headboard. Placing the ointment on the bedside cabinet, she asked him, "Where’s my phone?"
"It’s broken."
The fight last night was intense. It wasn’t just Sophie’s phone that got smashed with a steel pipe; his had fallen out of his pocket and been shattered to pieces.
"New phones will be delivered soon."
Sophie nodded and tugged on the blanket, wanting to lie down and rest.
Alaric Blackwood was sitting solidly on her hospital bed, right on top of the blanket, so she couldn’t pull it free.
"Excuse me, Mr. Blackwood, would you mind lifting your precious..."
Before she could get the last word out, the man lunged toward her.
He brought one knee onto the bed, bracing his arms on either side of her. His handsome face was inches from hers, their noses almost touching.
