Free Web NovelChapter 163: Chapter 163: Alaric Discovers the Surprise
Dusk began to fall.
Alaric Blackwood finished up his work and turned to look at Sophie Shaw. She was leaning against his shoulder with her eyes closed, seemingly asleep.
He raised a hand to her face, intending to wake her, but the temperature of her skin felt abnormally warm.
"Sophie?"
He placed his hand on her forehead and confirmed that she had a fever.
"Are you finished?"
Sophie Shaw opened her eyes groggily.
"I’m done. We can go home now."
Sophie Shaw glanced at the floor-to-ceiling window. The sky outside was already dark.
She got up from Alaric Blackwood’s lap, her head spinning. She instinctively steadied herself with a hand on his shoulder.
"You have a fever. Should we go to the hospital first?"
Sophie Shaw touched her own forehead. It did feel a little warm, and she felt a bit unwell.
"It’s probably just a low-grade fever. I’ll be fine after I go home, take some medicine, and get some sleep."
’A little headache and fever didn’t warrant a trip to the hospital.’
She picked up her bag. Alaric Blackwood remained seated in his chair and picked up his phone. As he called Preston Chase, he wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her close and holding her steady.
"Have the driver get the car ready. And you, come to the office."
Just a few seconds after the call ended, there was a knock on the office door, and Preston Chase pushed it open to enter.
Alaric Blackwood shook out his numb leg, stood up, and took his coat from the rack. After putting it on, he took the bag from Sophie Shaw’s hand and passed it to Preston Chase.
Just as Sophie was wondering what was happening, her body was lifted into the air as Alaric Blackwood swept her up into his arms.
"Hold on to me."
The man’s tone left no room for argument.
She didn’t have much energy, so she simply wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder again.
Alaric Blackwood carried her out of the office with Preston Chase following behind, bag in hand. The entire scene was witnessed by Secretary Golding and Lydia Wynn from their workstations.
Secretary Golding’s eyes turned into pink hearts. She covered her face, a mix of gossip and envy, as she watched her handsome boss and the beautiful woman in his arms, sighing, "Mr. Blackwood and Mrs. Blackwood are such a perfect match!"
Lydia Wynn shot her a harsh glare. Not until Alaric Blackwood’s figure disappeared into the elevator did she raise her hand and poke the love-struck Secretary Golding hard on the forehead. "Don’t talk nonsense."
The poke made Secretary Golding’s head snap back. "Ow! That hurts!"
"If it hurts, then learn to watch your mouth."
"What did I do? I wasn’t talking nonsense. The CEO and his wife really are a perfect match."
Secretary Golding retorted, finding Assistant Wynn’s reaction a bit strange.
She shut down her computer, gathered her things, let out a "Hmph!" at Lydia Wynn, and then got up and left.
Lydia Wynn sat alone at her desk, the image of Alaric Blackwood carrying Sophie Shaw away flashing repeatedly in her mind. The hand resting on her desk began to tremble uncontrollably.
One by one, her colleagues in the department left. Soon, she was the only one left.
Her hand was shaking violently. She felt an episode coming on and quickly grabbed her bag, fumbling inside for her anti-anxiety and mood stabilizer medication. But when she took out the bottle and opened it, it was empty.
"AH!"
She threw the empty pill bottle down and screamed, clutching her head in her hands.
The scream seemed to unleash a total loss of control. She swept her arm across the desk, sending things crashing and clattering to the floor. That wasn’t enough to quell her frenzy. She stood up, raised her bag high, and slammed it down on the desk with all her might.
The sound of SLAMMING continued for several minutes.
After venting her emotions, Lydia Wynn tossed her bag aside and collapsed back into her chair, her chest heaving violently.
Looking at the mess on the floor, she got up with red-rimmed eyes, bent down, and picked up the scattered items one by one, placing them back on the desk.
Once she had restored everything to its original state, she grabbed her bag, left the company, got into her car, and immediately called her psychiatrist.
「At the same time.」
Sophie Shaw was carried back to the upstairs bedroom by Alaric Blackwood and gently placed on the bed.
He brought out the first-aid kit and took her temperature.
Her fever was 101.5 degrees.
He found some fever reducer in the first-aid kit and had Sophie swallow a pill with warm water.
Sophie hadn’t eaten dinner, and as the medicine kicked in, she fell into a deep, heavy sleep.
Alaric Blackwood wanted to wake her to eat something, but he saw her brows were furrowed as if she were trapped in a nightmare. She was delirious, muttering softly in her sleep from time to time.
He leaned in, putting his ear close to her lips, and heard her sleep-talking.
A few jumbled words.
"There are rats."
"It’s so dark."
"I don’t want to know you anymore."
"Cold."
...The words were completely disconnected.
Wrapped in several layers of blankets, Sophie began to sweat in the middle of the night.
Her body was as hot as a fireball.
Alaric Blackwood held her from behind, feeling her clothes become soaked with sweat.
「The next morning.」
When Sophie woke up, she found herself under three heavy blankets. It took some effort just to move.
She pushed the blankets off layer by layer and sat up on the edge of the bed for a few minutes to clear her head. She then saw a set of loungewear on the nightstand.
’Alaric Blackwood must have left it there for her.’
She steadied herself against the wall and shakily made her way into the bathroom.
After washing up, she felt sticky and gross. It was awful. She knew she probably shouldn’t shower so soon after a fever, but she took a quick rinse under the spray anyway.
Dressed in the clean clothes, she went downstairs and saw her bag on the living room sofa and her phone lying face down on the coffee table.
She walked over, picked up her phone, and was surprised to see it was already ten-thirty.
Hearing the noise, Alaric Blackwood came out of the tea room to see her grabbing her bag and rushing toward the entryway.
"Where are you going?"
Sophie turned around, surprised to see him home. "To work, of course!"
"It’s Saturday. What work?"
"..."
Sophie froze on the spot.
Alaric Blackwood walked over to her, took the bag from her hand, and placed it on a cabinet. He put his large hand on her forehead to check her temperature.
It had gone down.
"Still groggy from sleep?"
A slight smile touched Alaric Blackwood’s lips as he took her hand and led her to the dining room.
He had her sit down in a chair, then reheated breakfast and brought it to the table.
While she was asleep, Alaric Blackwood had been busy moving all her spare clothes and personal belongings that he could find into the master bedroom.
He’d been making a fair bit of noise all morning, but Sophie had slept like a log.
Seeing her still dazed look, Alaric Blackwood picked up a spoon, scooped up some porridge, and brought it to her lips.
"Open up."
She snapped out of it. "I can... Mmph..."
The porridge was already in her mouth before she could finish speaking.
"I moved your things to the master bedroom."
Sophie nodded, took the spoon from Alaric Blackwood, and started eating the porridge herself.
The man rested his chin on one hand, a teasing smile playing on his lips as he watched her. "I saw a box in your room."
"What box?"
"The box with the lingerie in it."
Sophie’s eyes went wide. She was just about to say that Nina Halloway had given it to her when Alaric Blackwood reached into his pants pocket and, with a CLINK, pulled out a pair of silver handcuffs.
"And these."
She stared at the shiny handcuffs and forced an awkward smile at Alaric Blackwood.
"There were quite a few little toys in the box. Besides the handcuffs, there was a riding crop, low-temperature wax..."
The curve of Alaric Blackwood’s lips grew more pronounced. "Did you prepare all of this for me, darling?"
"This wouldn’t happen to be the ’surprise’ you mentioned, would it?"
