Free Web NovelChapter 456: Imagination Running Wild
Michael brought a large number of security guards today.
He was obviously threatening Todd by saying those words.
If he did not leave, he would let his people forcefully take him away.
Mr.York walked toward Todd and made a gesture, "Mr.Lewis, please leave."
Todd took a deep breath and clenched his fists in secret.
Ultimately, he turned around and went away.
It became silent after Todd left outside the ward.
Seeing that Todd had disappeared from his view, he turned around and went into the ward.
He closed the door carefully and walked next to Wendy’s bed.
Sitting on the chair, Michale held Wendy’s hand in his hands, bowed down his head, and kissed her finger.
"Wendy, I am sorry..." Michael sounded very apologetic.
He thought that if he could know everything earlier, and if he could know that Wendy was planning to approach Clement, and if he could come to Rheinsville city earlier, then maybe all this would not happen.
Then his wife would not suffer so much like this.
Michael’s eyes became watery and tears rolled down his face.
Hot tears fell onto the back of Wendy’s hands.
He was Michael Lucas, the CEO of MC.
But now, he was sitting in Wendy’s ward and crying like a child.
His phone rang abruptly in the silent ward.
Michael was startled.
He was afraid that the ring would bother Wendy, so he hanged up as soon as he took out his phone, without even looking at it.
After the ring stopped, he was able to see who just called him.
The phone call was from Lake City and the number was the number of Michael’s home.
In other words, it was Jake and Leah Stewart that called just now.
Michael stood up and walked out of the ward gently and quietly.
Michael called back after he carefully closed the door.
As expected, Jake answered the phone.
"Have you arrived at Lake City?" Jake still was reluctant to call him daddy, "Have you seen mommy?"
"Yes, I have arrived." Michael looked at the closed door of the ward and tried his best to sound calm and peaceful.
It was much harder to trick his son Jake than to trick Leah.
As long as there was something even a little abnormal, he could detect it. So Michael must be very cautious when he spoke.
Michael said, "I have seen mommy, she is very good, please rest assured."
"Then let mommy answer the phone." Jake sounded immature but steady.
Michael felt somehow resigned.
It was indeed so hard to trick his son.
"It is very late now, mommy has fallen asleep, isn’t it impolite to wake her up now?"
Michael replied.
This was not a good excuse, but Michael could not come up with any other excuse at that moment.
And as expected, Jake could not be tricked by this.
"You can tell me directly how mommy is, I will feel more worried if you do not tell me," Jake said directly, "You hurried to Rheinsville city. If mommy were really fine, you should have let me know as soon as possible. After all, you know that I have always been waiting for your call. You do not call me first, which indicates that something must have happened."
"I really cannot hide anything from you," sighed Michael, "Something indeed happened. When I arrived mommy was injured. She is now in hospital, but she is really not badly hurt. Daddy won’t lie to you on this. I will bring her back after she spends several days recovering in hospital."
"Really?" Jake half believed and half suspected.
He was really worried that mommy was badly hurt.
He hated that he was too young to offer any help.
...
"Yes, really." Michael nodded as he continued, "But don’t tell Leah about this. If she asks for me, just tell her that I’m on a business trip."
"I know," Jake replied briefly, knowing exactly what he meant.
Michael had no doubt that his son understood.
Jake was a smart kid and would know how to placate Leah.
"Okay, that’s it. I must go to your mom now," Michael said. He was in no mood to talk. All he wanted right now was to be by Wendy’s side.
"Okay. Call me immediately if there’s any development," Jake replied seriously.
Grunting an acknowledgment, Michael hung up without saying anything else.
Hanging up, he stared at the phone in wonder. Then he chuckled and muttered, "Just who’s the old man here? Why was I reporting to him?"
Shaking his head, he pushed the door open and entered the room.
Very slowly, the hours passed by.
Wendy woke up at around 11 the following morning.
She opened her eyes and touched her head gingerly, grimacing.
Then she noticed the man sitting by her bed, bent over with his head on the bed.
Even in that position, Wendy could tell that it was Michael.
She frowned, wondering why Michael was here.
In the next instant, she felt a sense of dread.
When did he get here?
How much did he know?
Now that she was awake, Wendy felt a little dizzy and thirsty.
She sat up, wanting a glass of water.
Michael sensed some movement and he woke up.
Looking up, he noted that Wendy was awake and looked very happy.
Getting quickly to his feet, he reached out to help her. "Awake? Do you feel pain anywhere? Let me call the doctor..."
As he spoke, he reached out and pressed the call button on the wall panel.
When the call was answered, he said, "The patient is awake. Please come and check her condition."
"Oh, sure. We’ll be right over," someone responded from the other end.
After the brief exchange, Michael glanced at Wendy. With concern in his voice, he asked, "How are you feeling? Speak up if you’re feeling unwell. Don’t bear with it in silence."
"I want water," Wendy said hoarsely.
Nodding, Michael immediately poured her a glass of water.
To ensure that the water was not too hot, he took a sip first.
Having confirmed that water was at the right temperature, he helped Wendy up and held the glass to her lips.
Wendy’s throat felt a lot more comfortable after she had some water.
"Want more?" Michael asked, noticing that she had drunk most of the water in one gulp.
Wendy shook her head.
Putting down the glass, Michael asked, "Do you want to lie back down or to sit up?"
"Sit up, please," Wendy replied. She had been lying down for too long and would end up getting dizzy if she continued to do so.
Michael helped her to sit up and tucked a pillow behind her.
The doctor arrived shortly afterward.
After a detailed examination, the doctor announced, "The patient is in fairly good condition and should be able to eat some bland food. We’ll just keep her here, under observation, for three days. After which she could be discharged if there are no issues."
Michael was so relieved by what the doctor had said that he thanked him profusely.
The doctor waved away his thanks, saying, ’You’re most welcome. I’m just doing my job."
That said, the doctor left the room.
Michael walked over to Wendy. "Hungry? I’ll get Mr. York to bring you some bland food, okay?"
Wendy nodded.
She was really hungry.
Immediately, Michael reached for his phone and called Mr. York, "Buy me some bland food."
....
Shortly, Mr. York arrived with the food that Michael had instructed him to buy for Wendy.
On his own accord, he had also bought Michael some lunch.
Knowing that Michael would refuse to leave Wendy and go out for lunch, Mr. York had brought his lunch to him instead.
Taking the container of food from Mr. York, Michael removed the lid and stirred a spoon through it to cool it down. After checking the food’s temperature, he fed Wendy a spoonful.
Not having any appetite, Wendy pursed her lips.
Noting that she was not opening her mouth to eat, Michael coaxed, "You must eat something..."
Wendy reached out for the container and said, "Let me. I’m fine now. I can feed myself."
Michael deftly moved the container out of her reach. "I will feed you. Stop moving about. " Wendy was about to comment when she saw Michael’s adamant expression.
Knowing that he would not give in to her, she relented and gave up trying.
Opening her mouth, she swallowed the spoonful of food that Michael fed her.
She had not even gone through half the container when Wendy said, "I’ve had enough."
"Just one more spoonful. One last spoonful, please?" Michael coaxed.
Seeing that she had not eaten much, Michael tried to persuade her to eat more so that she would not go hungry.
Glancing at the spoonful of food hovering at her mouth, Wendy had no choice but to accede to his request.
But then, Michael went back on his word and tried to feed yet another spoonful to her, saying with a smile, "A final spoon, really the last one..."
"Nope." Wendy shook her head. "I really don’t want anymore."
The food was bland and, since Wendy had just woken up, she really had no appetite.
"Leah and Jake are waiting for us back in Lake City. You should eat up and get well so that we can go home to them as soon as possible." Michael used the kids to motivate Wendy.
Wendy looked downcast at the mention of the kids.
Since she had not had the chance to ask Michael when he had arrived in Rheinsville City, she decided to do so now.
Because she was aware that she had to face reality and clear the air with him.
"Michael...," she began, biting her lips. Then, looking resolute, she asked him, "When did you get to Rheinsville City?"
Actually, Michael had also been hoping that Wendy would not ask him that question.
He put the spoonful of food that he was about to feed to Wendy back into the container.
Without hesitation, he smiled at her and replied, "Yesterday."
"So how much do you know?" Wendy searched his face with dread and unease.
Even Wendy herself was not sure of what had happened after she lost consciousness.
And she had absolutely no idea how she ended up in the hospital.
All she remembered was that Clement had every intention of bedding her while she was unconscious.
She did not even want to imagine what might have happened afterward.
She did not know how much Michael had found out when he arrived.
And if he was aware of what had happened between her and Clement, she would not know how to face him.
"Since you’ve brought it up, I have a bone to pick with you," Michael said as he put the container on the table and looked as though he was about to reprimand her.
"Why didn’t you tell me what you were planning to do?
"Did you know that I almost died when I arrived and found you unconscious and covered in blood?
"Did you know that if I had been a tad late, you could have been killed?
"Fortunately, I arrived just in time with some men to rescue you from Clement.
"You were unconscious when we found you, but, fortunately, you were not in a life-threatening situation. I took you to the hospital as quickly as I could.
"Wendy, we’re married. How could you do something so dangerous and not tell me beforehand?
"If I had known about it, I would definitely not have allowed you to put yourself in danger like that.
"All I ever want is for you and the kids to be safe and happy.
"You must trust me to deal with these things."
...
At his words, her eyes flickered as she appeared furtive.
She kept her head low, not daring to look him in the eye.
"You came with some of your men to rescue me from Clement?" Wendy repeated, frowning.
"What did you see when you arrived on the scene?" she asked.
Michael knew why Wendy had asked him that.
The situation at that time was indeed perilous. Although she had lost her consciousness, she was obviously worried that something untoward might have happened to her.
Michael looked away as he recalled the answer he had already prepared in anticipation of this question. "Clement was about to violate you when I dashed into the room. In my rage, I beat him up. Unfortunately, he managed to get away before we could hold him down."
Wendy stopped mid-sentence because she could not bring herself to say the word ’violate’.
Looking up, she looked searchingly at Michael and asked, "What do you mean by ’about to’?"
Wendy’s heart pounded rapidly while she waited for Michael’s response.
Truth be told, she dreaded having to ask that question to Michael no less.
In the first place, it was she who had unilaterally planned to get close to Clement.
Thus, if anything untoward had happened to her because of her pigheadedness, then she would have been ashamed to face Michael.
If only she had not been so arrogant and had listened to Michael, then she would not have been caught in this quagmire.
So, to put it bluntly, the only person to blame for her predicament today was herself.
She had brought this all upon herself.
Alas, it was too late for regrets.
If something bad had indeed happened, then she would just have to face it.
"Exactly what it means... he was about to." Michael smiled, deliberately asking, "What’s with the question? Don’t tell me you suspect that Clement had violated you?"
"I..." Wendy paused as she hung her head low and toyed nervously with her fingers, feeling uneasy.
Although she had not said it out loud, Wendy did suspect that that was what had happened.
Looking away from Michael, she took a deep breath, seemingly to boost her courage and closed her eyes. Then she asked, "Tell me honestly, had something bad already happened to me by the time you arrived?"
"Yes, indeed." Michael nodded, responding without hesitation.
Wendy’s heart sank at Michael’s response. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
As expected, Clement could not have let her go without doing anything to her.
"If nothing had happened to you, why would I have had to take you to the hospital?"
Michael said seriously.
"When I arrived on the scene, there was a nasty gash on your forehead and your face was covered in blood.
"You were unconscious and totally out of it, so I took you to the hospital immediately. If I had not done so, you could not have regained consciousness so quickly."
Wendy heaved a sigh of relief at what Michael had just told her.
However, his response had also made her a tad uneasy.
Had he actually answered her question?
Cutting to the chase, Wendy asked, "You know what I mean. What I want to know is if Clement had...violated..."
She lowered her voice and uttered the last word very slowly.
It was a word that she found extremely difficult to verbalize.
"Stop letting your imagination run wild." Michael smiled, reaching out to take her hand.
Michael’s hand was cold, having not slept well... or maybe the exhaustion from the activities of the past two days had affected his health somewhat.
Despite his hands being cold, he tried hard to give Wendy warmth, saying tenderly, "There was no doubt that Clement had designs on you, but he could not go through with it because I arrived in the nick of time. Like I said, he did mean to violate you but had failed, didn’t he?"
