Chapter 2 What Had She Been Through?
1101 Words
Enzo Molan's POV:
Ever since Elisa had been diagnosed with leukemia a month ago, I hadn't been able to get a good night's sleep.
Her rare blood type not only made it hard to find a suitable bone marrow match, but even getting blood transfusions had become a significant issue.
I could control the entire city's economy and face any adversary in the business arena without flinching, but I was powerless against my daughter's frailty and my own helplessness.
I had issued orders to search throughout Zethus, even nationally and globally, for anyone with the same blood type. Money had become the least of my worries, to the point where I wouldn't have cared if someone took all my wealth.
It wasn't until the girl in that room told me she didn't need money.
I hated that my merchant's instincts had made me instantly wary and defensive. This girl, who had just been pulled out of prison, was the only person in Zethus with the same blood type as Elisa. She knew that no matter how much money she wanted, I wouldn't refuse.
But all she wanted was to be released from prison.
My gut had told me she wasn't as docile as she seemed. I had even been ready to refuse her.
But when she had looked up at me, those emerald eyes defiantly sparkling in the moonlight. At that moment, I had suddenly been hit with an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
"Look into her background thoroughly, including the court records and verdict of her case," I instructed the butler. "Bring a lawyer to review everything."
Before he could leave the study, my eyes landed on the paternity test report sitting on my desk.
It had been there for a month...
"Is Lauren still abroad?" I asked.
The butler answered me respectfully, but there was a trace of helplessness in his tone. "Madam said she still had some unfinished business..."
"What business could she possibly have?!" I burst out. "I don't care how you do it. If she still refuses to come back, then find a way to get her hair and her blood!"
When the butler had left, he thoughtfully closed the door behind him.
Tremendous fatigue surged through my heart. I took a bottle of whiskey from the cabinet and took a swig.
Since Elisa's diagnosis, Lauren Brooks had been using all kinds of excuses not to return to the country or even to see her daughter.
When the hospital had first told me Elisa was a rare blood type, my first reaction had been that Lauren had deceived me. She might have slept with another man and given birth to Elisa. After all, we had been married for four years but had only been intimate that one time.
But the paternity test told me Elisa was indeed my daughter.
Everything was confusing and infuriating.
I had pressed my temples as a headache throbbed, thinking of Lauren...
Our relationship was nothing more than the most clichéd business marriage. Since she had given birth to Elisa, we had been separated for three years.
No, in fact, aside from that first night in the hotel, we had hardly had any physical contact. Afterwards, she had used her pregnancy and the need to nurture as excuses to move to the villa in the suburbs. Once Elisa was born, she stayed for only a month before leaving the child with me and going abroad.
As the alcohol evaporated in my stomach, my headache eased, and my thoughts gradually cleared.
Perhaps... Lauren had hidden something from me?
Just as I was about to figure out the key issue, I heard something fall in the corridor.
It was two in the morning. Who could it be?
I walked out of the study, listening carefully, following the faint tapping sounds, and finally stopped at the guest room door.
It was the woman we had brought back from prison.
Just a few hours earlier, she had promised me she would stay put!
Perhaps I should have had the butler teach her the rules of survival here again. I turned to leave, but then I heard again a faint cry for help from behind the door.
"Is anyone there? Can someone help me...?"
She sounded weak and pitiful.
My hand moved faster than my brain, pushing open the door to the guest room.
The room was still dark, making me wonder if she had gotten used to the dimness of prison.
Moonlight streamed through the wide windows, making her seem even paler.
She was lying on the carpet, curled up, one hand pressing hard on her stomach. Beside her was a vase that had fallen from the nightstand.
"Who's there..." She tried to lift her head but seemed unable to see me clearly. "Help me..."
I approached her and kicked her body, yet she showed no reaction. What happened? I crouched down to check her condition, only then realizing that her pallor had nothing to do with the moonlight.
She seemed to be enduring great pain, her lips also bitten deeply. I lifted her face, and she weakly opened her eyes before closing them again.
For some reason, my heart trembled at that moment.
How weird.
It was a feeling I had never had before, and I couldn't even distinguish whether I was anxious for this woman or uneasy about this unfamiliar emotion.
I looked up and found the phone that had fallen between the bed and the dresser. The tapping sound must have been her trying to find the phone.
I picked up the phone, recognized it as the one the butler had given her, and pressed number 1.
"Ms. Gatlin?"
The butler, Andrew, picked up the phone.
"Send someone to look after her," I said, looking down at her condition. "And if necessary, call Lucas and ask him to come over."
Then, I hung up the phone, stood up, and prepared to walk to the door. However, I probably shouldn't have let her continue to lie on the floor like that.
I bent down and picked her up from the ground. She was almost weightless, frighteningly light. Soon, I laid her back on the bed and covered her with a blanket.
As I was leaving, Andrew arrived with the staff.
"Sir! I've already called Dr. Emerson, and he's on his way now."
"Get in! After Lucas has looked her over, have him come to the study to see me!"
"Yes, sir!"
I walked back to the study, the residual warmth on my hands continuously disturbing my thoughts.
Leah, was it?
What had she been through?
- Writer
