Chapter 610: Christian Is Treating Us Pretty Well
"Don’t be so optimistic." Yvonne spoke slowly, with much difficulty, "Christian got someone to formulate this poison. It may be slow-acting, but its effect is deadly.
It does not cause death directly but instead will chip away at your immune system.
After a few doses, your immune system will obviously be compromised. For example... you might fall seriously ill once you catch a chill.
It’ll take a long time to recover once you fall sick and you will slowly die from various afflictions. Even if, by some chance, you do not fall sick, the poison will still act up after three months and kill you."
"Immune system?" Jake’s eyes darkened visibly at those words.
"Where is the antidote?" Michael shook Yvonne forcefully, reminding her that she was still at his mercy.
Yvonne laughed bitterly, "I had planned to use the antidote to exchange for my life, but I don’t want to live anymore. Michael, your children can accompany me to the netherworld!"
"You’re asking for it!" Before he even finished talking, Michael held Jake’s hand and smashed the spiked mace in his hand onto Yvonne.
She immediately slumped into a dead faint. It was obvious her life was already hanging by a thread.
The doctor shook his head at Michael and said, "She’s at her limit, we can’t force her to wake anymore. Furthermore, if she’s not given treatment immediately, I reckon she’ll be dead by tomorrow."
Yvonne was just a woman who had led a sheltered life. There was no way she could hold up under such torture. She had held on for so long only by sheer force of will.
Everything she had done and said had been to make sure Michael’s heart would ache so that he would forever remember her.
Michael didn’t care about Yvonne’s life. She had colluded with Christian to kidnap Wendy and poisoned him and the children. He would kill her himself if he had to.
However, if she had poisoned them, the antidote she had was of great importance.
Before he found a way to neutralize the poison, she had to remain alive.
The doctor waited silently for Michael’s instructions. Before Michael had given the word, he dared not act.
His fists clenched tight, Michael gritted out, "Save her, then poison her too. The more miserable it makes her, the better."
The doctor immediately nodded, "Yes, Mr. Lucas."
Since Yvonne had already lost consciousness, there was no point in Michael and Jake remaining there.
Turning with the help of his crutches, he said to Mr. York, "To Milo Lawrence’s hospital, now."
Although there were doctors at the training camp, their expertise and equipment were limited. It would be better to go to Milo.
Michael hesitated for a couple of seconds before retracting his previous command, "Wait, let’s go home to pick Zess and Leah up first."
Leah would be scared if Michael did not return to pick her up personally.
Mr. York drove them. The atmosphere in the car was tense and no one uttered a word.
Brooding, Michael gave himself a tight slap. His eyes were filled with regret.
He muttered, "I should have realized it earlier. If I had known earlier, things would not have gotten to this stage."
Jake knew it was not Michael’s fault. After all, he himself hadn’t immediately realized that the woman with them was not his mother either.
It had taken only a few days for Michael to realize something was wrong. It was already considered fast.
However, Jake could not bring himself to console Michael.
The way he saw it, Michael had not been able to protect his wife, and the fault was his no matter what.
...
"I’m sorry Jake, I’m useless." Michael gave himself another forceful slap. "I was not able to protect all of you."
"Indeed, you are useless." Jake didn’t pull any punches with his words.
Taking a deep breath, Michael’s eyes reddened.
As he looked at Michael with hate in his eyes, Jake said angrily, "Mommy and we were perfectly happy in Rheinsville City. If you had not pestered her, we would all still be there, safe and sound. Mommy would still be a designer and not lost like now!"
Jake hadn’t liked Michael from the start and the recent incident made him dislike Michael even more. He put all the blame for everything bad that happened recently squarely on Michael.
Michael felt even guiltier after Jake’s outburst.
He slapped himself several more times in succession, all the while muttering words of apology.
"Do you know that Leah..." Jake started but did not finish his sentence.
"What about Leah?" Michael asked anxiously.
However, Jake merely blinked at Michael and then turned to look out of the window.
He did not talk again the rest of the way home.
Michael knew it was no use forcing Jake to talk if he did not want to. His son would not speak unless he wanted to.
The atmosphere in the car again tensed up.
Michael took out his cellphone and called Milo. Grimly, he said, "We will be at your hospital in a bit. Wait for us."
"It’s serious," he added.
Before Milo could ask what had happened, Michael had already hung up.
Michael rarely said things like that and Milo was worried. He immediately handed over whatever he was doing to his staff, then headed for the hospital entrance to wait for them.
Before long, Michael arrived back home. He hobbled upstairs quickly and saw that Leah had already fallen asleep. He reached out to carry her but realized he would not be able to walk with her in his arms due to his leg injury.
Behind him, Mr. York offered quietly, "Let me."
Michael nodded.
Zess saw them coming home and was about to say something when Michael interrupted, "Zess, get dressed, we’re going to the hospital."
"Now?" she asked, surprised. Michael nodded at her.
Confused, Zess made a sound of assent and followed Michael out with her coat.
Leah woke up, rubbing her eyes sleepily, while they were in the car. Groggily, she saw that her father was with her and fell asleep again.
When they arrived at the hospital, Michael saw Milo pacing the entrance waiting for them.
"What happened?" Milo immediately asked.
"We need to check if there is any sign of a slow-acting poison in our bodies." Michael did not completely trust Yvonne’s words.
She might have simply made it up as a last-ditch attempt to save herself or to take revenge on the way Michael had treated her.
Michael hoped with all his heart Yvonne was lying about the poison.
"You’ve been poisoned?" Milo frowned as he regarded the people with Michael. He felt a sense of foreboding.
Had all of them been poisoned too?
"It’s a little complicated, I’ll explain it to you later." Michael said anxiously, "How long will it take for the results to come out?"
"I’m not from the Lab Department and have no idea how long it will take. I guess it depends on the circumstances." Milo led the way, explaining as they walked. "Let’s make our way to the Lab Department first."
"Thank you," said Michael.
"No need for thanks." Milo treated Michael as a friend. The usual harmless ribbing aside, he would be there when his friend needed him.
Furthermore, much of the equipment at the hospital was sponsored by Michael.
...
Milo brought the group toward the Lab Department, giving the person in charge of the department a call on the way.
Leah had woken up on the way to the hospital and was following them groggily.
The little hand that was holding on to Michael’s gave a little pull. "Daddy, what are we doing at the hospital in the middle of the night?" asked Leah.
"We’re here for a checkup," replied Michael gently.
"Why do we suddenly need a checkup?" Leah asked, blinking innocently. She looked up at Michael with a bewildered expression on her face.
"Well..." Michael wasn’t sure what to tell her. "It’s a special checkup and we have to do it immediately."
Leah asked, "Do we all have to do it?"
"Yes, all of us have to get one." Michael reached out and patted Leah’s head. "We might need to get injections. Will Leah be afraid and cry?"
"I won’t!" Leah declared proudly. "I’m used to injections, I’m not afraid of them!"
"Used to injections?" Michael frowned and asked, "Why are you used to injections?
Did you get a lot of shots?"
"I used to fall sick often. Whenever I got a fever, I had to get many shots." Leah’s face scrunched up in distaste when she thought of all the injections she had to take.
Before Michael could reply, they had arrived at the Lab Department.
The person in charge of the Lab Department was waiting for them at the door.
"Mr. Lawrence, Mr. Lucas." He gave both of them a small bow in greeting.
"No need for formalities, let’s just get it done." Michael was in a hurry to find out if they had indeed been poisoned.
"Please come this way." The man in charge at the Lab Department motioned for them to follow him.
...
Rheinsville City.
Zen had been lying in bed for quite a few days and her leg injury was slowly healing.
The doctor said that she could move about, albeit carefully and with the aid of crutches. Her leg muscles would atrophy if she stayed in bed for too long.
Wendy was happy with the update.
She helped Zen off the bed and said, "I’ll go for a walk with you. Although we cannot leave, the villa is quite big and we can stroll around the garden.
"Okay." Zen nodded in agreement. Two of them slowly made their way out of the room with her supporting herself using her crutch on one side and Wendy holding her other arm.
The sun shone brightly in the sky. Taking a deep breath of fresh air, Zen smiled despite herself. "It’s good to still be alive to see the sun."
Wendy led Zen to a garden chair and they sat there, enjoying the greenery. Before long, a maid brought them some juice and a fruit platter.
Zen was bemused by the treatment they were getting. "Christian is treating us pretty well."
Her tone was mocking. He had imprisoned them in this villa and yet had the house staff wait on them.
"Wendy, did Christian make things difficult for you?" Zen had been recuperating in bed in the basement and had no idea what was going on above ground.
Although Wendy visited her every day and stayed to chat, she still felt uneasy. She was afraid that Zen might be suffering from what she could not see. However, even if she did see, she would probably not be able to do anything about it.
"No." Wendy shook her head. "Didn’t I tell you before that he left a few days ago? He said he had work to do. I guess he’s trafficking drugs again. We’re stuck here, wherever here is. It’s been a few days, I wonder if Michael has discovered the fake Wendy yet."
At the thought of that, Wendy sighed deeply and her brow furrowed in a frown.
