Filed To Story: Returning to Her Not-So-Poor Family
Carol noticed his fists were cracked, the blood had coagulated on the surface of his skin.
Growing up in such a harsh environment, Carol could tell at a glance that these were injuries from a fight.
Who did he fight with?
Was it those people?
Carol remembered how her foster parents were killed by those people, and how they dragged innocent Crystal into it.
Tears suddenly welled up in Carol’s eyes.
Clark was clutching Carol’s hand in his sleep. Maybe he felt her moving, and he opened his eyes. He was overjoyed, “Carol, you’re awake.”
Nothing could make him happier than seeing her awake.
Carol turned her face away, not wanting him to see the tear tracks on her face.
Clark quickly reached out to wipe them away, “Don’t cry. It’s my fault for sleeping so soundly. How long have you been awake? Don’t worry, those people have been caught. I’ve tracked down the IP of the person who ordered them. My men are on their way. They will make them wish they were dead.”
Clark wanted these people to pay doubly for how Logan, Taylor, and Crystal were killed and the pain they suffered.Carol didn’t say anything, staring at the snowflakes falling outside the window. She remembered a snowy day when she was young. Taylor was with her in the yard making a snowman, and Logan had a snowball fight with them.
They all laughed so happily.
Clark followed her gaze, gently holding her, “We agreed that once you’re better, we’ll go skiing. How are you feeling? Are you better? Should I call the doctor to check on you?”
Carol shook her head.
She kept her gaze away from him, not looking at him.
Clark’s heart skipped a beat.
“Would you like a glass of water? You’ve slept for so long. You must be parched.” Clark pecked her cheek and rose to pour her a drink, intending to help her sit up.
Carol kept her gaze fixed on the snowflakes outside the window, her voice cooling as she spoke, “Clark, there’s something I need to tell you.”
She didn’t call him darling or even look at him.
Her tone was even somewhat chilly.
A sinking feeling washed over Clark as a sense of foreboding bubbled up.
“Carol, do you know how you woke up? It was Bella and her talented Grandpa Beck who concocted the vital antidote, which you took in time. By the way, I haven’t told Bella yet that you’ve woken up. She’d be thrilled. I should tell her right now.”
Clark hastily retrieved his cellphone, but in his haste, it slipped from his hands and clattered to the floor.
As he bent down to pick it up, a hint of sourness tinged his nostrils, “Do you have any idea how critical your condition was? You stopped breathing for a whole 30 seconds during treatment. It scared the hell out of me.”
Carol finally tore her gaze from the window and settled it on him.
Clark forced a smile, “Bella said that as long as you woke up, the rest of the treatment wouldn’t be a big issue.
You can finally break free from your past life.”Could she really break free?
With her status, it was destined to be a lifelong burden.
Just as Carol was about to speak, Clark cut her off, “I need to text Bella first. This is undoubtedly fantastic news, a significant breakthrough in her research.”
Typically, Clark was a fast texter, but today, it seemed to take him forever to type, constantly making errors or forming incoherent sentences.
He joked, ‘I was so excited to see you awake that I forgot how to type.”
Carol could see the heartache and avoidance in his smile. She knew him so well. Every subtle change in his expression didn’t escape her scrutiny.
“Yesterday at the door.”
“Carol, you haven’t told me how you’re feeling. Is there anything uncomfortable?” Clark interrupted her again after sending the message, holding her hand and asking, “Like body aches, dizziness, nausea? If so, you must tell me so I can call the doctor.”
Carol shook her head again.
“That means Bella and Grandpa Beck’s antidote is working. Congratulations, you won’t have to suffer from the affliction anymore.” Clark took her hands in his, raising them to his lips for a gentle kiss, “By the way, are you hungry? I’ll ask the doctor if I can get you something to eat. Just wait here for me.”
Seeing him rise to leave, Carol wanted to stop him, but he seemed to flee before she could.
Clark finally stepped out of the ward, his eyes reddening. He knew what she was going to say next, and he couldn’t accept it. He had only just managed to bring her back, and he would never let go.Not even if it killed him.
Clark asked the doctor, who said she could have some light gruel. Just then, Mirabella texted back that she’d be at the hospital in a while. Clark quickly asked, [Can Carol have some gruel?] Mirabella replied in four words: [Yes, in small amounts.] With his sister’s assurance, Clark purchased some food from the hospital cafeteria and hurried back to the ward, only to realize that Carol was gone.
The breakfast he held dropped to the floor, the hot gruel splashing onto his ankle and dirtying his pants.
But he didn’t notice, standing stunned for a moment before rushing to check the ensuite bathroom.
“Carol?”
She was not in the bathroom, not in the ward, he even checked under the bed and tossed the curtains.
No one was there.
All that was left on the bed was a pillow and a drawn back blanket.
Her IV drip had been removed.
Where was she?
“Carol.” Clark burst out of the room, immediately rushing to ask the nurse on that floor, ‘Where did the patient in bed 308 go?”
“I have no idea.”
Carol had already been out of danger since last night, shifted from the ICU to a regular ward. It was the early Morning shift change, and no nurse had noticed where she had gone.
Clark was anxious, suddenly remembering what Carol had mentioned earlier. She’d said: Yesterday at the ICU door.
Even though she hadn’t finished her sentence, Clark had a bad feeling. She must have overheard his conversation with his parents and decided to leave.
He frantically hit the elevator’s down button, but seeing it still stuck on the 21st floor, with no sign of moving, he tan down the stairs, searching everywhere once he reached the ground floor.
“Carol.
People were everywhere, the falling snowflakes as dense as feathers, obstructing his vision.
Clark’s eyes turned red, and among the crowd, he couldn’t find his Carol.
Ignoring the biting cold wind that made his wounds ache, he pulled out his cell phone, repeatedly dialing Carol’s number.The automated voice just kept saying: I’m sorry, the number you have dialed is switched off.
She had turned off her phone.
She was missing again!
Tears started to fill Clark’s eyes, this feeling was too similar to when she had disappeared before.
He was desperate, not knowing where to find her.
Would Carol go back to the Mystic Oak House to pack her things if she was leaving?
Thinking of this, Clark rushed out of the hospital, nearly getting hit by a taxi. He opened the passenger door, “Mystic Oak House, fast!”
The taxi driver looked puzzled, “Sorry, sir, there’s still a passenger in the backseat.”
Clark turned to see a women holding her feverish child, on their way to the hospital.
The young mother, startled by Clark’s urgency and red eyes, quickly got out of the car with her child.
“Please step on it.” Clark, suddenly recalling something, pulled out his phone again, calling the staff at Mystic Oak House, “Has Carol returned?”
“Huh? Has she returned? I haven’t seen her.” The housekeeper sensed something was off in Clark’s tone, quickly tesponding, “I might have been busy and didn’t notice. I’ll get some people to look around.”
The mansion was huge. If Carol wanted to avoid the staff, with her agility, it was entirely possible.
“If you see her, you must stop her.””Yes.”
After hanging up, Clark urged the driver again, to which the driver responded helplessly, “I’m already going as fast as I can””
Finally arriving at Mystic Oak House, Clark dashed in, grabbing the first staff member he saw, “Has Carol returned?”
“No, I’ve checked the surveillance. She didn’t come back.”
“She’s not here.”
Clark rushed to the bedroom. Everything was as usual.
The mention of “surveillance” by the staff reminded him of something he had overlooked in his panic!
He immediately accessed the hospital’s surveillance for that floor, discovering Carol had left by herself, pushing open the fire escape door while he was out getting breakfast.
New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.