6
Before the car could even move, Penny suddenly ran out and blocked its path.
“Adrian, don’t go! Please, don’t go see her!”
In her haste, her voice became shrill.
Adrian rolled down the window, a flicker of confusion in his eyes. Then his expression softened into a smile.
“Don’t worry. I’m leaving all the bodyguards with you. She won’t get a chance to hurt you.”
“And the lawyers are handling things at the station. I’ll only be a little while.”
Penny saw his resolve was unshakable.
She bit her lip and, feigning weakness, swayed and collapsed to the ground.
At the sight of this, Adrian had no choice but to get out and carry her back to the car.
Looking at her pale, drawn face, his heart ached.
“Change of plans,” he told the driver. “We’re not going home. Take us to the hospital.”
Penny remained “unconscious” at the hospital for three days and three nights.
Adrian never left her side.
He was terrified–terrified that she would slip back into that deep, unending sleep from three years ago.
The matter of confronting Rosalie was completely forgotten.
Finally, on the third morning, Penny’s eyes fluttered open.
1444
Chapter 2
Adrian’s own eyes immediately welled up with relief. He gripped her hand tightly, his voice thick with emotion.
“Penny, you’re okay. You’re okay.”
“I’m not leaving. I’m never leaving you again. Just don’t scare me like that.”
Penny offered a weak smile, a flicker of satisfaction in her eyes.
While the doctors were examining Penny, Adrian stepped out into the smoking lounge and lit a cigarette.
He didn’t know why, but ever since he’d signed those disownment papers with Rosalie, a strange, unsettling feeling had been gnaw-
ing at him.
Just then, his lawyer entered the room.
“Mr. Sterling.” The lawyer’s face was etched with unease. “We’ve been investigating for the past few days, and we’ve uncovered
something. I think you need to be aware of it.”
Adrian arched a brow, annoyed. “Go on.”
The lawyer swallowed nervously.
Our investigation he confirmed. that the
hasn’t been forged.”
“Ha.”
the evidence provided to the police by the anonymous source appears to be authentic. It
A humorless laugh escaped Adrian’s lips, his eyes burning red.
He dropped his cigarette and crushed it under his heel.
“What, are you trying to tell me that the woman I’ve protected all this time, the woman for whom I disowned my own sister, is
actually the person who killed my parents?”
Adrian’s voice grew dangerously sharp.
“If she was the murderer, then why did she risk her own life to save me from Rosalie’s trap all those years ago?”
“I hired you the best legal minds in the country–and this is what you bring me?!”
As he finished speaking) Adrian slammed his hand against a glass panel, shattering it.
The lawyer flinched, stammering, “This–this is just what the investigation has turned up so far. Perhaps there’s more to the story.”
Adrian clenched his fists, ignoring the shards of glass digging into his palm as if he felt no pain at all. He fought to suppress the rising tide of dread in his heart, his voice firm. “It has to be Rosalie. She’s pulling the strings.”
“I want you to file a lawsuit against her immediately. For the attempted murder of me in that car crash.”
“I want to face her in court. Within three days.”
The lawyer nodded hastily and left.
But even after he was gone, the deep furrow in Adrian’s brow remained. His thoughts were a tangled mess.
He took a few deep breaths, forcing himself to calm down before heading back to Penny’s room.
But as he reached the door, he heard her shouting impatiently at a nurse.
“I told you, I don’t want this bland recovery food!”
“I was never pregnant! I never had a miscarriage! Are you people stupid? Can’t you understand English?”
