Chapter 280: Wifey, Hug Me More
As Lydia Wynn attacked the driver, Alaric Blackwood didn’t just stand by. He hooked his fingers around the door handle and, with a SLAM, pulled it shut.
Just closing the door took almost every last bit of his strength.
Then, with a CLICK, the doors locked.
The driver, who had been kicked in a vulnerable spot by Lydia Wynn, saw Alaric shut the door and immediately worked with him. He secretly pressed the button on the key fob in his hand, locking the doors for him.
As he fell, the driver tucked the hand clutching the key fob beneath his stomach, collapsing face-down on the ground.
Because of this, Lydia Wynn didn’t realize the driver had locked the car; she assumed Alaric had done it from the inside.
She lunged for the rear passenger window, pressing herself against the glass and yanking desperately at the door.
It wouldn’t open.
"Alaric Blackwood, open the door!"
She couldn’t see inside, but from within the car, Alaric could see her snarling, her face contorted with rage as it was pressed against the glass.
’Thank god his driver has been with him for so long. His reflexes are sharp.’
He leaned back against the seat, his eyes fixed on Lydia’s face at the window. As the woman’s roars echoed around him, his vision began to blur.
"Open the door!"
"I said, open the door!"
"Alaric Blackwood!"
Lydia Wynn was overcome with rage, screaming like a lunatic.
Her screams caught the attention of a parking garage security guard, who approached with a confused expression.
Seeing her agitated state, frantically banging on the car door, and noticing a young man lying on the ground, the guard immediately went over to inquire.
"Miss, what happened?"
Lydia Wynn’s heart dropped. She quickly put on a frightened expression, her mind racing. "Someone... someone in the car passed out," she told the guard, "but the doors are locked, and I can’t get them open!"
The guard glanced at the driver on the ground and quickly radioed his colleagues patrolling near the emergency center. Moments later, two more guards arrived with a team of paramedics.
They lifted the unconscious driver onto a stretcher first.
A male doctor noticed the key fob clutched in his hand. The doctor glanced at the black sedan nearby and pressed the unlock button.
’At that moment, Lydia’s mind exploded.’
’She’d finally caught him alone, without his usual entourage. How could the prize she’d had in her grasp just slip away like that?’
All she could do was watch helplessly as the doctor unlocked the car, pulled open the door, and lifted the unconscious Alaric from the back seat, carrying him out bridal-style.
The doctor calmly placed Alaric on another stretcher, and the group hurried back to the ER, carrying the two "patients."
Lydia Wynn froze on the spot, the corner of her mouth twitching.
She didn’t dare follow the paramedics, afraid she’d be exposed. Instead, she used the commotion as cover to slip back to the inpatient ward.
By the time she returned to Quentin Blackwood’s hospital room, her heart was still pounding.
It was broad daylight, so she hadn’t actually planned to kidnap Alaric. Her goal was just to subdue him, drive off somewhere private, and have a little "chat" about old times.
’She wanted to destroy Alaric Blackwood so, so badly!’
’The happier he was, the more successful his career became, the more she wanted to ruin him.’
Quentin Blackwood’s anger had mostly subsided. Seeing her looking so distraught and pale, he reached out and patted the back of her hand. "Claire, what’s wrong?"
She quickly shook her head. "It’s nothing. I was just seeing my brother off, but he wasn’t very kind to me."
"Do you still have... improper feelings for Alaric?"
"I wouldn’t dare. He’s my brother. How could I harbor such feelings? I liked him before, back when I didn’t know we were related. Once I found out, of course I stopped thinking of him that way."
Her answer was very mature. To put Quentin Blackwood’s mind at ease, she continued, "I hope I can get along with my brother and sister. Dad, do you think I should make time to visit Nina?"
Her magnanimous and well-behaved demeanor dispelled some of the gloom from Quentin Blackwood’s heart.
"If only Alaric and Nina were as reasonable as you."
The mention of Nina made Quentin Blackwood’s eyes well up again.
His mood soured as he recalled the time he had traveled abroad, how he had even knelt to beg for Mandy Halloway’s forgiveness.
When Mandy Halloway’s heart softened and she agreed to return to the country with him, he had shed tears of joy.
After they returned, to prove his devotion to Mandy Halloway, he canceled all his social obligations. Outside of work, his time was spent at home with her, helping raise their child. He spent far more time with Nina Halloway than he ever did with Alaric.
When Nina Halloway was a child, she was practically attached to him. He’d carry her everywhere on his shoulders, and she would sometimes even tag along with him to the office.
He was supposed to have had a perfect, happy life with a son and a daughter, but he had ruined it all himself.
"Then I’ll go visit Nina tonight. I’ll definitely bring her to see you," Lydia Wynn said.
He raised a hand to wipe the dampness from his eyes. "Thank you for going to the trouble."
"Of course."
...
At the same time, Sophie Shaw received a call from the hospital. The moment she heard Alaric was in the ER, she dropped everything she was doing at Heart of the Ocean and rushed to the hospital.
When she arrived, Alaric still hadn’t woken up. He was lying on a hospital bed with his eyes shut tight. In the adjacent bed, the driver was also unconscious.
"What happened to my husband?"
she asked the doctor.
"He’s just unconscious. He should wake up soon."
Sophie’s heart clenched. "But he was fine. Why would he pass out?"
"The test results aren’t out yet. Please be patient, ma’am."
Sophie sat anxiously by his bedside, waiting until evening. The sky had long since darkened by the time Alaric finally stirred and woke up.
Alaric breathed a sigh of relief when the first person he saw upon opening his eyes was Sophie.
He slowly sat up and pulled Sophie into his arms. "Honey, I almost didn’t see you again."
Sophie was alarmed. "What happened?"
Alaric didn’t know how to explain what had happened. He had been ambushed and knocked out by Lydia Wynn.
’How embarrassing.’
’I’m too embarrassed to tell the truth.’
"I guess I’ve been working too hard lately. My body just gave out."
Sophie hugged him back. "Don’t push yourself so hard."
"Okay. Whatever my wife says."
"Take tomorrow off and get some proper rest."
"Okay."
Sophie helped him get out of the bed and glanced over at the driver, who was still out cold. She noticed an ice pack placed between his legs and asked, puzzled, "Has your driver been overworked lately, too?"
’Why did they both pass out at the same time?’
’And that ice pack... Why is it placed there...?’
Alaric put an arm around her shoulder and gently turned her head toward him, keeping her from looking. "I suppose so."
Sophie: ...
"Don’t worry about the driver. I’ll have Preston Chase come over."
"Alright, then."
She helped Alaric out of the ER and into her car.
On the way back to Maplewood Estate, Alaric made a call to Preston Chase, asking him to make a trip to the hospital and wait for the test results.
The effects of the knockout drug had long since worn off, but Alaric was now channeling his inner Jasmine Blackwood.
Once Sophie helped him inside and onto the sofa, he wrapped his arms around her waist and refused to let go. He pressed his face against her soft stomach and whined, "Honey, I don’t feel well. You have to hold me."