Chapter 10

“Mrs. Duval!” Wanda screamed out in surprise.

In the next moment, Hesper was caught by a pair of huge, male hands.

Everyone was stunned; not even Rickard realized what had happened.

How could he possibly initiate such an intimate interaction with her?

He was convinced that he did it instinctively. He caught her out of instinct, and that was all.

Sophia could not bear to watch anymore. “Dick, don’t mind her. The more you mind, the more she'll feign her agony. She did it so she could get your attention.”

“Shut up!” Rickard shouted coldly. Having gotten close to Hesper, he had only just discovered the abnormality of her body temperature.

“She's having a fever. Call the family doctor.”

Sophia did not have the courage to continue to speak out of turn. However, this time, Hesper was the one to reject Rickard. “No, I don’t want the family doctor. Send me to the hospital.”

Rickard’s eyebrows furrowed tighter, and he said impatiently, “You need treatment to lower your fever immediately. It’s faster with the family doctor.”

“No, I want to go to the hospital,” Hesper insisted.

She did not have the courage to stay with the Duvals when she was sick because Madam Duval and Sophia might be seized with crazy ideas to put her in harm’s way.

In the hospital, at least she could ensure her own safety.

Rickard misunderstood her.

Remembering Julian’s numerous missed calls, his eyes filled with murderous intent. He nodded coldly and said, “Fine, I'll fulfill your wish.”

Hesper could sense the strangeness in his tone, but she could not ponder further on it due to the discomfort in her body. She was sent to the hospital by the bodyguards.

Before they departed, Rickard gave the assistant an order coldly. “Monitor her closely. If Hesper meets up with some brute, inform me at once.”

“Uh…” The assistant was incredulous. Does Mr. Duval suspect Mrs. Duval of having an affair?

How could that be?

The assistant trembled deep inside after meeting the man’s stern gaze. He behaved himself and shut his mouth at once.

“Come, let’s go to the company first.”

The assistant hesitated for a moment before he asked cautiously, “Mr. Duval, Mrs. Duval is sick. Are we not going to visit her in the hospital?”

Rickard glanced at the assistant nonchalantly. “She’s just a woman. Compared to our collaboration with Haven Group, which one do you think is more important?”

The assistant came to understand the situation but still heaved a sigh in his heart.

It was precisely this kind of reasoning that had led the relationship between Mr. Duval and Mrs. Duval to grow so distant.

In the Duvals’ residence, the rest of the people returned to their posts after Hesper was sent to the hospital.

Wanda was about to leave when Madam Duval called out to her. “Stand there. Have I given you permission to leave?”

Wanda’s body trembled, and she turned around to look at Mrs. Duval in fear.

Mrs. Duval grabbed a vase next to her and hit Wanda’s body with it ferociously. “Wanda, you’re very capable. Do you know who you’re working for? Do you know who pays your wages? How dare you live off us but secretly help an outsider!”

“Madam, I didn’t…” Wanda was almost in tears from fear. She bowed down at once.

“You didn’t? What were you doing at the nursery then? Had you not made a fuss, perhaps she would have died and no one would know! How dare you say you didn’t do it!”

Wanda was aware of Madam Duval’s cruelness, but she did not expect it to be to this extent. She was scared out of her wits. “I’m sure that you’d understand the situation, madam. I prepared some supplemental food and came to check on the young sir to see if he was awake. I didn’t expect to find Mrs. Duval unconscious, so I called out in panick.”

“Hmph. Knock it off,” Madam Duval said with a bitterly sarcastic tone. “I don’t care if you really are a fool, or if you’re just feigning your foolishness. I’m going to put it out there today that the Duvals' residence is no place for the kind hearted! If you dare to protect her again, don’t blame me for being hard on you!”

Wanda’s body froze, but then she nodded obsequiously and said, “Yes, mam… I understand.”

In the hospital, Julian was extremely worried about Hesper’s condition after failing to get in touch with her. He was slightly distracted on his shift until he heard a conversation between two nurses.

“Yikes, this Rivera woman is quite pitiful for having such a high fever after her recent delivery. There’s no telling if her mother-in-law is helping to care for her.”

“I heard that she’s the young Mrs. Duval of the Duval family and her mother-in-law is not fond of her, so Madam Duval makes life difficult for her. My colleague told me about her burn injury. Her mouth and lips were badly burned the day she had her baby. Isn’t this an obvious sign of abuse within an influential family?”

“Oh god, that’s really terrifying. I don’t want to think about marrying a man from an influential family anymore…”

The two young nurses’ discussion faded as they walked away. Julian’s expression changed drastically.

He knew that something bad must have happened to her when he failed to get in touch with her yesterday. Damn you, Duvals! There is no telling what they did to her!

“Hesper!”

At last, Julian found Hesper and saw the infusion tube on her hand, her ghastly pale face completely drained of blood. She did not look like a woman who had just given birth recently but a terminal illness patient who would die soon.

Julian’s eyes reddened with tears. He stood by the bed at a loss of what to do.

“What brings you here, Ian?” Hesper hastily tried to sit upright when seeing Julian, but she did not have the strength to do so because of malnourishment.

Julian hastily stretched out his hands to help her get up and propped a pillow behind her caringly.

Witnessing the scene, the bodyguard posted at the door immediately called up Rickard’s assistant.

In the room, Julian said softly, “I came to check on you after I found out that you’re sick. How do you feel? How did you get yourself sick again?”

Hesper cracked a faint, bitter smile. However, she could not bring herself to speak ill of the family, so she said nonchalantly, “I’m fine. It will pass soon.”

“You’re always trying to be brave.” Julian looked at her with pity. “I called you many times yesterday night because I wanted to check with you on the lawyer’s matter. You didn’t pick up even once, so I should have known that something bad had happened to you. It’s all my fault for being useless. I'm not capable of getting you away from the Duvals.”

“You called me, Ian?” Hesper had not heard her phone ring at all the night before since she left it in her room. She did not wish to get Julian in trouble either, so she could only force a smile and say, “It’s fine. You’re already being so kind to me, Ian. Perhaps this is just a difficult period for me in my life.”

“No, you shouldn’t be treated like this.” Julian could not refrain himself from advising her, “Leave him, Hesper. The Duvals are akin to hell for you. Only by leaving them can you restart your life.”

Hesper wanted to restart her life too, but…

Meanwhile, a loud bang was heard when the door was kicked open by someone.

Rickard walked into the room, his face green with rage. His entire person exuded an evil, foreboding presence. He looked coldly at the two people chatting harmoniously by the bed. “Where did you say you were taking my wife earlier?”

Julian and Hesper’s expressions changed drastically when they heard the word ‘wife’.

Julian expressed his anger. “Mr. Duval, if you really regarded Hesper as your wife, why would you let her get injured and hospitalized again and again!”

“Heh…” Rickard chuckled in a dangerous manner and pushed his tongue against his cheek. It was a sign that he was about to lose his temper.