Chapter 11
It was only then that Henrick remembered Shandie was still on the floor, twitching
non–stop.
He ordered the housekeepers to carry Shandie downstairs while he prepared to take Arielle along to the hospital.
“Dear! Please take me with you!” Cindy pleaded, tears flowing uncontrollably. “Shannie is
my... She‘s one that I watched growing up. I can‘t possibly stay at home!”
Despite how pitiful and terrified Cindy looked, Henrick steeled his heart against her. “No! I
want you to reflect on yourself! Can someone take Mrs. Southall back to her room? No one is to
let her out without my orders!”
One of the housekeepers immediately nodded and dragged a crying Cindy away while Arielle accompanied Henrick into the ambulance.
“Dad, why don‘t we let Aunt Cindy come along? I can see how close she is to Shandie. Leaving her at home will only worry her sick,” Arielle softly pleaded.
Alas, Henrick refused to yield. He turned his gaze toward Arielle and sighed deeply. “You silly child. Life overseas must
have been tough, hasn‘t it?“.
“Not at all. Life was good,” Arielle replied and meant every word of it.
She had had a wonderful life abroad, and it couldn‘t have been any better.
However, Henrick thought his daughter was merely putting on a brave front and sighed
again. “You‘re too naive. How will you survive here in Jadeborough? I‘ll have to slowly teach you
the ways so you won‘t feel out of place.”
“Thank you, Dad!”
“We‘re family. You don‘t have to thank me...”
Before long, the ambulance had arrived at the hospital.
Shandie was immediately wheeled into the emergency room because her heart had stopped
beating.
Worried and anxious, Henrick and Arielle paced outside the emergency room as they waited.
Of course, Henrick was the more worried of the two. Both Arielle and Shandie were his
biological daughters and were crucial to the future of his career. Now that something had
happened to Shandie, Henrick was naturally scared to death.
After what felt like an eternity, the emergency room doors finally opened.
As soon as the doctor walked out, Henrick hurriedly went up to him. “Doctor, how‘s my
daughter?”
“The patient may be out of danger but will still need to be monitored for a few more days.
This snake venom is especially deadly. If you hadn‘t sent her here in time, no one would have
been able to save her! But, I have to ask, how did she get bitten? This snake shouldn‘t have
appeared in Jadeborough.”
Henrick frowned in confusion as he asked, “What do you mean by that? We live in a manor
on top of the hill. It‘s common for snakes to crawl in, isn‘t it?”
The doctor shook his head gravely. “This snake species belongs in the South, so you won‘t be
able to find any in the wild here. It had to have come from there. I think this is something you
might want to look into.”
Henrick‘s face fell, finally understanding what the doctor meant. “Are you saying that this
could have been an intentional hit?”
“That‘s very possible.”
Henrick clenched his fists so hard that his fingernails bit into his palms. “Who? Who the hell
wants to harm my daughter?”
His gaze instinctively fell on Arielle as a glint of suspicion flashed across his face.
Arielle didn‘t seem to have noticed her father‘s doubts and fumed with anger. “How dare
they! Whoever brought the snake into our manor is pure evil! Dad, you have to get to the bottom
of this. We can‘t let them get away with murder!”
Hearing those words from Arielle cleared whatever suspicion Henrick had of her.
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