Chapter 600
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“I just have a bit of a cold,” Nick explained. “After you left yesterday, I took some medicine and rested. Lenny made a fuss and called in quite a few local doctors to check on me. Grandma even called just now.”
Everything he said sounded reasonable, almost perfectly plausible, but it did little to ease the tight knot of worry coiling in Khloe’s chest.
“All right, I won’t keep you. My messages are about to explode; I need to handle this.”
Before Khloe could respond, he ended the call abruptly. It was the first time he had ever hung up so decisively, and it only sent her anxiety soaring to a new peak.
She quickly packed her things and headed for the door. Delilah was waiting outside. She had seen the news herself and had lingered outside Khloe’s room early, hesitating but ultimately stepping in to block her path.
“Miss Khloe, you can’t go out right now.”
“Don’t stop me.”
“Master Henry is probably waiting to see how you handle yourself. If you go to him now, it could play right into the hands of those with ill intentions.”
Delilah frowned, her tone firm. Though she didn’t care about Khloe’s dealings with Clarice, having spent so much time alongside Henry, she could read the subtle tensions between people.
Khloe had tried to win her over last night, not out of friendship but to gain another ally. In the Morrison family, Khloe appeared to be a pampered heiress, but beneath the surface, like Delilah herself, she was isolated and unsupported.
Delilah could see it clearly: Khloe’s nature was pure, without Clarice’s ruthless edge. If she allowed herself to get tangled in matters of the heart, she would suffer greatly.
“I can’t control everything. I just know that I have to go see him now.”
Khloe was grateful that Delilah was thinking of her well-being, not just keeping watch. But she could feel clearly that if she didn’t go confirm Nick’s condition, she would regret it.
“Then I’ll help you,” Delilah said quietly.
Meanwhile, after Nick ended the call, his body was already faltering.
He had collapsed suddenly last night. The chief physician’s initial assessment indicated his condition had worsened, and hospitalization was recommended. But to prevent Khloe from worrying, he had refused to admit himself.
Yesterday, he was too weak to respond to Khloe’s messages, leaving Lenny to handle them. By morning, he had recovered enough to answer her call-but even after speaking for a short while, exhaustion weighed on him like
a stone.
The sudden, uncontrollable weakness in his body left him with a deep, gnawing helplessness. He was secretly
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relieved that Khloe had chosen to stay in Naraida temporarily. He didn’t want her to see him looking so frail.
“Sir… perhaps we should tell Madam…”
Lenny couldn’t bear to watch him suffer. Seeing Nick like this, even a man like him felt a pang of sympathy. He could only imagine how distressed Khloe would be if she saw him.
At that moment, he understood what it meant to love someone. Love first tortures oneself.
“She doesn’t need me right now. She needs me not to be here,” Nick murmured, coughing lightly. His pale lips moved as he instructed the staff to continue packing.
The doctors had said he would need a day or two of rest before returning home. To prevent Khloe from coming to him, he decided he would have to switch hotels.
Thinking of George and Niel, another weight pressed down on his chest. He called Lenny over again and whispered a few instructions.
“Got it?”
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