He Gave Me Hearing, Then Taught Me What Silence Really Means novel Chapter 173

Alistair averted his gaze. "Was there anything else?"

Feeling slightly embarrassed, she awkwardly waddled out of the office.

As Nadine walked down the corridor, the more she thought about it, the angrier she got.

First Nelson, now Alistair. That wretched girl had all the luck.

Alistair picked up his phone and made a call, instructing someone to dig into everything regarding the Blackwood Institute.

He leaned back in his chair, his eyes dark and unreadable.

He held a fountain pen, lightly tracing aimless lines across a piece of paper, completely lost in thought.

After a long while, he set the pen down and let out a low chuckle.

A knock sounded at the door. This time, it was Macy peeking her head in.

She hadn't seen Alistair up close before. Seeing him now, the resemblance to her brother was simply staggering.

"Are you Dr. Vaughn?"

She stared at his face, her eyes instantly welling up with tears. "You look so much like my brother. How is it possible for two people to look this similar?"

Alistair pulled a tissue from the box on his desk and handed it to her. Macy sobbed softly into it before letting out a heavy sigh. "Honestly, if you're the one with Juniper, I feel a lot better. Anyone is better than a monster like Nelson."

She stepped forward and gave Alistair an encouraging pat on the shoulder. "Good luck, Dr. Vaughn. I'm rooting for you."

Normally, she would have hated the idea of Juniper dating anyone, but if it was Alistair, she fully approved.

Alistair twirled the pen between his fingers, a faint smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

Just how badly had you failed, Nelson, for every single person around Juniper to despise you this much?

*

Nelson stared at the medical report Quinn handed him. It was Walter's file.

Quinn quickly debriefed him on the situation.

The condition required a highly specific targeted drug from overseas, along with a team of foreign specialists and a complete set of advanced medical equipment.

Irritated, he grabbed the report and chucked it straight into the trash can. "No need."

Juniper always loved to suffer anyway. Let her.

Quinn quietly backed out of the room.

Nelson stared at his monitor, his fingers slowly coming to a stop over the keyboard.

His mind drifted back to the teenage Juniper. He remembered how, in middle school, she would ask her family for living expenses, and Beatrice would constantly berate her, tossing her a measly ten bucks at a time.

When she ran out, she had to ask again, and every single time she felt completely humiliated because asking for money always meant enduring another round of verbal abuse.

Nelson hadn't even realized she was broke back then. He had no concept of money. He just remembered seeing her crying at her desk, her shoulders shaking silently.

When his grandmother asked what was wrong, she refused to say.

When he asked her, she just bit her lip.

She always kept everything bottled up inside.