He Loves Me Right, Finally novel Chapter 175

Adriel's forehead was burning.

Wynette's worry deepened the moment she felt it.

She pushed herself up and rummaged through the room's first aid kit until she found a cooling fever patch, then pressed it gently to his forehead.

She settled back onto the carpet beside the bed and folded her arms on the mattress, keeping watch from there.

The moment her hand came to rest on the bed, she felt warmth against it.

It was Adriel's hand.

His fingers closed around hers, loose but deliberate.

Wynette looked down at his large hand resting over hers, then looked up at his face. He was still asleep.

She tried carefully pulling her hand back. His grip tightened just enough to keep her there.

She stopped trying.

By the time the ship docked, the fever patch had done its work. When she pressed her hand to his forehead again, the searing heat had eased.

Adriel was transferred to a hospital under the Holloways' name.

The wound on his hand had been aggravated by the ice water exposure and had become inflamed, which had driven the fever higher.

It was a fortunate thing they'd treated it when they did.

Gavin and Jamie had successfully contained everything that had happened on the ship, and Snow had been taken in for questioning by the police the moment the gangway touched the dock.

Wynette stayed at the hospital.

Once the doctor had confirmed Adriel was stable, she gently sent Jamie and Gavin home, and they'd listened.

She spent the entire night in the chair beside his bed.

By morning, she was also aware that the Shepherds were in full-blown crisis.

The news about Justin's illegitimate child had detonated across every platform overnight, and the Shepherds hadn't had a quiet moment since.

Wynette glanced at it briefly and moved on.

A nurse came early to change Adriel's IV line, and Shirley arrived not long after, carrying a thermos of homemade breakfast she'd gone out of her way to bring.

Wynette felt a little embarrassed. "You really didn't have to come all the way here this early."

"Wynette, if you say that one more time, I'm going to actually be offended," Shirley said, with a look that made it clear she meant it.

She set the thermos down and added, "The Zimmers sent someone to negotiate. They want to meet with you and Mr. Gallagher. Word is Snow has some kind of condition, something about being obsessive and unstable."

Shirley tapped the side of her head pointedly.

Wynette's smile was thin and entirely unsympathetic. "Tell them we're not meeting with anyone. And tell them that if Snow has a condition, she should be in treatment, not out in the world hurting people. The Zimmers can't afford what happens if she does it again."

Having a condition wasn't an excuse, and it certainly wasn't going to be Snow's exit from consequences.

Wynette had no intention of letting this go quietly.

Shirley leaned in closer and dropped her voice. "Noah's in this hospital too, still being treated. After the news about Justin's illegitimate child broke, Eve and Justin got into it. It turned into a whole scene right here in the hospital last night."

Adam had apparently checked himself out to avoid the chaos. The rest of the Shepherds were still here.

Shirley asked around before she came up to Wynette.

Eve had completely lost herself and gone after Justin physically, pulling a knife and threatening to use it, but Justin had dodged and in the struggle, the knife had ended up in Eve instead.

The Shepherds had become the subject of every whispered conversation in the city.

Wynette listened to all of it without a flicker of feeling.

"What about Edgar?" she asked.

"Lorelei somehow got him to take a million dollars and back off. He's leaving her alone for now," Shirley said.

Wynette had been running interference between Edgar and Lorelei for a while, but Eve had also been making things complicated on that front, and Wynette couldn't afford to dedicate all her attention there.

Still, hearing that Lorelei had handled Edgar herself was reassuring.

God, it felt like having a thousand razor blades stuck in my throat a while ago.

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