Queen of Wild Cards novel Chapter 21

Stella spoke with a breezy tone, as if she were discussing the weather.

Julius, however, was anything but calm. If he had gone through with the amputation, not only would he be permanently disabled, but he would have died anyway—what a senseless way to go. Based on her assessment, he hadn't even had a fifty percent chance of survival. Thank God he had hesitated.

Now, his only hope rested entirely on Stella’s shoulders.

"If you can really cure my legs, I'll protect you for the rest of your life. I guarantee you'll never have to worry about money and no one will ever bully you again," he promised. "You can do whatever you want, or do nothing at all."

Stella scoffed inwardly. *I don't need your protection to keep from being bullied.*

Still, considering how sincere the billionaire looked, she decided to give him some face and didn't argue.

"Alright, I'll cure you. Let's go over the treatment plan first," she said. "Do you want the aggressive approach or the gentle one?"

"What's the difference?"

"The aggressive method works faster. You'd probably be walking in a month or two. The gentle method will take around four or five months, depending on your body's recovery rate."

Without a second of hesitation, Julius replied, "I'll take the aggressive approach."

If he could be cured in a month or two, why drag it out? No matter how rough it was, it couldn't be worse than sawing off his own leg.

"Fair enough. The aggressive treatment starts with a three-day medicinal soak. These three days are going to be agonizing. You'll wish you were dead. The solution feels like someone is slicing the flesh from your bones, piece by piece, without anesthesia. If you can endure it, half the battle is won. Once you survive these three days, I'll tell you the next steps. I don't want to overwhelm you right now—it's incredibly brutal."

With that, Stella turned and left to prepare. Whether he actually ate or not wasn't her problem; if he didn't want to listen to medical advice, that was on him.

Once she was gone, Julius called for Larry. "Get this custom tub made immediately. Top priority."

"Right away, sir."

After the butler left, Julius made two more quick phone calls.

Exactly two hours later, Larry returned with the exact tub Julius had requested, not asking a single question about its intended use.