The Prison-Made Queen novel Chapter 678

Meanwhile, after attending several wild parties with Winifred, Clive Sloan was beginning to feel distinctly unwell.

At first, Clive suspected he’d just overdone it, but he soon realized it might be more complicated than that. The symptoms had been lingering for a while now.

A week ago, he started feeling sick. For several days straight, he’d had a dull ache in his lower abdomen and a sharp, burning pain when he urinated.

Clive initially brushed it off as the result of drinking too much lately. But this morning, as he was getting dressed, he was horrified to discover a red rash spreading across his inner thighs. The area around his genital piercing was red and swollen.

He immediately searched his symptoms online, and the results sent a chill down his spine. Gonorrhea, syphilis, genital warts… he could have any one of them.

The realization plunged Clive into an icy pit of dread. Worse, he had no idea who the source of the infection could be. Was it the jeweler’s wife from last week? The model he met on the yacht last month? Or… someone else?

He sat on the edge of his bed, a throbbing pain radiating from his groin, causing beads of cold sweat to form on his forehead.

Clive stared at his phone, his finger hovering over his contacts for a long time before he finally dialed Zeus Sloan’s number. The phone rang for a long time before it was answered.

“Hello?” Zeus’s voice was laced with exhaustion and impatience, the faint hum of lab equipment buzzing in the background.

“Zeus… are you free anytime soon?”

“What exactly is wrong?”

That was the problem! If he could say exactly what was wrong, he wouldn't be calling Zeus. Clive opened his mouth, but the words wouldn’t come. He couldn’t just tell his brother that his crotch was in agony and inflamed, could he?

“Just… some minor issues,” he finally managed to say. “But it’s a bit different from a normal ailment, and the symptoms are hard to describe. That’s why I wanted to come see you.”

Clive’s voice was hesitant and vague, perhaps still mindful of speaking over the phone. On the other end, Zeus frowned, wondering if his brother was just bored and trying to mess with him.

“If it’s a minor issue, why come to me? Why not just go to a hospital? Besides, I’m at a critical stage in my research. I don’t have time.”