Lionel held on to her hand and softly chided, “The stitches on your wound are still new, so you shouldn't exert too much force. If you strain your hand and aggravate your injury, you may end up worsening your condition! If that happens, it'll be too late to cry over spilled milk!”
It was only then that Wendy realized she had become too emotional and had used her injured arm to grab him, oblivious to the pain.
“I-I'm fine,” she sheepishly said.
Despite her reassurance, Lionel carefully checked her hand to make sure it was okay before resuming their conversation. “As the eldest daughter of the Hoffman family, I'm sure you've heard of the organization, Tarragon,” he said.
Wendy's eyes popped wide open, and she blurted out, “W-What did you say? T-Tarragon?”
Her reaction aroused Lionel's suspicion. Although Tarragon had a fearsome reputation, her response was over the top, and definitely not normal.
He instinctively knew that there was more to it than met the eye and that she was hiding something from him.
“Wends, please be honest with me. What do you know about Tarragon?” he asked.
Wendy shook her head and insisted, “Nothing. H-How is it possible I have anything to do with them? You don't have to beat around the bush, Nell. Just tell me what's on your mind.”
She took the glass of water from the bedside table and started drinking from it.
Her evasive manner made Lionel more suspicious, but he did not confront her further. Instead, he revealed, “Holden could be one of the top executives in Tarragon.”
Plop!
Wendy dropped the glass she was holding, and the water spilled onto her blanket, wetting it.
“I-I'm sorry. It slipped from my hand,” explained Wendy as she tried to wipe the water off her blanket. Amidst her state of panic, she accidentally hit her injured arm and cried out in pain.
Lionel was not a fool, and her agitated reaction confirmed his suspicion. He decided to dig further and look into any possible relationship between the Hoffman family and Tarragon.
“Stop fussing over it, or you'll hurt your arm again. I'll get the helper to come and change the bedding for you.” Lionel stood up and was about to leave the room when Wendy grabbed onto his arm again with her other hand.
“N-Nell, if Holden is... if he's one of the top guys in Tarragon, then please don't pursue further. We should stay away from those people. Please don't mess with them,” she pleaded.
Lionel silently sighed, knowing he could not possibly forget about the matter. He had to find out why Holden got close to Wendy on purpose and then left her after she became pregnant.
However, he consoled her by saying, “Okay. Calm down. I'll drop it and won't dig further into it.”
Meanwhile, at the Shurmer residence, Waverly had called Zoey's name a couple of times but got no response from her daughter, who was seemingly in a trance. Thus, she couldn't help giving Zoey a nudge and asked, “What's wrong with you?”
“Huh?” Zoey snapped out of her daze and hurriedly said, “N-Nothing, Mom. What were you saying?”
Waverly sighed and said, “Based on the evidence I gathered over the past few days, Artemis is besotted with Bailey. Why don't you forget about him, Zozo? We'll head back to Lostaria, where there are many outstanding young men waiting to win your heart. You can take your pick!”
Back to Lostaria? No way! I can't go back! The Jefferson family is already aware that Bailey is not their flesh and blood. If things escalated, Bailey's definitely going to know about this and will try to find out what happened back then. Once the truth is out, the Shurmers will know I'm an outsider who's not blood-related to them. Even if I returned to Lostaria, I can't stay in the Shurmer family anymore.
Zoey came to the conclusion that she could not leave for Lostaria. Between Bailey and her, one of them had to die, and it would be Bailey.
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