Suddenly There Are Three (Bailey and Artemis) novel Chapter 705

Chapter 705 Artemis Drank It

Bailey sniffed at the wine for a bit and found its smell nothing out of the ordinary. If anything, its mellow aroma only aroused her interest to have a sip of it.

Could it be that I was overthinking?

From the corner of his eyes, Clarence spotted a hint of wariness in the woman's eyes, which compelled him to command Zayn, “Come on, get me a glass of it first. I can never get my fill of it.”

A hint of hesitation flitted across Zayn's eyes as he averted his gaze.

After a moment of struggling, he still did Clarence's bidding and served him one of the glasses of wine.

Clarence did not deliberate the slightest when he grabbed the glass and gulped down the wine.

“What a great wine! It's a pity that I won't get to enjoy it anymore in the future. Here, fill my glass again.”

Zayn took over the empty glass and poured the old man yet another full glass of wine.

With the glass of wine in his hand, Clarence turned to Bailey and prompted, “Come, let's make a toast.”

Bailey was all ready to reach out for the glass when Artemis stepped inside all of a sudden.

The man gripped her wrist and uttered with a smile, “You haven't fully recovered yet. Let me drink in your stead.”

That made Clarence's face cloud over.

Never did he expect Artemis to show up at such a critical moment to botch his plan.

Yet, on second thought, he figured that it was also not that bad if Artemis ended up drinking the wine himself. In fact, things might even turn out better.

Firstly, both of Clarence's biological daughters, Zoey and Rhonda, were love-struck because of Artemis. They would be liberated once Artemis was poisoned to death.

Secondly, Bailey would be as good as dead when Artemis was six feet under. Without Bailey sticking around, Zoey and Rhonda could live a peaceful life. No longer would Clarence have to worry about his daughters getting hurt again.

“Mr. Jefferson, Bay isn't feeling well, so she can't drink. I hope you don't mind me drinking on her behalf.”

Clarence raised his glass to signal approval. “No, I don't. Go ahead, Mr. Luther.”

The men clinked glasses, and Artemis lifted his chin to knock back the glass of wine in his hand.

It was then that Clarence began chuckling. While he was at it, he started to tremble violently.

Bailey rushed toward the old man to check his pulse. There was nothing unusual about him except that his face had lost all color and that his vitality had been depleted. His death was imminent.

Cough! Cough!

Clarence had a coughing fit out of the blue as he reached out to grab Bailey.

The latter instinctively backed away, hence dodging his grip.

The next second, Clarence's body shuddered vigorously for one last time before his hands fell feebly and his eyes gradually shut.

Bailey placed her finger near Clarence's nose to feel his breath, only to reveal the bad news to Zayn in a hoarse voice, “He's drawn his last breath. Tell Beatrice and Rhonda to arrange for his funeral.”

Upon hearing those words, Zayn burst into tears.

Gazing at the deceased man in the bed, Bailey stayed silent for a moment before bowing deeply to him. After that, she held Artemis' hand and walked out.

“Let's go. There's nothing left for us to do here.”

“Mm.”

The moment the couple set foot outside the room, they bumped into Beatrice, who was bolting over in their direction.

With her hand lifted high up, Beatrice was about to give Bailey a tight slap across her cheek.

Quick as a wink, Bailey managed to catch hold of Beatrice's wrist right before the latter's palm landed on her face.

“What's with you? Are you still thinking of going on a rampage?”

Beatrice glared daggers at the woman in front of her and fumed, “You caused your father's death, you ingrate! He had at least provided for you! How could you... Aren't you afraid of dying a horrible death?”

“From this day onward, I have nothing to do with the Jefferson family.” With all her might, Bailey flung Beatrice's hand off. She wasted no time tugging at Artemis' arm as they headed toward the stairs.

On the heels of that, Rhonda arrived and saw both of them leaving. Her red lips curled into a sinister smirk.

“Zayn, did she drink the poisoned wine?”

Zayn seemed a little troubled to answer that. “M-Ms. Bailey didn't drink it,” he stammered.

The smile on Rhonda's face froze at once as she shot a stern glare right back at him.

“What? She didn't?”

Left with no choice, Zayn steeled himself and replied, “Ms. Bailey didn't, but... Mr. Luther drank it instead.”

Rhonda's visage changed drastically at that. She gaped at him in disbelief, her eyes like saucers.

A-Artemis drank it?

Still, as she pondered about it, a sense of relief inundated her.

Since Artemis had consumed the poison, he would soon meet his demise. When that happened, Bailey would suffer an excruciating heartache.

I guess it's fine this way, too. If she were to simply die from the poison, it'd be too light a punishment for her.

Nothing could be more agonizing than living a life worse than death.

To make Bailey helplessly watch Artemis die right before her very eyes would probably be the most torturous.

After all, no matter how much Rhonda sacrificed for Artemis, that man would never spare her a glance. Destroying him was her only way out. With him dead, Bailey's life would become a living hell, and even death could not free her from the pain of losing the love of her life.

“Send someone to keep a close eye on them. Update me immediately once there's news.”

“Noted, Ms. Rhonda.”

As Bailey and Artemis made their way out of the Jefferson residence, they made a beeline for the medical base. Soon after, they reached their destination.

When they stepped out of the parking lot, Artemis left in a hurry after telling Bailey to return to the ward on her own, for he had something urgent to attend to in the study.

Looking at the man walking off in an anxious gait, Bailey was left scratching her head.

She could not help but think back to that glass of wine he had had back at the Jefferson residence.

Was the wine really laced with poison? But that doesn't make sense.

On their way back earlier, she had repeatedly read Artemis' pulse and found no signs of poisoning. Logically speaking, there should be no problem with that wine.

Given that she could figure nothing out despite mulling over it for quite some time, she decided to give up altogether.

“I'm going to the ICU to check on Edmund. You guys should carry on with your work. You don't have to follow me.”

“Okay.”

As fast as lighting, Artemis arrived at the study.

Immediately after slamming the door shut behind him, he spat out a mouthful of blood.

At that time, Zeke was also in the study doing his work. Witnessing Artemis vomit blood like that, Zeke leaped up from the couch in fright.

“What happened to you, Artemis? Are you hurt?”

As he spoke, he hurried toward the door to support Artemis, who nearly collapsed.

He swept a gaze at Artemis' body from head to toe but saw no injuries whatsoever. “What's wrong with you?” he asked in puzzlement.

The only thing Artemis did was lean his back against the wall and knit his brows.

Have I been poisoned? But if that's the case, Bay should've been able to detect it when she checked my pulse just now.

The truth was that Bailey had read his pulse more than a dozen times throughout the journey, but even she had not noticed anything amiss.

“I'm okay. Maybe my old injury's relapsing. It's nothing serious, really. Don't tell Bailey about this. I'm worried that she might overthink things.”

Zeke cast a glance at Artemis and found the latter rather hale and hearty. In a sense, nothing about him seemed different except for the blood clot he coughed up on the floor. Because of that, Zeke unwittingly breathed a sigh of relief.

“You almost scared me to death! Nothing must happen to you, or my sister won't be able to go on.”

Artemis inclined his head a fraction. “Don't fret. Quick, get someone to clean the bloodstain on the floor. It'll be bad if Bailey suddenly comes in and sees this.”

“Right.”

Meanwhile, in the ICU, Edmund regarded Bailey with a grin.

“Thanks for going easy on me,” he said with a gentle voice.

Dumbfounded, Bailey froze and gawked at the man, only to regain her senses after a momentary silence.

He must be referring to that day when I stopped Lindsey from barging in to disturb him.

“You need someone to keep you company, Edmund. Lindsey is resilient, and she has a good family background. She—”

“No matter how amazing anyone is, they can't compare to you.”

“Edmund—”

“If I hear another word from you, Bailey, I'll give up on the treatment.”