Chapter 544 Your Biological Daughter Is Still Alive
Over at the hospital, Nicole curled up on the bed in fear, quivering underneath a thick blanket despite the scorching heat in June.
She screamed at Claire, the doctors, and the nurses around her to deter them from going anywhere near her.
Some medical staff tried calming her down by giving her some tranquilizer, but the deranged woman was surprisingly strong, and they could not restrain her.
Besides, they dared not be too forceful with her since she was the Lambert family's daughter.
Claire cried her heart out in desperation, wondering how her sweet daughter ended up like that.
From Claire's recollection, before Nicole went missing from the hospital, she had reminded her not to overwork herself when she returned to work at the company. Nicole even promised them she would cook them a delicious meal after she was discharged from the hospital, seeing how worn out her parents were from caring for her.
But in the end, she could not fulfill her promise.
Claire wiped away her tears and went close to Nicole's bed. As she lifted the blanket, she was met with her daughter's fear-stricken face.
“Argh, snakes! So many of them... Leave me alone... I won't do it again...” she muttered, her eyes filled with panic.
She stared blankly into the air as she shook incessantly, slowly inching to a corner of the bed in a ball until she could no longer move backward.
“Don't do this to me, Nickie. What happened to you? Don't you know who I am? I'm your mother!” the miserable mother cried with her hand clenched on her chest. She could not believe her daughter did not recognize her.
“Move... Go away!” Nicole shrieked in terror, still unable to remember anyone.
Terrified, she held her head and kept screaming and crying.
In her mind, she saw countless wriggling snakes crawling on her body and biting her. They were on her head, neck, and legs, choking and suffocating her.
What drove her to a state of hopelessness was that some snakes with sickening colors were even sliding into her mouth and ears.
The hour-long torture at the deserted factory seemed to have left her mentally wrecked.
The horror the man had inflicted haunted her so severely that she believed she was still in the middle of a pool of snakes. She kept banging her head against the wall until blood flowed down from her forehead.
“Nickie!” Claire screamed in agony when she saw blood on her daughter. She attempted to hug Nicole to stop her from hurting herself, but Nicole pushed her away forcefully, throwing her backward.
“Nickie!” Claire screamed in agony when she saw blood on her daughter. She attempted to hug Nicole to stop her from hurting herself, but Nicole pushed her away forcefully, throwing her backward.
She could have fallen on the ground if the doctors behind had not caught her in time.
Given her condition, Nicole could not stand having anyone near her, not even the very woman who brought her up.
“Mrs. Lambert, she's not in her right mind now. It's best that you keep a distance from her,” one of the doctors advised.
Everyone felt sorry for Claire. They had never seen the elegant and composed woman break down in tears.
From how devastated she was, they could tell Claire truly loved Nicole although she was adopted.
Poised as she usually was, Claire was nothing more than a hurting mother in their eyes at that moment.
Suddenly, Claire broke away from the doctors and pulled Nicole into her arms when the latter let down her guard. “I'm here, Nickie. I'll always be here with you. Don't do this!”
Nicole's cries grew sharper at Claire's touch. With her face wet with tears and eyes bloodshot, she hit and punched her mother, who was still clinging to her stubbornly.
To Nicole, anything nearby was a threat since all she could see were horrifying snakes that terrorized her, but still, Claire did not let go.
No matter how harsh the beating was, Claire refused to let go of her daughter even when her face was full of scratch marks and bruises from the punching.
Claire did not know and did not care what Nicole had gone through. Nothing would change the fact that Nicole was her daughter. She would always be the same endearing and understanding princess in her heart.
Just then, William entered the room. Upon seeing Claire getting beaten, he dashed over and pulled his wife away from Nicole.
“What do you think you're doing?” he asked, trying not to speak too harshly to the woman in his arms. “Don't you know she has lost her senses? Why did you let her do that to you?”
Claire did not answer him but wept in his arms. “Honey... what happened to our daughter? I want to know what happened to her...”
William swept his intimidating glare across the room and questioned the staff, “Did you all seriously just watch my wife get beaten up? Do something! Give her some tranquilizers! So much for being professionals!”
Faced with William's rage, the doctor in charge quickly instructed several male doctors to rein in Nicole to sedate her.
Quietness gradually resumed in the room as Nicole drifted into slumber.
When William turned and looked at his remorseful wife and the bruises over her fair cheeks, a pang of pain shot through his heart.
“I know you love her dearly, but you should know when to stop. Don't expect me to do nothing when she hurts you,” William said in resignation as he applied some medication to Claire's cheeks.
Claire dried her tears and said, “I'm so worried about her. You have no idea—”
Before she could finish, Silvia barged into the room.
Her heart skipped a beat when she saw Nicole sleeping and William tending to his injured and disheveled wife.
“What happened, Claire? What's wrong with your face? Where did you find Nickie? Is she okay?”
Silvia had gone to see Claire at the Lambert residence with a shocking secret the day before, but the timing was terrible because the whole family was in chaos after Nicole had gone missing.
William and Claire had been all over the place trying to find Nicole and contact her, so Silvia decided to keep the good news for the next day. However, Claire was entirely dispirited when Silvia saw her again.
Faced with the many questions, Claire frowned and answered Silvia mournfully, “I'm good. Don't worry about me. I'm just worried about Nickie. She just got back today. Something triggered her, and she's mentally unstable now. The doctor has just sedated her, so she's asleep now. What brings you here, by the way?”
Silvia glanced at Nicole and then at the distraught mother. She disregarded William's peculiar gaze and tugged Claire to another corner of the room where it was quieter.
“I have good news, Clare,” she whispered in Claire's ear, her heart racing. “Your biological daughter is still alive.”
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