She closed her eyes briefly and then looked directly at the man, trying to stay calm. “I came back to get my things.”
Nelson walked up the stairs step by step until he stood in front of her. “Tell me what you need, and I’ll bring it to you.”
His gaze was dangerous, sweeping over her as if he wanted to tear her apart.
As he got closer, Callie felt herself trembling. But she couldn’t show weakness. “My computer.”
“No key?”
What she didn’t know was that Nelson had been informed the moment she drove into the Paucaster Villa Complex. Even if she hadn’t entered, he would have gone out to intercept her.
Callie felt her headache worsening. She took a step back and said coldly, “If it’s not here, forget it. Sorry to bother you, Mr. Oconnor.”
She turned to leave, but her wrist was suddenly grabbed. “Do you think the Paucaster Villa Complex is a place you can come and go as you please?”
The force was strong, and Callie, already weak, fell backward into the man’s arms.
Nelson seemed surprised. His dark eyes examined her face, which was unusually pale.
His brows furrowed deeply. He bent down, picked her up by the waist, and threw her onto the bed in the master bedroom. Callie thought he was going to do something again, and the shadow of that night overwhelmed her. “Get out!”
She tried to break free, but the man restrained her hands again, his voice cold. “I’m not so lustful that I’d touch a woman full of germs.”
Callie was stunned, her stiffness easing a bit, but a thorn still pricked her heart.
Nelson abruptly stood up and paced around the bedroom before heading downstairs.
He had just locked the balcony door. Callie collapsed onto the soft bed, still able to smell his scent lingering in the air. Her dizziness did not subside; it felt like she was falling into a vortex.
She suddenly regretted not taking the medicine Nelson had sent earlier.
The effects of the IV drip had long worn off.
Callie thought she might have caught a cold. Her head hurt along with her eyes. She didn’t want to open them once they were closed, and her mind was no longer clear.
Nelson came back with a medical kit and saw her curled up as if asleep. Panicked, he called her name, “Callie?”
He placed a thermometer in her mouth. “Callie, open your mouth.”
Half-awake, she actually complied.
While waiting for the temperature reading, Nelson glanced at her wrist. The needle marks from the last injection were still there.
She couldn’t handle another injection; her veins were too fragile for that.
Nelson found some fever medicine in the medical kit, ground the pills into powder, and mixed them with water to feed her spoonful by spoonful.
It was definitely bitter; Callie’s eyebrows furrowed even though her eyes remained closed.
Nancy brought up some light porridge. “Sir.”
Nelson carefully wiped Callie’s mouth with a tissue. “Okay, leave it there.”
Callie wasn’t entirely unconscious. Through her hazy vision, she saw all of Nelson’s actions were gentle, so gentle it felt like she was his most precious person in the world.
“Nelson…” she whispered.
“Yes?”
“This past month, have you been with Marilyn to make me jealous?”
It was a bold question that made her seem self-important, but Callie mustered the courage to ask it. She was seeking a way out for their marriage.
Nelson put down the bowl he was holding. “Do you want the truth?”
Her heart sank.
“Not entirely.”
That meant his public appearances with Marilyn had other purposes unrelated to her.
So what was it for? Interests?