“…”
Paige watched him smile.
The more indulgent he became without any boundaries, the more she felt like a fool dreaming the last few years of her life, absurd and ridiculous.
She sat there, staring at his frown, in pain so insane that she couldn’t express it.
After a long time, she slowly lowered her head and leaned into his shoulder, her lips slightly parted.
“Ah …”
A fragile, pale voice came thinly from her throat, broken, unable to even cry out.
Enrico crouched in front of her, listening to her agony, lifting a hand to press on the back of her neck, his voice low, “Louder, Paige.”
The disoriented light fell on her like a helpless child.
Paige’s lips parted and parted and parted, finally crouching on his shoulder and hissing out.
“Ah-”
She shivered.
The cry rang out in the stillness of the night.
Not far away, hurried passersby stopped to look at the sound and hurried away again.
Jaden stood with his bodyguards in their respective positions, and hearing the sound, Jaden couldn’t help but look up in the direction of Enrico and Paige, his gaze gradually sinking.
He hadn’t been addressing Paige as Young Lady like Beau and the others.
It’s not that he doesn’t recognize Paige as a person, but he has seen the light in Paige’s eyes when she insisted on her ideals, the stubbornness when she refused to compromise, and the determination that she wouldn’t give up until she had a knife at her neck….
In his eyes, Paige is first and foremost a woman with unique charms, and secondly, Mr. Gustin’s wife.
But now, that light is afraid to be completely lost from her eyes.
And the darkness that’s blocking the light is still cracking open from inside Wind Island, the place her heart has been set on.
…
Paige is carried back to the manor by Enrico.
That night, Paige develops a high fever.
Dr. Clinton joins the virus research team, and in the middle of the night, Beau’s housekeeper urgently gets a doctor to see Paige.
When that doctor saw Paige, her eyes were clearly not right.
She sat on the edge of the bed and watched him, convinced that if this weren’t The Gustin family’s villa, with an aloof Enrico sitting next to her, the doctor wouldn’t want to see her.
The doctor put on a mask and with evasive movements drew her blood, examining her with a sigh of relief and then a silent sigh, as if in chagrin.
“The virus test is negative, no infection, just a bit of cold and flu, plus tiredness, just take some antipyretic medicine.”
Paige took the medicine and ate it in silence.
Beau’s housekeeper stood at the side, seeing this, said, “Doctor, something like fever can be big or small, why don’t you stay here for the night, it’s also convenient to observe at any time.”
Upon hearing this, that doctor packed his medical box and immediately refused, “That won’t do, in that clinic of mine, it’s now full of people waiting to be examined, I’ll be in trouble if something happens if I’m delayed here for a night, whose life isn’t a life, sorry about that.”
“…”
Butler Beau stiffened at the meaning of his words.
Enrico sits in a single sofa aside, fingers crossed, he has been sitting restrained from freaking out since the doctor drew the blood.
At this moment, he stared at the doctor with one pair of eyes grimly, a touch of hostility swept over him, it was hard to hold back any longer, and he was about to stand up, when Paige suddenly spoke faintly, “Beau butler, see the doctor off.”
“…”
Enrico gritted his teeth and could only sit back down again.
“Yes, Young Lady.” Butler Beau nodded, still politely escorting the doctor out the door.
The door was brought up.
Enrico sat up from the couch and walked over to the bed, helping Paige to lie down.
He sat down at the foot of the bed and wrapped his arms around her, his bony fingers ruffling her hair, “Sleep well and you’ll be comfortable when you wake up.”
“Uh-huh.” Paige’s whole body went wickedly cold as she leaned covetously into his arms, her mouth talking about business as usual, “Nick’s already withheld Alfredo’s computer, get some computer gurus to look into it and see if there’s still time to find out what’s going on with the flow of those weapons before it goes full blown.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Alfredo’s remains help with placement.” She added.
“Got it, you get some sleep.” Enrico lowered his head and kissed her on the forehead, hugging her and patting her lightly.
It was such a nice feeling to be held in an embrace, like a child surrounded by adults who didn’t have to worry about the sky falling.
It was just a shame that she wasn’t a child anymore.
“Enrico,” she whispered his name, but a chill ran through her body.
“Uh-huh.” Enrico held her a little tighter.
“Do I have time to fix this?” She murmured the question.
She was wrong, could she be corrected, could she be corrected back?
At that, Enrico’s eyes sank and he looked down into her wooden eyes, “Paige, I’ll say it again, you’re not wrong.”
“…”
“If even you are wrong, then is it the people who created the slums who are right?” Enrico said in a low voice.
“…”
Paige stared into his eyes and listened quietly.
The antipyretic quickly spread through her body and Paige just felt her head cloud over and soon fell asleep in Enrico’s arms.
Three in the morning.
Paige suddenly woke up with a start, her body stuck in a sticky, sweaty mess.
She opened her eyes to the hazy, dim light of the room and turned her eyes to the side of the bed, which was unoccupied.
She lifted the covers and sat up from the bed, reaching for her bedside cell phone, which was off.
Paige turned her phone back on and countless news tweets scrambled to crash into her vision.
[The presidency held three press conferences in one day, saying that prevention and control was a top priority in Country A, and urging residents in sensitive areas to quarantine themselves.]
[Supermarkets were instantly looted, and people in D City took to the streets to demand an explanation.]
[Reporters were rejected by several big families one after another. Being a plutocrat, they are unwilling to even tell the truth about their illnesses, disregarding the safety of public lives.]
[The five families issued a joint statement, forcing the Presidential Office to give the latest investigation report, and questioning why Paige is not being summoned for questioning.]]
[The latest news is that the Garcia family’s company is in a sensitive area, and the management has gone south to take refuge, resulting in wages not being paid as usual and employees smashing the company with guns.]
Virus plus riots.
It’s starting.
Paige looks at these news tweets and instead of clicking through to read them, she just gets out of bed.
Head heavy, the whole room spun.
She stopped and closed her eyes for a long moment before opening them, removing a jacket and draping it over her and heading out the door.
The entire hallway was extremely dimly lit.
Paige moved forward and saw a line of light leaking out in the direction of the study.
The door to the study was ajar.
She walked over and saw Enrico sitting at his desk, still dressed the same way he had been during the day, without changing his clothes.
There were a number of the Gustin Group executives sitting in the study.
“Mr. Gustin, we went to a few more houses today, and now those people from the Reynolds family and the Garcia family are all letting it slip, but there’s just one thing in their words, if Paige doesn’t take responsibility for this, and if the slumlords don’t quit A, they’ll just continue to sulk and heal in their homes, and will never publicize the real condition.”