Rachel covered her mouth after having some pierogies.
“What is it? Are you going to puke?” Justin put the chopsticks down and looked at her suspiciously.
After a hard battle, Rachel finally held her nausea down. That was the worst morning sickness she ever had. The doctor had even come to check on her twice. There were a lot of machines and the checkup was thorough, but they found nothing wrong with the child.
“Better?” Justin asked as she patted her back.
Rachel nodded, but a dark flame rose within her eyes and something flashed within them.
Justin suddenly gasped in pain and flung her away. As he staggered backward, he stared at his abdomen in disbelief. A sharp glass shard was embedded in his belly and his shirt was fast being drenched in crimson.
Quickly, Rachel stood up and using the chair as support, she stood behind the table.
Justin held the glass shard that was embedded in his belly and said through gritted teeth, “Where did you get this?”
Upon hearing that, Rachel looked at the restroom. She shattered the mirror in there during their last argument and hid a shard before the janitor could clear it away. Since then, she had sharpened the shard, finally putting it to good use today.
Waves of pain started coursing through Justin and beads of sweat formed on his forehead. His steps were
getting weak as more blood flowed out of his wound. “Do you really want me to die so badly?”
Rachel took a few steps back, keeping a safe distance between them.
Her indifference stoked Justin’s flames of fury, for a wounded pride was more unbearable to him than a wound on his body. “You think you can get away after you kill me? That’s not going to happen so easily.”
He tried to approach her but everything around him started spinning, and he slowly slid down along the chair’s side. Before he lost consciousness, however, he growled, “Rachel Hudson!”
As for the woman in question, she quickly banged on the door after Justin lost consciousness.
Eventually, the window on the door slid open. “Mrs. Burton? Do you need anything?”
Rachel quickly made some gestures but the guard didn’t know what she was getting at. In the end, she retreated to the side and pointed at the carpet.
“President Burton!” the bodyguard gasped. A moment later, the chains started rattling.
When Justin woke up, he realized he was in the hospital. In the end, he had to get eight stitches to his wound
and it was now heavily bandaged.
“You’re finally awake, President Burton,” Frankie murmured as he sat beside the bed.
Justin sat up the moment he regained consciousness. The pain was throbbing, but he ignored it and grabbed Frankie. “Where’s Rachel?” he asked.
“Please don’t move! It will only reopen your wound.”
“Where’s Rachel? Did she escape?” Justin’s fury flared. “Search for her! Don’t just stand there! I’m perfectly fine!”
Frankie froze up in fear. “Mrs. Burton didn’t run away. She’s still there, so please don’t worry.”
This time, it was Justin’s turn to be surprised. “She didn’t escape?”
“Yes. She’s the one who told the guard to take you here while she stayed behind. The guard didn’t even lock the room in the heat of the moment. He was worried Mrs. Burton might run away, but she was still there when he got back.” Frankie then helped Justin down on the bed. “What happened, President Burton?” he asked carefully.
The question didn’t reach Justin, for he was deep in thought. She went a long way to stab me. That was the perfect chance for her to escape, so why didn’t she? Why did she do that?
Then, someone knocked on the door.
“Miss Hochmann’s here.”
“Justin!”
Gloria called out to him, snapping him out of it.
“I’ll be going then, President Burton. Have a speedy recovery.” Frankie announced, to which Justin hummed in response.
Meanwhile, Gloria put her bag down in a hurry. “I came as soon as I heard the news. What happened? Did you
get robbed or something?”
“It’s nothing. I tripped,” Justin answered calmly.
“And conveniently got eight stitches? I’ve asked the doctor, you know?”
“I’m fine. Don’t worry.” Justin looked at her. “Haven’t seen you for a while. Where were you? Had a lot of fun, huh?”
Upon hearing that, Gloria was annoyed and she countered, “That’s my line. You were gone for months. What have you been up to? Nothing illegal, I hope. Couldn’t even see you when I want to.”
Justin smiled, but that tore on his wound and he gasped.
“Are you alright?” A worried look painted Gloria’s face.
“Don’t worry, I’m fine and I didn’t do anything illegal. How’s the new piano?”
“Meh. My old one’s better.” Gloria frowned. “Oh-that reminds me. I sent someone to take my piano from the Southwind villa a couple of days ago. Didn’t see Miss Rachel there. Miss Jennifer said she’s been gone for two months. What happened?”
“She hasn’t been too well, so she’s recuperating somewhere.”
“Where, exactly?”
“Don’t ask. The fewer people who know, the better. It’s for her own good.
Gloria was about to ask again but Justin stopped her by saying, “Alright, I’m retiring for the night. Just go home. I’m fine.”
And so, Gloria had no choice but to oblige. After she left the hospital, she hailed a cab at the exit. “Take me to the old district please.”
Janice was still in the tailor shop, making tea.
Gloria told them about what happened in the hospital after she came in. “I managed to swipe this.”
She whipped out an X-ray image and Julian looked at it. “This wound isn’t caused by a knife. It’s deep and the edges are irregular. It looks like… a glass shard.”
“Bingo.” Gloria took a plastic bag out of her pocket. “And it’s right here, but I got nothing else. I asked him where he’s hiding her but he won’t even tell me. Guess he doesn’t trust me too.”
Janice then poured her a cup of tea. “Calm down. When did this happen?”
“Last night.”
“Then Rachel’s probably the one who did this.”
A frown creased Janice’s forehead and she mused, “Why did she stab him though?”
Julian answered, “Maybe she wanted to escape.”
“Not quite right. Justin’s not the only one keeping an eye on her, I’m sure about that. There are other guards there, so stabbing him won’t make a difference.” Janice looked at the plastic bag. “You said this is the glass shard, correct?”
“Yes.” Gloria nodded. “I got it from the discarded items like you asked me to, but how is this helpful?”
Janice took the glass shard out and washed the blood off it. “Come here.” She beckoned them.
Julian and Gloria huddled around her. After the blood was washed away, they could see a scratch on it, though it was minuscule. As if worried someone might notice it, the scratches looked like they were made nonchalantly, though they could vaguely make a word out of it.
“River?” Janice looked at it for a long while before coming up with a guess. “Guys, take a look. I think these scratches look like a word. See if your guess aligns with mine.”
“Looks like ‘river’ to me.”
Gloria’s eyes lit up. “Is Miss Rachel trying to tell us she’s locked somewhere beside a river?”
