Chapter 482 Someone Pushed Me
The following day, Marianne found the bed opposite her empty when she got up for her morning shift, and she couldn’t help feeling baffled. When noon had approached, she still didn’t see Tanya anywhere. She went to Mrs. Robins only to learn that Tanya had resigned and left first thing in the morning.
Of course, Marianne couldn’t help feeling vexed upon hearing the news.
Elijah’s manor was massive, but he rarely stayed in the country for long. Apart from the maids who would come to clean the place regularly, she, Tanya, and Mrs. Robins were the only ones who lived there permanently. Now that Tanya had left, Marianne would have much to do.
Meanwhile, Angie only woke up at noon due to her hangover. Mrs. Robins brought her lunch not long after, but she only took a couple of absent-minded bites before falling back asleep until night came.
She had a vague memory of what happened the night before, and the broken pieces kept tyrannizing her mind. Before Elijah returned to the manor, she resolutely snuck back to Courtney’s place.
In the latter days, Elijah proposed to take Angie with him to Manhattan several times, but the woman refused to see him no matter what. Thus, Courtney rejected him on her behalf.
Meanwhile, at Citron Apparel, Natasha was due to give birth anytime soon. Bill wished he could flatten all the roads and paths for his wife as they commuted to and from work every single day. It hadn’t gone unnoticed by Courtney, so she let Natasha take early maternity leave.
With her right-hand man down, Courtney had to stick her head in both companies. She had barely managed to shove an order negotiation for Citron Apparel in her hectic schedule during lunch hour, but just as she was heading for the appointment, she received a call from Bill saying that Natasha had gotten into an accident.
With heavy footsteps, Courtney slowly approached the middle-aged man squatting in the corridor right opposite the operating room door. His forehead was pressed against his folded hands, and his eyes were shut tight while his teeth rattled. His arched back made him look as though he had aged a decade.
“Bill?”
Bill looked up in response. His eyes were bloodshot, showing just how tired and worried he was.
“You’re here,” he said in a raspy voice. He then mumbled, “She said that she wanted to eat the éclair sold in front of the hospital. I told her we’d get it after we were done with the check-up, but she told me to get it first and wait for her to finish her check-up. It was just a few minutes, but she…”
Bill buried his head in his palms upon saying that, and he sobbed while struggling to say another word.
Courtney’s heart wrenched, for she had never seen him like this.
Just then, a doctor came out of the operating room. “Who is the patient’s family?”
It took Bill a second to register what was going on, but he immediately shot up and answered frantically, “Me! I’m her husband!”
“She has lost a lot of blood. The situation’s critical now. We need you to sign this paper.”
“Sign? Okay, I’ll sign it!”
Bill hesitated for a second, and Courtney noticed that his hands were shaking when he signed the paper.
Never had Bill thought time could pass so slowly. By the time the operating room door opened again, he had already lost the courage to stand right up as he did earlier. All he could do was fix his bloodshot and desperate eyes at the doctors and nurses coming out of the operating room.
At that, Courtney stood in between him and the medical staff. After all, her professionalism as a doctor had gotten her to remain calm somewhat.
“The mother and daughter are safe. However, the mother needs to be hospitalized for observation since she is rather weak. The child isn’t doing too good as well, so we’ll transfer her to NICU for a three-day observation.”
What a relief! After hearing all the doctor had to say, Bill sobbed uncontrollably. He didn’t care that Courtney was right next to him, and it seemed as though all of his strength had been drained out of him.
Fortunately, baby Luna was able to leave the NICU after her three-day observation, so Bill didn’t need to look at this baby girl through the incubator glass any longer. Nonetheless, his happy but sad face got Josephine pursing her lips. “Relax, Mr. Bill. My mommy has given birth to three children, but she’s never freaked out like what you’re doing right now.”
Courtney happened to be pouring some chicken soup she had made as she sat next to the bed-ridden Natasha. Upon hearing Josephine’s words, she couldn’t help but tease, “You were just as old as Luna when I gave birth to you. How would you know if I freaked out or not?”
“Well, did you?”
Courtney recalled with a quirked brow and answered, “Not really.”
Compared to her first heart-stopping birth, Josephine’s was a far calmer experience.
Natasha choked a little after taking a sip of the soup, and when she coughed, her muscles ached. Moreover, her incision hurt so much that a layer of sweat formed on her back, and she no longer had the appetite to drink.
On the other hand, Bill was on edge. He had shed a lot of weight, and he hadn’t slept in days. The dark circles around his eyes were there to prove it as well. Though he was anxious, he couldn’t bear the pain for his beloved wife, so he spun around like a freaked-out headless chicken.
Once Natasha felt better, she gave him something to focus on. “Doctor Miller has prescribed some new medication for me. Why don’t you go and get it on my behalf?”
Bill finally relaxed a little after hearing that there were still some errands to run. With that, he scrambled out. Meanwhile, Natasha’s gaze gradually dimmed, and her lips pursed a little as she watched her husband disappear out of the ward.
Courtney sensed something, so she put the bowl of soup down and turned to Josephine. “Josie, please close the door for me.”
“Okay.” Josephine looked up from her mobile game, closed the door, and sat back down at the nearest seat.
“Someone pushed me,” Natasha said right after the door closed. Finally, she could say what she had been keeping to herself all this time. She clenched the snow-white covers so tightly that they got out of shape, and her nails dug into her palms at that. Her body was even trembling from inexplicable fear.
The narrow staircase, the chubby woman and her disfigured face beneath the baseball cap, the black jacket, and the extremely sinister words ‘Let’s die together’ came to her mind.
Over the past few days, these images had repeatedly haunted her in her sleep, and she would constantly wake up in fright. After waking up, her face would be ghastly pale, and a sense of frostiness would seep into her bones.
“She did it on purpose, Courtney. I’m telling you that she did it on purpose.” Natasha forced herself to recall the scene, but it was a traumatic process for her. “I was going upstairs to get my check-up done, and we bumped into each other at the staircase. We shifted a few times to let the other pass, but it didn’t work. I stopped to let her move, but she suddenly glared at me and even shoved me down the stairs.”
Courtney furrowed her brows deeply in response. Natasha’s words sent a chill down her spine, and she pulled her phone out at that. “Why are you only saying it now? Why didn’t you call the police?”
However, Natasha snatched her phone away after Courtney had only managed to key in two numbers. “No, I can’t let Bill know when he’s in this mental state. His body will collapse, and I’m worried that he’ll do something he might regret.”
Courtney mulled it over and thought that Natasha’s worry was within reason. Although Bill was a calm person most of the time, his stubbornness would cause him to do the extreme. After all, it wouldn’t be unimaginable for him to kill when it involved his beloved wife and daughter.
After leaving the ward, Courtney went to the Safety and Security Department of the hospital and successfully obtained a copy of the surveillance footage when the incident happened.
That night, while Courtney was looking through the footage, Alexander hugged her from behind. The fresh scent of his body wash distracted her for a moment, but she regained her senses quickly and pulled out his slithering arm beneath her shirt.
However, it wouldn’t be Alexander if he yielded.
“Baby, let’s go to bed,” he said as he rested his head on her lap and messed with her. Since Courtney felt ticklish, she kicked blindly and hit his package by accident, causing him to roll down the couch in dire pain.
Alexander clambered up with a grim face, and his eyes were filled with malice. On the other hand, Courtney quirked a brow while trying her best not to laugh. “Is it a gone case, Dear?”
“I don’t know. Why don’t we find out?”
Alexander then pounced on her like a ravenous beast. He successfully caught Courtney, the puny rabbit.
“You’re pressing on my hair…”
“S-Slow down…”
