“No need. I’m going to wait here.” There was no way that Nicholas would even bother changing because all he cared about right now was Tessa. He wasn’t going to let her out of his sight for something so low on his priority list. Edward didn’t press the matter and merely waited with him in the hallway, which became as silent as the grave.
None of them noticed how long it had been until the sounds of scurrying footsteps echoed in the hallway-it was Tobias and Stefania who had brought Gregory and Gordon along. They were a mess as they rushed over to them. ‘Nicholas, I heard that Tessa is injured!”
“What’s with the blood on you? What the hell happened?” The elders asked simultaneously, and Gregory wailed with bloodshot eyes, “Daddy, what happened to Mommy?”
Nicholas was well aware that he couldn’t sugar- coat the truth from them in such circumstances, so he told them everything that he knew at this point. ‘Zachary and the others colluded with someone to kidnap Tessa. They have set us up, and Tessa was pushed off the cliff by the kidnappers.”
The information he provided horrified and infuriated Tobias and Stefania. “How could they do that?!” Stefania hissed angrily, her teeth clenching tightly.
Tears welled up in Gregory’s eyes, and he choked, “Is Mommy badly injured? Will she leave us?” “No, Mommy will be fine,” Nicholas said, assuring him solemnly.
However, Stefania was far from convinced by his words. How could a person be fine after falling off a cliff?! Still, when she noticed how sad Gregory looked, she couldn’t bring herself to voice her doubts.
Nonetheless, her dubious thoughts were written all over her face, so Nicholas naturally knew what she was truly thinking. So, he added, “When she rolled off the cliff, she tried her best to stop herself from falling too fast in order to save herself. So, she suffered a lot of superficial injuries but not any fractures.”
Stefania only breathed out a silent sigh of relief after hearing that explanation. Then, Nicholas’ phone started ringing, and it was none other than Timothy ringing.
He was already finished with his checkup at the hospital and worried about Tessa the entire time. “Nicholas, have you found Tess?” “We did, and we’re at the hospital now. You can come over.”
He briefly told Timothy the situation, and they hung up. Soon, the Sawyers heard the sounds of hurried footsteps in the hallway. This time, it was Timothy hastily hobbling toward them.
When Nicholas saw him trying to run with his injured leg, he frowned and chided in disapproval, ‘Do you want to worsen your leg injury? Why are you trying to run when it’s already hurting?”
This bothered him a lot because Tessa would be heartbroken to see Timothy in a terrible state once she woke up. But Timothy couldn’t care less as he grabbed his arm and demanded impatiently, “How’s Tess doing?”
Behind him, Sabrina followed closely and cast a worried look at Nicholas. “She’s in the ER now, and we don’t know exactly how she’s doing, Nicholas answered honestly.
A knot appeared between Timothy’s brows, and a bewildered look flashed across his face when he saw the blood on Nicholas. “What’s up with the blood on you, Nicholas? Are you hurt?” he exclaimed and signaled for Sabrina to get the nurse’s attention.
Nicholas stopped him and explained, “I’m not hurt. These are Tessa’s.” When Timothy heard that, his heart shuddered and almost lurched out of his ribcage as he was instantly overwhelmed by quilt..
“That’s a lot of blood… She’s definitely badly hurt,” he mumbled, clenching his fists so tight that the veins on the back of his palms were showing. “I said that I’ll protect her, but she’s hurt again.”
Sabrina felt sorry for him and held his hand in hers when she saw how he was utterly overridden by remorse. “Don’t think that way, Timothy. Nobody could have guessed this was going to happen.”
Timothy pursed his lips together but remained stonily silent. Stefania even tried to comfort him, saying, “You’ve done the best you can, Timothy. But those people are simply too vicious.”
Right after she said that, they heard a muffled thud, which was the sound of Nicholas. punching into the whitewashed wall. His eyes were grim and solemn, and his jaw was tight, showing that he was barely restraining his fury. “All these have nothing to do with you. I’m the one who didn’t protect her well and caused her to be hurt every time.
Furthermore, I knew that there was hidden danger, but no matter how I tried to avoid it, I still left a window of opportunity for these people to take advantage of. So, at the end of the day, I am the one truly to blame.”
