Back at Stella's hospital in Arcadia, two months have passed since James fell into a coma.
The man on the hospital bed had an elegant, pale face that looked like it was shrouded by mist. With his eyes closed, one could only see his long, thick eyelashes.
He was lying quietly on the white bed. Without any movement or sound, it was as if he had already left the world, leaving behind only a shell.
Paul took the cotton swab from Andrew, dipped it in warm water, and moistened the thin, dry and dull lips of the man lying on the hospital bed.
After he finished moisturizing his lips, he fetched a clean towel, and while wiping the man's forehead, he asked the head bodyguard standing behind him, "Have you found her?"
The head bodyguard lowered his head. With a face full of guilt, he replied solemnly, "Sorry, I didn't find her in Aronland either..."
Hearing this, Paul squeezed the towel in his hand. Turning around, he slapped it on the head of the head bodyguard. He shouted, "You piece of shit! You can't even find one tiny girl!"
The head bodyguard didn't dare to duck, allowing Paul to take his anger out on him.
"Someone clearly saw her on that private plane to Ireland three months ago. How could you not find her?"
Paul was so angry that his face was livid, pointing at the head bodyguard, he continued to curse, "You already have a lead, yet you can't find her. What's the use of you all then?"
The head bodyguard still didn't dare to refute. Paul was so angry that he looked for something to hit him hard, but was stopped by Andrew.
"Mr. Paul, that private plane belonged to Mr. Walton of the Aronland royal family, but he claims he doesn't know Ms. Garcia. He also mentioned Ms. Garcia has never been on that plane, so it must be a mistake."
Apart from the rage clearly written on his face, Paul's face clearly looked exhausted from running Evans Group. There was also the stroke of anxiousness from the fact that his brother was still unconscious.
These emotions weighed on him, making him change from his usual gentleness and elegance to behaving like a bratty, rich kid with no morals.
He frowned, took a deep breath, suppressed the anger in his heart, and sat back on the hospital bed again.
He looked at the man on the hospital bed, his dark and deep eyes filled with worry and guilt.
"James, I'm sorry, it's been so long, but I still haven't found Amelia..."
After he finished speaking, he leaned back on the sofa weakly. Looking at that flawless face, he murmured in a low voice, "James, if you don't wake up, I'm afraid we'll never find Ms. Garcia again. Do you really plan on leaving her missing like this..."
Paul babbled on and on, but the man lying on the bed still didn't respond, as if he were planning to sleep forever. It appeared as if he was planning on leaving Ms. Garcia, his family and this earth behind, forever.
Paul was at his wits' end. Closing his eyes, he got up and looked at Andrew.
"Please take good care of him."
Andrew nodded lightly, watching the exhausted Paul leave.
Andrew pulled out his phone, and called Zack.
"Zack, did Brandon confess?"
"No."
Over there, Zack was pulling Brandon by the collar. Trying to intimidate and torture Brandon, he was about to shoot if Brandon kept silent. When he heard Andrew's call, he threw Brandon, who had been beaten half to death, to the ground.
"He's afraid that we'll kill him if he gives us information about Ms. Garcia's whereabouts."
Andrew snorted coldly after hearing the words.
"Got to give it to the man for his tenacity."
Zack raised his foot and kicked Brandon hard.
"Not only can he endure, but he is also quite intelligent. He almost ran away several times."
Andrew warned, "He is the only one who knows Ms. Garcia's whereabouts. You must watch him closely. Are they still looking for her in Ireland?"
Zack replied, "They never stopped. If Walton refuses to tell the truth, I'll kidnap his family. I'm sure that would speed things up."
Andrew nodded. "Zack, the bodyguards won't find anything here, as for the Evans family... Old Mr. Evans still blames Ms. Garcia for what happened to James. That's why he refuses to send men to look for her. Everything is up to you now."
Zack replied, "I understand," and hung up the phone.
Andrew also put down his phone and turned to look at the person on the hospital bed.
He stared at him for a long while, and like Paul, he sat beside him, talking in a low voice.
He had looked it up online. According to the resources, people who were in comas still were conscious. If you talked to them a lot, and said things to trigger them, they would eventually wake up.
For Mr. Evans, Ms. Garcia was his life. If they brought her up more, he might wake up...
After Andrew talked for a while, he wanted to fetch some water, but the moment he got up, he saw James' slender fingers tremble slightly on the white sheet...
Although it was just a small movement, Andrew was so shocked that his pupils widened, and he stood still, staring at the hand.
"Mr. Evans, are you awake?"
After Andrew recovered from the astonishment, he rushed to the hospital bed, excitedly, staring into James' eyes.
The eyelashes seemed to be fighting against the person in the dream, fluttering...
He was trying hard to open his eyes, but he couldn't open them no matter what...
He was trapped in a beautiful dream. In the dream, Amelia, carrying their child, was leading a wonderful life with him.
He was immersed in such a beautiful dream and was unwilling to leave, but one day, another empty and lifeless Amelia reached out to him.
Stroking her belly, Amelia would call for him from afar, wailing, "James, I miss you so much, when will you pick me up."
He turned his head to look at Amelia holding a child, flashing him a contented smile, then at the Amelia standing amongst the mist, sobbing and nearly blind.
He couldn't tell from the two who his Amelia was. He could do nothing to stop himself from falling into a predicament, constantly struggling between happiness and heartache...
In the end, he chose to walk towards the Amelia who his heart eached so much for. The closer he got, the more he could sense that she was his Amelia.
When his hand rested on her cheek, trying to wipe away the tears dripping from her eyes, she disappeared. Everything was like a dream.
The surrounding scenery faded away, along with the Amelia holding a child and always flashing him a smile, collapsing with a rumble.
He spun around, calling their names. "Amelia!"
When he yelled the words, his eyes, which were shut all along, shot open.
When Andrew's eyes met the almond-shaped ones full of stars, he was so shocked and at a loss for words that he started weeping with joy.
"Mr. Evans, you're awake!"
With trembling hands, Andrew pressed the button at the foot of the hospital bed.
"Quick, come on, Mr. Evans is awake!"
The vice director, Mr. Brulee, who was always paying attention to the situation in the ward, hopped to his feet upon receiving the news of Mr. Evans waking up. He wasted no time rushing to the ward with a group of doctors.
Surrounding the man on the hospital bed, they conducted various checkups. It was only when the reports showed that everything was fine that they could believe the existence of miracles.
Gawking wide-eyed at the pale James, Mr. Brulee uttered in disbelief, "Mr. Evans, I thought you wouldn't wake up, I didn't expect..."
His words trailed off. Mr. Evans had woken up, and nothing mattered more than that.
As reality set in, Mr. Brulee breathed a sigh of relief...
During that period, the Evans Family was just a step away from skinning him and demolishing the hospital!
What made things worse was that after the director was brought away, he had yet to return, so the burden of responsibility from the hospital was all on him.
Fortunately, Mr. Evans woke up, so he could finally break free from the ma*sive rock weighing on his body and have a good night's sleep...
James' indifferent gaze swept past everyone in the hard, but he saw no traces of the figure in his memory.
Blinking his eyelashes as he shifted his gaze to Andrew, his thin lips parted with great difficulty.
"What about her..."
Andrew waved. After the doctors left, he walked up to James.
"Mr. Evans, Ms. Garcia has returned for a rest. She'll be back tomorrow, don't worry."
He feared that Mr. Evans might not be able to bear the news of Ms. Garcia going missing for two months just after waking up, so he chose to keep it a secret and wait for Mr. Evans' vital signs to stabilize before telling him the truth.
James couldn't wait to see Amelia, but when he heard that she was back for rest, he had no choice but to suppress his longing.
In a hoarse and low voice, he asked, "How long have I... been in a coma?"
Andrew replied, "Two months..."
For two months, it must have been really tough on her to stay by his side, taking care of him...
As if he could see through what James was thinking about, feeling a little guilty, Andrew avoided James' gaze and turned to pour a glass of water.
"Mr. Evans, you're thirsty, aren't you? I'll feed you some water..."
After Andrew filled the glass, he picked up the spoon and tried to feed him water, but the man averted his head in response.
The indifferent eyes were locked on Andrew.
"Did you send her flowers every day?"
Andrew's heart trembled. Once Mr. Evans woke up, all he had to care about was Ms. Garcia instead of his body. If Mr. Evans knew that Ms. Garcia was not around...
Seeing Andrew stunned, the man on the hospital bed exuded a cold aura.
"Didn't you?"
He had promised that as long as he was alive, he would send a bouquet of flowers daily, non-stop, so how could Andrew not help him fulfill his promise?
Andrew was so terrified by his cold voice that he returned to his senses and defended himself in a hurry, "I delivered it. You did tell me that I'll be in charge of delivering the flowers if you don't have the time to, and I obeyed your instructions..."
Andrew had made up his mind to deliver a lifetime of roses should Mr. Evans not wake up for the rest of his life.
Hearing so, the frown on James' brows eased. His clear eyes swept around the room before they fell on Andrew once more.
"There's one more thing I need you to do..."
Andrew inquired, "Mr. Evans, what is it?"
James' face was sickly, but there was a cold blooded glint in fes eyes.
"You... go and deal with Erin!"
He had once vowed that after Arella wat natrija he would make sure to hack Erin into pieces and never let him go with ease!
Was Mr. Evans going to settle accounts with Erin?
It just so happened that Andrew had beef with Erin too. Should he end it once and for all?
Andrew readily agreed to it.
"No problem, leave everything to me."
After James gave his orders, he tried to force himself to get up, but found that he couldn't move. Only his fingers could wiggle a little.
One by one, he curled his fingers, concentrating all his strength on his hands in an attempt to get back up with the strength of his fingers, but to no avail.
When Andrew saw the layer of faint sweat on his beautifully God-chiseled face, he hurried forward to dissuade James, knowing that he was forcing himself up.
"Mr. Evans, you just woke up from a coma, and you shouldn't move around for the time being. You should take a good rest for some time before we advance to physio..."
James failed to get up several times, so he gave up struggling...
The melancholy in his brows reminded him of Amelia's severe coma back then.
He had never been able to feel for himself the pain, but right then as he was experiencing it, he finally knew how agonizing it was...
At the thought of how she had survived those three years alone, his heart couldn't stop aching...
Deep down, he swore that once he could move, he must stay by her side and make up for the harm done...
The doctors entered the ward with a bunch of medication and re-infused the newly prescribed medicinal fluid to the man on the hospital bed.
Andrew fished his phone out and sent a message to Zack, urging him to locate Ms. Garcia as soon as possible, preferably within a day.
After texting Zack, he immediately notified Paul, in the form of a text, to keep Ms. Garcia's matter a secret for the time being.
In the middle of a meeting in the president's conference room, Paul dismissed the meeting and got up to leave at once after receiving the news of James waking up.
He rushed to the hospital ward, and was just about to enter when he saw a woman so inhumanly beautiful standing by the window...
The woman had her arms folded around her chest with her chin resting on one hand, a pair of seductive foxy eyes on the man in the ward through the glass.
"Everything's fine now that you've woken up, or we won't have a leader..."
Muttering to herself, Emelyn was about to turn around and leave when she saw Paul sizing her up from head to toe with a frown.
Emelyn scanned Paul's face. Realizing that he kind of resembled James, she figured that he must be one of his younger brothers.
Younger boys were her favorite...
Emelyn's bony fingers raised to brush aside the wavy hair on her chest as she winked at Paul.
"Hey there hottie, give me your number..."
If it were the past, Paul would have pounced forward to wrap his arms around her shoulders and take her away.
For some reason, such a thought did not cross his mind at all.
Instead, he doubtfully asked, "Who are you and how did you get in?"
It was the VIP ward on the top floor of the hospital. A card was needed to enter, so how could the woman have appeared on their floor?
Fiddling with curls of hair on her chest, Emelyn stepped forward on high heels, walking up to Paul to charmingly whisper, "Ask your brother."
She dropped the three words before raising her haughty chin and walked past Paul, calm and composed...
Paul was anxious to meet James and couldn't be any bothered by how the woman came in, so he swiftly withdrew his gaze and stepped in.
"James!"
As soon as the sound escaped his mouth, Andrew, sitting in an armchair by the hospital bed, raised his index finger up to his lips, as if to motion for silence.
Andrew pointed to James who had reentered sleep from the effect of the medication.
"After waking up, he fell asleep again..."
Paul gave an understanding nod. In light steps, he walked up to James and bent over to take a closer look.
Seeing James in his sleep with steady breathing and the occasional trembling of eyelashes, he could finally relax and take a break from being on tenterhooks...
The corners of his thin lips curled. It was great that James had finally woken up!
He took out his mobile phone, and with trembling fingertips, gave Eva a call before notifying members of the Evans Family...
Only after having dealt with everything did Paul ask Andrew, "I just saw a gorgeous woman outside the door. She seems to be acquainted with James. Do you know who she is?"
When Andrew heard "gorgeous", his first guess was Ms. Davies.
When Mr. Evans had been in a coma, Andrew came to know her when she once visited with Zack.
Since identities of members of Organization S weren't supposed to be revealed, Andrew made up a lie.
"She's probably a doctor. There are many female doctors in the hospital who have a crush on Mr. Evans and would always come all the way here to check on him."
Paul didn't doubt his words since it was very possible for a doctor to be dressed in casual clothing at that hour.
Yet, the lady knew he was James' brother. Could it be possible that they knew each other before?
Paul frowned and intended to go on probing when the phone rang. It was a call from his grandfather...
Hearing that their grandfather would be visiting James, he got up and informed Andrew before leaving the hospital to pick him.
When James opened his eyes once more, it was the second day. Seeing the Evans Family members standing in the ward, his hawk eyes were stained with impatience.
Knowing that he preferred quietness, the Evans Family did not make any noise. They remained to stand quietly aside, and the extreme quietness made it seem like a family meeting.
Sitting at the foot of the hospital bed was a seventy-five-year-old dressed in a suit and leather shoes, a vibrant elderly man with gray hair. With his back straightened, his eyes were tear-filled looking at James' pale and thin face...
With his crane tightly clutched, he uttered in a deep voice, "James, things have gone hard on you."
The voice of the old man revealed the vicissitudes of the years,
but it was still as vigorous and powerful as always.
Coupled with his body that exuded an overbearing aura and his voice that was oppressively majestic.
That sense of oppression was inherent in the Evans Family. It was a powerful aura that came with years of taking the throne no one could easily compare.
With his eyes lowered, James nodded his head without anything else to say...
Mr. Evans, too, sensed the distance between them. After sitting for a while, he began feeling restless and awkward.
When James was young, he had acquiesced in Gloria's actions out of guilt for her, and had never defended his grandson.
Although he focused on cultivating James, they weren't close, and James seldom visited him at the Evans Manor after he was all grown up...
Knowing that the incident was a matter that gnawed at James' mind, he didn't stay long and left after giving a few words of advice..
Seeing members of the Evans Family following Mr. Evans out of the ward, James withdrew his indifferent gaze to Paul, who stayed behind.
"Has she been here?"
Paul and Andrew exchanged glances before Paul lowered his eyes, answering with a guilty conscience, "She did. After you fell asleep last night, Eva and Ms. Garcia came to visit you, but since Eva felt a little uncomfortable, Ms. Garcia sent her back..."..
James' well-kept brows were drawn to a frown. "Paul, when you lie, you'll unnaturally look at the floor..."
Paul's heart missed a beat. He tried to retort, but happened to see
-James chiding with an icy face. "Did something happen to her?"
Paul had his head lowered, not daring to answer. James' gaze shifted to Andrew, and at sight of him with his head drooped, his blood boiled in rage.
"Speak!"
James growled, his entire body trembling, not knowing if it was from his physical discomfort, or for fear of anything happening to Amelia.
In short, the flustered emotions were stuck in his heart, suffocating him as if a hand was strangling his airway, so uncomfortable that he couldn't catch his breath...
Seeing that he couldn't hide it any longer, Paul had no choice but to tell the whole story.
"James, Ms. Garcia has been missing for two months. I sent people all over the world to search, but they couldn't find her whereabouts, and I don't know where she went..."
Learning how Amelia had gone missing for two months, the boiling rage sent him spitting out a mouthful of blood...
"James!"
"Mr. Evans!"
Paul and Andrew turned pale with fright. They rushed forward, one to worriedly check his body, and the other rushed to ring the bell.
James, who hadn't been able to move an inch, didn't care whether he was vomiting blood. He mustered his strength and pushed Paul away to lift the quilt, getting up from the hospital bed.
He supported the edge of the bed and made up his mind to go looking for Amelia, but his weak knees gave him away by sending him falling to the ground...
After being in a coma for two months, the body stimulated by a series of therapies such as brain cell-nourishing drugs, hyperbaric oxygen, and acupuncture couldn't bring him to walk around immediately after waking up...
Yet, James refused to give up. He braced himself and tried to get up from the ground again and again...
Seeing that, Paul and Andrew quickly tried to step forward to help him, but they were frightened by his cold eyes and froze in place.
"Mr. Evans, I'm sorry, I took the liberty of keeping this incident from you. I was afraid that you'd not be able to bear the news when you've just woken up, so I kept it a secret from you."
After Andrew apologized, he dropped to the ground on one knee in front of James, forcibly dragging him up to the hospital bed.
"Mr. Evans, you shouldn't be walking now based on the condition of your body. After you've recovered, you can go to Ms. Garcia. Else, if you force yourself to stand up, you'll hurt your muscles, tendons, bones and everything that's involved. If you end up with a limp leg, I'm sure Ms. Garcia will be hurt..."
Once Andrew mentioned Amelia, James suppressed his fuming anger. With his fists clenched, he looked up at Andrew coldly.
"The person who took her away was Aaron. You must all head over to Aronland at once to bring her back, and..."
When James paused, a murderous chill erupted from his eyes.
"Tie Aaron up and bring him to me!"
He had thought that Aaron had been there to rescue Amelia. Little had he expected him to be there to take Amelia away!
Had he known Aaron's purpose, he would never have fought his way out and pushed her to Aaron even if he was to die!
At the thought of how Amelia was kidnapped for two months, James' resent intensified!
"Aaron, if you have the guts to take my woman away, I'll give you a taste of piercing, agonizing pain!"
In Ndola, the sun came from behind the clouds in the morning. The dazzling sunlight shone through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the villa, spilling into the house built of red bricks and tiles.
Under the sun was a lean, slender figure with thick wavy hair. From a distance, the scene was as breathtaking as a textured oil painting.
Holding Grace in her arms, Amelia fumbled for the bread on the plate, tore it apart bit by bit with her gloved hands, and inserted the bits into the little girl's mouth.
Grace opened her chubby mouth and craned her neck, leaning her mouth closer to the toast handed over by her Aunt Amelia. After biting into the soft toast, she looked up at the person sitting across from them.
Aaron took his time to slice the steak with a knife and fork. After cutting it into strips, he forked a piece and raised it to Amelia's mouth.
"Skender, open your mouth."
Grace was greatly confused. Her Uncle George had mentioned that her mother's name was Skender, while her aunt's name was Amelia.
Yet, the strange uncle would always address Aunt Amelia as Skender, so Grace could barely tell the difference between her mommy and Amelia.
Her thoughts were a mess, but Grace dared not ask about it, for fear of the grumpy strange uncle, so she could only lower her head to eat her breakfast in silence.
When her lips came into contact with the steak, Amelia turned her head slightly.
"It's greasy, I don't have the appetite for oily food."
Aaron didn't force her to eat the steak. Instead, he placed the steak aside and picked up a small golden spoon to scoop a spoonful of porridge and raise it back to her lips.
"Porridge, it isn't oily."
Amelia didn't resist again by opening her mouth to eat up the porridge in the spoon.
When Aaron saw her yielding in, the corners of his lips curled, his smile as warm as the sunshine outside the window.
As the man fed the woman breakfast, the woman did the same to the child. It was such a beautiful scene like a family of three.
Only the woman knew deep down that she was trapped in a cage created by the man, never able to escape...
She compromised and agreed to play as Skender, but Aaron stopped her eye treatment to prevent her from escaping.
Amelia had tried retaliating, but when it came to a lunatic, her weak strength was barely enough.
Just like half a month ago, she stumbled and fled in the dark but ended up getting lost in the forest because she couldn't see...
After Aaron found her, he punished her for her misbehavior, while his way of punishment was to attack Grace.
When Amelia heard Grace's cries, she was forced to keep all the tricks away and dare not ever attempt escaping again, knowing that she would never succeed as long as she couldn't see.
She had never been so eager to restore her eyesight. Only when her eyes were healthy once more could she find a way to leave with Grace.
Clutching onto the vague beam of hope, Amelia played Skender while tricking Aaron into giving her medicine to heal her eyes...
Wherever he was in a better mood, he would allow George to prescribe the medication for her but with a controlled dosage...
It wasn't that the world in her eyes was all dark. She could still see vague, faint traces of light and shadows. It was George trying his best to protect her from blindness...
She, too, cooperated with George's treatment. Only when her body recovered could she gain the strength to fight against Aaron.
After Aaron fed her, he rested his chin with one hand, and with the light seeping into the room, silently watched as Amelia fed Grace.
Through her figure, he saw Skender once more, so he could no longer control himself from reaching out to Amelia's cheek...
When the cold fingertips came into contact with the warm skin, Amelia shrank her neck in fright with a snap, "Didn't we agree that you wouldn't touch me?"
She averted her head for Aaron's fingers to land on the thick curly hair. When the silky hair entered his sight instead of the familiar face instead, the light in his eyes was gradually dimmed by darkness.
He withdrew his hand. Unbothered, he responded in a cold voice, "I'm touching Skender, not you."
Nonsense!
Amelia decided against bickering with him. She lowered his head to ask Grace in a soft voice, "Are you full? If you are, let's go bask in the sun."
Aunt Amelia didn't want to stay at the same table with the strange uncle again, she got off Amelia's lap with a twist of her body and stretched out her soft little hand to hold Amelia's.
"Aunt Amelia, I'll show you the way..."
Amelia pursed the corner of her lips to give the child a warm smile before getting up and following Grace out of the villa...
Aaron leaned back on the dining chair, watching the duo from a distance sitting on the swing, poking cheeks as they fooled around...
At the sight of such a warm scene, his eyes were red-rimmed...
If Skender hadn't married the man, she would have given birth to his children, not to mention how they would have lived a happy and comfortable life.
"Yet, Skender, you vowed to love me for the rest of your life, so why did you choose to betray me in such a difficult time?"
As the past memories flashed through his mind, gloominess loomed over Aaron's face while feelings of love and hate swirled...
Such extreme emotions of push and pull urged him to clench his fists and raise his hands to swipe all the items on the dining table onto the floor...
The assistant entering the door was a little intimidated to approach him seeing that he was losing his temper, but he had no choice but to brace himself in going forward.
"Mr. Johnson."
After subconsciously swallowing his saliva, the assistant proceeded to report in a low voice, "Mr. Evans, he's woken up..."
Aaron froze as his bloodshot eyes slowly raised to lock on the assistant.
"What did you say?"