She Took The House The Car And My Heart

Chapter 786:

After the usual greetings, Freya got straight to the point. “Yesterday at Lawrence’s, did you only pick up the cufflink?”

Gerard was alert. Why was she asking that all of a sudden? Had she figured something out? What should he do? What could he say?

“Yes,” he answered, following his boss’s lead. “Why do you ask?”

“How long were you there?” she continued.

“A few hours,” Gerard replied, knowing full well Freya could dig up the truth if she wanted to. “Dr. Hayes was having lunch when we got there, so we joined him. Then he took my boss inside. I don’t know what they did.”

“You didn’t go in?”

“Dr. Hayes told me to wait outside.” That was the answer he gave.

And it confirmed Freya’s hunch—Lawrence had definitely done something with Kristian. Retrieving a cufflink didn’t require excluding Gerard. Kristian’s ward wasn’t some fortress, so asking Gerard to stay out was strange.

“Ms. Briggs, is something wrong?” Gerard asked nervously, his heart hammering.

“Nothing,” Freya replied, already preparing to confront Lawrence. “Kristian has a fever, and I’m trying to figure out why.”

Gerard blinked. “What?”

A fever? There was no way Kristian had caught a chill yesterday. How had this happened?

Then, it suddenly hit him.

Last night, when he was on the phone with Kristian, he had faintly heard water running in the background. Could Kristian have been taking a cold bath at that hour? That had to be it. Given Kristian’s unpredictable moods lately, it was plausible.

“How much did Kristian eat at Lawrence’s?” Ellis asked abruptly.

Gerard cut himself off mid-sentence. His pulse spiked.

𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗽𝘂𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝖌𝖆𝗅𝗇𝗈ν𝖊𝗅𝘀﹒𝗰𝗼𝗺

That was close!

He’d almost said “a large serving”.

“A little,” he corrected quickly. “He didn’t have much appetite. Seemed out of it the whole time.”

Ellis’s face darkened. That hesitation earlier made Gerard’s words ring false.

If Kristian had eaten so little, there wouldn’t have been that pause. Freya noticed it too. After a beat, she asked, “Did Kristian tell you to say that?”

Gerard froze, his nerves fraying. Had she caught on?noveldrama

Freya recalled Kristian crouching last night, pleading with Ellis not to hurt him. A suspicion rose, and she said to Gerard, “I know Kristian’s your boss, and even now, you still treat him with respect, despite what’s happened to him. Let me ask you something. If he didn’t want you to tell me something, you can stay quiet. You can just listen to me. But if I’m wrong, feel free to correct me.” She added with quiet conviction.

Gerard surrendered. “Go ahead.”

“Did Kristian eat both lunch and dinner yesterday?” she asked directly. “And that thing you told me before you left—did he tell you to say it?”

Gerard didn’t answer.

As expected, nothing slipped past Ms. Briggs.

After thirty long seconds of silence, Freya had her answer.

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