Chapter 68

Evelyn carried the steaming meal upstairs, rehearsing in her head how she would announce it. But when she pushed open the bedroom door, the room was empty.

“Williams?”

No answer.

A knot of dread tightened immediately in her stomach. She rushed to the bathroom. Empty. Moving toward the study, she heard a faint noise: a dry, strained grunt.

Following the sound, she found Williams leaning over the table, weakened and sweating, papers scattered around her like fallen leaves. She had been attempting to determine the proper medical protocol for her wound, but dizziness had forced her to sit.

She had not taken real care of herself since the bullet was removed. Painkillers, a dressing, and stubbornness. Nothing more.

A wound like that, left untreated, was a straight path to sepsis.

“Williams.” Evelyn rushed toward her, seeing the cold sheen of sweat on her forehead.

“What is it?” Williams muttered, irritated at the intrusion on her professional failure.

“Come and lie down. You need to rest.”

“Did you complete your first task?”

“Yes, I cooked. But it is time to change your dressing and take your medication. And you need to rest.” Evelyn’s tone held no challenge, only medical urgency.

Williams checked the time. Evelyn was right. She had not failed the schedule. She hauled herself upright and walked toward the bedroom with effort. But once she sat on the edge of the bed, her eyes rolled back, and she slumped sideways, completely unconscious.

Evelyn panicked. She shook her lightly, but there was no response. She glanced at the window where the guards stood outside like immovable shadows. She rushed toward Williams’s phone.

Just as her fingers touched it, the device vibrated with an insistent ring. Makizal.

Evelyn froze. She remembered vividly the man who had promised to cut off her fingers. She hesitated for a terrible second and then answered the call.

“Hello?” Her voice wavered.

Makizal heard a voice that was definitely not Williams’s and remained silent for a heartbeat of shock.

“Listen,” Evelyn said, desperate. “Dr. Williams is not well. She refuses proper care and she just fainted.”

Makizal’s panic was immediate. He was far from the city and could not risk exposing Williams’s location. He was speaking to the captive.

“Does she still have the bullet?”

“No. It is removed. I removed it. We removed it together. What do I do?”

“Listen, stay calm,” he began, but he was cut off by a sharp groan in the background.

“Evelyn!”

She dropped the phone and rushed to the bed. Williams had jolted awake, confused and disoriented.

“Give me my phone.”

“I am sorry. I did not mean to…” Evelyn’s voice was trembling.

“What are you talking about? Hurry,” Williams said.

Evelyn handed her the phone; she realized Williams was disoriented.

With her good hand, Williams typed a message to Makizal, listing the exact IV fluids, antibiotics, and analgesics she needed. “Keep everything sterile. One box only.” She terminated her orders.

At the moment the phone call ended, Makizal would arrange a runner to deliver the supplies discreetly to the perimeter.

Evelyn helped her lean back against the pillows. Then she brought in the tray she had abandoned earlier and placed it gently beside her.

“Williams, eat.”

Even in her exhausted state, Williams straightened her back to preserve her dignity.

“What is this?” she asked weakly.

“Fish broth and milk. Do you want fruit too?”

“I do not eat that.”

“It is nutrient-dense and important for your condition,” Evelyn replied firmly.

“I do not eat that.”

Evelyn’s patience snapped. “Your list does not say anything about what you eat. If I cook, I decide the menu. And you will eat it.”

Williams extended her hand. “Your tablet.”

“For what?”

“To adjust the rules.”

Evelyn stared at her. “I thought you said you never went back on your words.”

“I am not removing the terms. I am specifying them.”

“You should have thought about that before creating such an absurd list.” Evelyn drew a steady breath. “Now listen carefully. If I cook, you eat. I choose the meals. When it is time to change your dressing, you comply, and I choose what you wear. You will respect rest hours. And because I am also your personal assistant, I require information. I want to understand exactly what happened to you and why you intended to recover on your own.”

For the first time, Williams felt the sharp pressure of being genuinely trapped. She was injured, dependent, and at the mercy of the woman she had tried to control.

“After that, when you finish eating and your supplies arrive, you will tell me what to do with them. Now eat.”

Williams lifted the spoon with effort, pain tightening her jaw. The broth touched her tongue, and she froze briefly. It was delicious. Her body, starved and traumatized, responded instantly. Her appetite surged.

This was not how she expected the first day to go.

Outside, the night thickened across the city.

Miss Kai and her husband sat in unease, waiting for news that refused to come.

Romaric moved through the streets with a new plan forming, something that pulled him closer to Evelyn.

Makizal drove toward the city with dread heavy on his chest.

Yada is prepared to return to the clinic at dawn.

Adeline rested peacefully, unaware of the chaos rising around her.

And inside Williams’s villa, under the soft glow of a bedside lamp, a secret agreement took shape. Neither woman understood its true weight yet.

But this agreement was destined to change them both.

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