James caught on to what Mirabella meant right away. Without asking any more questions, he poured the pills into his palm, picked up the glass of water from the coffee table, and downed the medicine in one go.
Mirabella clicked her tongue, teasing, "What if it was poison?"
James placed the glass back down, looked at her, and with a soft smile, pointed to his heart, "You wouldn’t."
Her eyes followed his finger, and a blush crept up her cheeks. She thought, maybe she should've prepared a poison after all!
...
Before long, Dane pulled up outside James's villa.
As the car came to a stop, Nikolai looked out at the gate, then turned to Dane, "Dane, I’ll go in alone. You should head back."
Dane was just about to unbuckle his seatbelt when he heard this. He hesitated, then turned to his father, "But..."
Nikolai cut him off, "It's best if you don’t come with me."
Dane paused for a moment, then nodded, "Alright, call me when you’re done."
"No need, I’ll grab a cab back," Nikolai said, shaking his head as he stepped out of the car.
Dane watched his father walk towards the gate, his eyes narrowing slightly, and then drove away.
Once Dane's car disappeared down the road, Nikolai turned back and pressed the doorbell.
In no time, Wyatt came hurrying out. Seeing Nikolai, he gave a slight nod and opened the door, "Nikolai, glad you’re here."
The pulse was worse than it had been during the worst of times two years ago.
He pulled his hand back, his mood somber, "James, this underlying issue... what triggered it to flare up again?"
"It just hit out of the blue a few days ago, no warning signs at all," Wyatt chimed in, his voice heavy with concern, "Nikolai, is there anything you can do to manage James's condition?"
"I'm afraid my skills aren't up to the task," Nikolai replied with a rueful smile, shaking his head, then looked at Mirabella, "Mirabella, have you run out of tricks too?"
Mirabella shook her head, "My acupuncture techniques aren’t cutting it anymore. I've tried everything else I could think of these past few days, but no luck."
Nikolai paused, thinking it over, then said, "This condition didn’t just flare up out of nowhere. If we can trace it back to the source, maybe we can figure out a way to manage it?"
"But we’ve hit a dead end," Wyatt said, frustration clear in his voice, his fists clenched and veins popping in his neck.
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