Abigail quickly clasped a hand over her nose-she blinked her fake eyelashes even as Diarmuid kept staring at her.
“Don’t tell me it’s a fake mole to look pretty?” he asked.
Abigail racked her brains, and said, “O-Of course not. I’ve been applying some ointment to remove it.”
Plucking the fake mole off and holding it out to show Diarmuid, she said, “See? It totally dried up and fell off-’
Diarmuid growled, ’Keep that away from me.”
Disgusting!
Abigail smiled, took out a tissue, and rolled the mole into it before throwing it into a basket, then continued to apply the ointment on Diarmuid to curb his itch.
When she was done, she told him, “You have to wait until it dries before you sleep.”
“You’re not leaving tonight,” he said.
As he spoke, he entered his bedroom and shut his door behind him.
What?!
But she was going to the hospital to find out how her bath salt got mixed up with the drug that caused oversensitive skin… Something fishy was clearly going on!
“Why?” she asked, knocking on the bedroom door.
“So that I can arrest you if it turns out that you were intentionally hurting me.”
Abigail was speechless-she had already made herself clear! How could he still doubt her?
‘1 didn’t mean to hurt you,” she told him again, but Diarmuid ignored her.
Having no choice, she lay down on the couch, feeling drowsy.
Diarmuid somehow fell asleep without her massage, whereas Abigail was left toiling all the way until the morning.
By then, most of Diarmuid’s rash had faded and stopped itching, so he finally let her go.
Still, Abigail left some medication with James and told him to make sure that Issac applied it.
She was tired after a long night, and her face was pale.
Even so, her mind was clear-she got the medicinal bath salt from the hospital, and it had to be an insider who messed with it.
Word spread like wildfire that Abigail might soon be fired, and everyone was left in an uproar as they speculated the reason.
“But, why? Everyone acknowledges that she’s a great doctor…”
“True. Maybe she offended someone important?
“Probably. Why else would something like this happen out of the blue?”
Abigail was pretending to be dismayed as well—it was an act, to trick the people who set her up into believing that she really was going to be fired.
After all, people tended to expose themselves when they let down their guard.
She had her eyes on two of her rivals-Bob and Daisy-since the rest were attending physicians.
If anything happened to her at this juncture of their research, both of them stand to gain much.
As such, she decided to tail Bob.
He headed down to the basement parking lot, but did not leave immediately. Instead, he stood beside his car, looking like he was waiting for someone.
Abigail kept an eye on him from afar, and that was when she saw someone else arriving.
It was Daisy!
Abigail was left gaping. Both of them were working together to set her up?
As they got in the car and left, Abigail got into Jeff Cartman’s car which was waiting in the basement parking lot as well, saying, “Follow them.”
“I know,” Jeff replied-Abigail had asked him for help before, and they tracked her rivals’ car all the way to a large house, where they both alighted and got inside.
They appeared intimate, and Jeff mused, “Are they a couple?”
Abigail was curious too, and the possibility could not be discounted.
Bob and Daisy were in the same age group and were said to have graduated from the same medical school as well.
Still, they were rarely in touch at the hospital.
Abigail whispered, “Let’s get to a window-see if we can get a closer look.”
Jeff nodded-most houses in Minerva stood alone, and they circled around to a window at the backyard, and peered into the living room.
Bob was sitting on the couch with Daisy in his arms. “Jane Tanner is dead meat. Guess the next promotion is either you or me.”
“Oh, you can take it-just make sure I get the next one. But if I get it, I’ll make sure you get the next one too… Let’s get married when we’re both promoted to attending physicians,” Daisy cooed as she leaned into Bob’s arms.
“Yeah,” Bob murmured as he brushed his fingers through her hair. ’We’re lucky you caught wind that the Zidonian patient had acquired Mead Clinic shares-and from the Raideen family, no less. Now that Jane upsetted him, it’s all over for her.”
Daisy said smugly, “She’s a Zidonian, but she’s stealing everyone’s thunder.
Our chief even recommended her for the next promotion, and she’d definitely be the next attending physician if we didn’t do a thing about it. Well, now that I’ve slipped that drug into the bath salt she prepared for that Zidonian patient, rumor is already spreading that she’ll be fired soon.
The patient must consider her incompetent now.”
“That’s enough, dear. We should be celebrating-why don’t we jump into the bath together?” Bob suggested.
“Oh, you dirty boy,” Daisy purred.
On the way back, Abigail did not say a word in the car.
‘We just have to show Admin the video we recorded of them, and it’s over for them both,” Jeff said. “So why the long face?”
Abigail said, “I hate intrigue. I really didn’t expect them to do something like that.”
“There’s a promotion at stake, after all. Moreover, an attending physician in Mead Clinic is a department chief in any other hospital. Of course things would get competitive.”
Abigail made a face. “They’re definitely fired once we show the video, though. What do you think about that?”
‘They don’t deserve to stay in Mead anyway.”
“Yeah,” Abigail said with a serious face. “They have my sympathy, but more so my wrath.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Jeff replied.
She alighted once they reached her apartment, and she shut the door and told him, “Drive safe.”
“Okay!” Jeff said.
Abigail was about to head home straight away when Harvey intercepted her.
‘Who was that man?” he asked.
“A colleague,” Abigail replied, feeling exhausted and needing the rest, and told Harvey as much.
“Wait, you don’t want to know about your brother and Bernstein Holdings?” Harvey asked.
Abigail smacked herself on the forehead right then. How did she manage to forget about that?!
“Come in, then.”
Harvey scowled. “Are you going to dump me like a tool once I no longer serve any purpose?”
“You’re a person, not a tool.” Abigail assured him, nestling on her couch once she was inside the house. “So, tell me.”
Harvey pulled out a chair to sit in front of her. “Alright. Anyway, Bernstein Holdings went bankrupt because your brother Ricky got a little too close to Lulu Adams.”
Abigail frowned. “What does that have to do with Lulu?”
“It has more to do with her ex, Zachary Slate. His wife suffered a miscarriage, so Zachary’s mother took it out on Lulu, and worked together with the Lindts to destroy Bernstein Holdings.”
Abigail lost her composure right then. “No way! Lulu would never sink that low!”
“Well, that’s the information I received from a close associate. It won’t be wrong,” Harvey assured her.
That was when Abigail remembered personally witnessing Ember Lindt paying off a man. He had put up several abusive banners outside the wedding hall of Ember and Zachary’s wedding, but the crime was pinned on Lulu.
As for the so-called miscarriage…
Abigail actually wondered if there was any truth to it.
“So? What are you going to do?” Harvey asked. “Are we homebound?”
However, this was a key moment of Abigail’s research project and she could not leave right now.
And it was not like she could do a thing if she rushed home now.
“Let me think about it,” she said, while working hard to calm herself.
Harvey saw that her face was pale. “You’re really working yourself too hard. You’re pregnant, remember?”
He got to his feet. “You didn’t have dinner, right? I’ll get you something to eat.”
Abigail was deep in thought and could not hear him, but he left anyway.
He headed to a Zidonian diner and bought a nutritious set dinner, and started to head back…
Meanwhile, James had obtained Jane Tanner’s address from Mead Clinic. He was going there to drive her to Olston Hotel since Diarmuid needed her massage to fall asleep.
Still, just as he alighted, he spotted Harvey with boxes of food.
What was he doing here?
James was puzzled and followed him into the apartment building!
Harvey never noticed that he was being tailed.
When he opened the door to Abigail’s apartment, James gaped when he saw the house number.
That was Jane Tanner’s house!
What was Harvey doing here? Were they acquainted?
He was experienced enough to smell a rat!
Deciding to find out what was going on between them, James walked up and knocked on the door.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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