“Is he James?” Jamie wouldn’t give up and asked again.
“Yes,” Leilani had to nod.
Jamie was furious. He was coming to James with his walking sticks. He was ready to perish with James.
“Stop! You and Andrew are both badly injured. How can you win? Don’t forget we’re at his turf. If you insist on confronting him, you will get nothing good. You can’t even win me now…”
Jamie wouldn’t give up. Leilani had to persuade him the other way.
“If you die, your master would be left alone. Nobody else would look after him.”
Then she kept walking. She heard walking sticks following. She was relieved. It was lucky that Jamie didn’t insist on getting even with James.
Sorts of noises came from Andrew’s bedroom. The second Leilani walked in, and a figure was at her feet. The nurse was kicked out by Andrew. She was in so much pain that she couldn’t get up.
“What’s going on?” Leilani asked.
Andrew wore a white bathrobe. His thigh was revealed, and the bandage was taken off.
The nurse’s eyes were so red. She struggled to get up, seeing Leilani, who gave her a hand.
“It’s my bad. I hurt Mr. Clifford.”
“It’s no problem. I’ll take over. You could take a look at Jamie.”
Leilani washed her hands in the bathroom and left it. She walked over to Andrew. Andrew lowered his head at Leilani’s toe.
“The nurse said two spiders were in your room last night.”
“Yeah.”
“Someone must put them there. Or where do they come from? This place is not safe. We have to get out of here soon. But before then, we have to stay.”
“I can’t run from whoever wants to hurt me. I’d better stay here to wait for her to dig her own grave.”
“Ah—be gentle.”
“Did you move the leg?”
It was apparent Andrew kicked the nurse with his wounded leg. The wound was burst apart, and new blood started seeping. Leilani applied the drug on his leg. He was in so much pain that he almost jumped off the couch.
“Leilani, be gentle!”
“I thought I was. Be careful, if you wouldn’t let me apply for medicine, you might become limp.”
“If you don’t go easy on me, my leg would be broken. Ah… What did the hell happen? Who fired shots?”
Leilani ignored him and kept working on his wound. Then she sprinkled some powders that helped the wound to heal. Then she wrapped it up with gauze.
“I saw Jessica.”
Maybe it was pain or Andrew knew Jessica was involved, he heavily frowned.
“She’s fine. The shots were aimed at pigeons,” Leilani noticed Andrew’s thigh muscles relaxed. She applied layers of gauze on his wound and tied it up with a bowknot.
Andrew had to know the answer.
“Who fired the shots?”
From what he knew about Leilani, she wouldn’t mention Jessica if she weren’t involved. Jessica never touched guns, let alone fired.
Then who was it that fired gunshots? Was it Arlington’s adopted son?
Leilani looked up slightly.
“It was James Moore.”
Andrew clenched his fists and hit the armrest. There was a giant deep hole immediately.
“I should have known it was him!” Andrew felt a torn pain on his shoulders.
Leilani checked the wound, and the gauze was red.
“Does James have a feud with your family?”
Otherwise, Leilani didn’t know why he avenged himself on the Clifford family. She heard Andrew’s grandfather was killed by James. Based on his status in B Country, it didn’t make sense if he was after Clifford’s money. But he was willing to reduce himself to be a bodyguard. He came prepared.
“Maybe.”
Andrew let Leilani take care of his wounds. He was silent. He squinted slightly and gave off a dangerous vibe. Leilani didn’t know what was going on in his mind.
***
James carried Jessica on his shoulder. She knew the punishment would be more ferocious.
She was too afraid. So she fought back with the hose in the hit of the moment. It was too late when she realized what she had done.
“James, let go of me!”
Jessica struggled with her hands and feet. She grabbed his hair and Dong-
Jessica was thrown on the floor. She was in so much pain that she felt her inner organs were broken into pieces.
“Do you still want to run? Em? I’ll let you go. If you could run away, I’d admit failure.”
James’s face was washed off by water without his mask. The loose bangs were close to his eyebrows. His face was slightly pale. Then his look was bleak. Jessica only felt blades shooting from his eyes.
Jessica was really sacred, especially of his look. Every time, he would torture her so hard that she begged for mercy.
Jessica crawled on the ground. Suddenly she held up herself and started running.
James’s residence was in the north of the presidential house. She had to run in the opposite direction. She had to pass through a road, either side of which was lawns.
The road was wide for cars. She only focused on running and didn’t notice a red sports car with fast velocity came in through the gate.
Jessica was in a panic. She stood there, not knowing which way she should go. The car was almost hitting her…
Jessica closed her eyes. She had no intention to live. If she could live, so what? She would be tortured by James. Death seemed like a better choice.
Jessica could feel the blaring car light closer to her, and even her eyes were closed. Just as the driver hit the horn, Jessica felt something with weight came at her. The force was huge. She was hugged and rolled over to the curb.
Jessica opened her eyes. It was James who saved her!
But he was in an awful state. His eyes lost focus. His face was pale and his lips were pale too.
“James? What’s going on with you?” Jessica got out of his hugs and was next to him. James was shaving all over his body. He had his legs bent and covered his ears with both hands. And he kept hitting the lawn with his head.
“James?” The red car stopped at the curb. A young woman came out rushing. She opened his eyelids skillfully and comforted him, patting his face.
“James, it’s okay. You’re okay. The car doesn’t hit anyone.”
The woman got up and waved at bodyguards standing not far away. James was held back.
“I’m a psychological doctor. My name is Erin Darling. You can call me Dr. Darling.”
The woman introduced herself and asked without beating around the bushes.
“Are you Jessica Clifford?”
Jessica slightly froze. She didn’t expect to hear her name from a stranger. She nodded. After James went wrong, the bodyguards were busy taking care of him. So she wanted to go to visit Andrew. This morning, she sneaked out for the same reason. But unfortunately, she was caught on the spot.
Then the pigeons were shot. It was to warn her not to run away. Or she would end the same like the pigeons.
Jessica was curious. She never met Erin before.
“How do you know my name?”
“James talked about you.”
That was how she knew. Jessica never thought James would mention her to someone else. She looked up, and the bodyguards were taking James inside. Erin stared at her with curiosity.
“What’s wrong with James?”
“He had psychological barriers with cars, to be exact, car accidents.”
“Car accidents?”
Jessica was surprised. She thought it was because of James’s poison.
“Are you hurt? Do you need doctors to check you?” Eric pointed at her dress covered in blood.
“Aren’t you a doctor?”
“I’m a psychological doctor.”
“I’ll go see doctors myself. You should go inside and check on James.”
Erin was not suspicious. She nodded and went inside.
Jessica ran to Andrew’s bedroom without changing her dress first. She was in a dress covered in blood.
When she ran to the yard, a person suddenly came out and took her to the garden. Jessica was in shock. She stared at the woman.
“What are you doing?”
Leilani saw Jessica from the balcony. She hurried to run downstairs and grabbed Jessica to a place with fewer people.
“I want to ask you something.”
Jessica got off.
“I’m busy. I have to see Andrew.”
Leilani stopped Jessica. They were struggling and didn’t notice Rebecca hid behind a tree. She was eavesdropping.
“Andrew’s fine. His wound has been taken care of. He’ll be better in a couple of weeks.”
“Okay. I’ll take a look then,” the reason Jessica sneaked out was for Andrew. She was determined to check upon him.
“Wait, I want to ask you something first. The drug…”
Some noises in the grass stopped Leilani’s words.
Before Leilani could take a closer look, a Tibetan mastiff jumped out from the grass and ran at them. He ran directly at Leilani and Jessica.
“Ah–“
Leilani and Jessica were both frozen at the black shadow. Leilani saw first it was a Tibetan mastiff. She started to feel bad.
Tibetan mastiff was drawn to bloody things. It must be the blood on Jessica’s dress. He smelt it far away and went at them.
The danger was too sudden. They were caught by surprise!
Leilani blocked Jessica between herself and the flowerbed to stop her from leaving. If he came over, Leilani would be the first to get attacked.
Even so, Leilani still opened her hands to protect Jessica when he came at them.
“Ah–“
“Ah—Watch out!”
Peng!
Almost multiple shots were fired at the same time.
Rebecca, behind the tree, also screamed. She turned utterly pale at the scene. She couldn’t even remain standing up and leaned against the tree.
The sound of a gunshot came from behind. The gun shoots the head of the Tibetan mastiff, and it turns deadly.
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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