novelraw Chapter 223 - 174: Punishing Her (Part 2)
Chapter 223 - 174: Punishing Her (Part 2)
But even as he fumed, his heart ached for her and the torment she’d endured.
His emotions were a tangled mess. He swore that once this was all over, he would teach her a lesson. He would make her understand that he was the one person in this world she could truly depend on!
Fuming, he walked to her hospital room door. The two bodyguards still regarded him with open hostility. He reached up, loosened the tie at his neck, and a cold sneer graced his lips. "Looking for a fight? Who do you think will be at a disadvantage if you start something on my turf?"
His face was already bruised from his earlier fight with Ivan Warren, and that, coupled with the terrifying, violent aura radiating from him, made the two bodyguards hesitate, not daring to block his path. They knew Julian Donovan had underworld connections, and this was his territory. With a single gesture, he could summon enough men that the two of them wouldn’t be able to stop him even if they tried.
Julian Donovan paid them no more mind and strode into the hospital room. Naomi Shaw was leaning against the headboard, looking at photos on her phone. It was the only way she could soothe her longing for him and their two children, the only way to assuage her guilt.
His sudden entrance startled her. She quickly shoved her phone under the covers, struggling to compose herself. But the injuries on his face and the violent aura clinging to him made her vaguely uneasy, and she could only avert her gaze.
Seeing her cold, distant expression, Julian wanted nothing more than to march over and strangle her. But he managed to rein in his fury. He stopped at the foot of the bed and asked, his face glacial, "Don’t you have anything to say to me?"
’Now that he knew the truth, and since she was on his territory, he had plenty of ways to keep her here. He would give her one more chance to confess herself.’
’For his own woman to do something so shocking behind his back... his male ego had been thoroughly crushed. If she confessed willingly, he’d consider reducing her punishment.’
Naomi, of course, had no idea he already knew the truth. She just averted her eyes and said indifferently, "I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve already said everything I need to say to you..."
Julian was livid. He took a step forward, bent down, and gripped her chin harshly, snarling through clenched teeth, "Naomi Shaw, I will never forgive you!"
With that, he snorted coldly and turned to leave. But he still felt a suffocating anger lodged in his chest. He glanced coldly at the door. The two bodyguards were watching them through the small window in the door, and when he glared, they quickly scrambled out of sight. He seized the opportunity to bend down, grab the back of her head, and bite her lip hard, releasing some of the oppressive fury in his heart.
Naomi cried out in pain, pushing him away. She clutched her lip, looking at him uneasily. She hadn’t seen him in a few days, and he’d grown thinner. The bruises on his face added a hint of bleakness and desolation to his appearance. His eyes, as always, were inky black and profound, swirling with far too many emotions she couldn’t comprehend. She didn’t know what it was, but she felt he was acting strangely today, though she couldn’t pinpoint what was off.
Having exacted his small punishment, Julian felt slightly better. He shot her another glare, then turned and left. But that look left Naomi terrified. And his last words... ’That’s the second time,’ she thought. ’This is the second time he’s said he’ll never forgive me.’ Her heart throbbed with pain.
Of course, as angry as Julian was with her, he still had to rescue her.
So when Sean Donovan came to pick Naomi Shaw up from the hospital early the next morning, he couldn’t find her. The two bodyguards he had assigned were also nowhere to be seen. He stormed directly into the doctor’s office, where her attending physician sat, calmly telling him, "Mr. Donovan, according to the tests we performed on Miss Shaw this morning, her condition hasn’t improved. On the contrary, it has worsened. So, she cannot be discharged just yet."
Sean Donovan was an incredibly suspicious person, and he immediately frowned. "Didn’t you say yesterday that it was nothing serious?"
The attending physician was perfectly calm. "Yesterday’s examination showed nothing of major concern, correct. But this morning, out of our sense of responsibility to the patient, we performed a full-body examination. The results showed that not only has her stomach ailment not healed, but she has other problems as well. So she needs to remain in the hospital for observation and treatment!"
’According to our esteemed hospital director,’ the doctor thought, ’she has psychological problems. Very serious ones, in fact. All because she doesn’t know who she can truly rely on.’
Although Sean Donovan wasn’t a doctor, he had managed a hospital before, so he knew perfectly well this physician was spouting nonsense. He’d known something was amiss the moment he couldn’t find her or his bodyguards. His expression darkened. "Then where is she now?"
"Oh, a case as difficult and complex as hers is beyond the skills of humble doctors like us. So, she has been sent to our director’s office, to be personally treated by our highly skilled Hospital Director himself!"
The doctor’s expression didn’t change, but Sean Donovan’s face fell completely. The doctor then added as if he’d just remembered, "Oh, right. Your two subordinates? We’ve temporarily invited them to take a break. They were on watch all night, they deserve some rest!"
Sean Donovan knew perfectly well what "invited to take a break" meant. The hands at his sides clenched into tight fists. He cursed silently. He never thought Julian Donovan would be so shameless, using this thinly veiled excuse to forcibly keep her here.
He didn’t know that everyone had already discovered his secret, because he didn’t think anyone knew that The Donovan Residence even had a secret passage and a massive basement.
"Boss, what do we do now?"
Sean Donovan’s most capable bodyguard asked in a low voice. Sean suppressed his anger, turned, and walked out, planning to go to Julian Donovan’s office to demand her back.
Because of Julian Donovan’s vow that he would never forgive her, Naomi Shaw hadn’t slept well all night. Early in the morning, a doctor came and said he needed to take her for an exam to check on her recovery, and she followed him. She was very familiar with this hospital, so when she saw the doctor press the button for a certain floor in the elevator, her heart jumped. "The examination rooms aren’t on this floor, are they?"
’That was the floor where Julian Donovan’s office was. What on earth was this doctor doing? She did *not* want to see Julian right now!’
The doctor simply blocked the elevator door and said calmly, "Our hospital director says that he’s the only one who can cure your illness."
Furious, she reached out to change the floor, but the doctor blocked her. He looked helpless. "Hey, hey, Miss Shaw, please don’t do that. It’s no use. Bringing you here was a direct order from our hospital director. I have no choice but to obey! To be honest, when I examined you yesterday, I thought you were perfectly healthy aside from your stomach. I have no idea why the director says you have another illness!"
Blocked by the doctor, she was so angry she stomped her foot and spat, "He’s the one who’s sick! He’s a psycho!"
As they argued, the elevator arrived at the floor. She stood her ground, refusing to step out. The doctor leaned against the doorframe and smiled at her. "Surely you don’t expect our hospital director to come and personally escort you out, do you?"