Chapter 485

Wasn't Melanie drunk at the bar, taken home by Bentley?

"A friend of yours, Jeremy, got in touch with me. I didn't know who sent me home until I got the call and rushed over. What happened to you? You scared me to death!" Melanie was visibly shaken at the sight of her injuries.

Melanie helped her into the room as Jeremy approached, "You needed new shoes and clothes. Is this lady an acquaintance of yours?"

Winnie nodded, her nerves tightening at his presence, "How is he?"

"He's out of surgery, just moved into the ICU."

At the mention of 'ICU,' Winnie stood up immediately, "Is it the kind of thing where he'll wake up after the anesthesia, or is there a 24-hour critical period?"

"A 24-hour critical period."

Her brows knit together with worry, "I need to see him."

Melanie was utterly confused, not entirely sure who they were talking about, but on some wild hunch, she wondered, could it be Lawrence?

"Melanie, thanks for tonight. Everything's under control now. Maybe you should head home," someone suggested with a sort of dismissal.

Slurring slightly with the alcohol still not fully out of her system, Melanie nodded, "Winnie, I'll come take care of you tomorrow."

After bidding Melanie goodbye, Winnie hurried to the ICU next door.

No visitors allowed. The only connection was through a glass pane, where she saw Lawrence, lying still on the hospital bed. His eyes shut tight, his thick brows relaxed as if devoid of life.

Winnie was consumed with regret. The cut was just above his heart, bleeding so profusely at the time.

She would never have drained his vitality at the brink of death, if not for her desperate, spiraling need for the antidote.

If he didn't wake up, it would be on her.

"I don't know what happened," Jeremy said, easing into the conversation. "But don't blame yourself. It was his choice, his love for you that made him disregard his own life."

Winnie's mind buzzed as if a string of hate tugged inside her, finding the idea preposterous. "He loves me?" she scoffed in disbelief.

Jeremy countered, "Isn't it obvious? From the car accident and your subsequent kidnapping to his headlong rush to your rescue... Winnie, just think about it. All these little things are traces of his care for you."

"After I moved to Trento City, the ways he hurt me because of Ishara... you have no idea!" she countered bitterly.

Perhaps...

Jeremy, after all, wasn't the one directly involved.

Just yesterday, he'd heard that Mr. Rodriguez had used his influence to ensure Ishara won some competition, coercing Winnie into a loss. It was the kind of thing that could lead anyone down a path of despair, heartbreak inevitable.

But then...

"Miss Anderson, I've been meaning to talk to you about something for a while but never found the right time," Jeremy began cautiously. "I feared Mr. Rodriguez too. But with him like this, I feel I might do you both harm by keeping silent."

Winnie, staring into the ICU, asked icily, "What is it?"

Jeremy turned to face her, furrowing his brow with a serious question, "Do you really believe that his sudden 'fall' for Ishara came without reason?"

A chill settled in Winnie's heart. "He admitted it himself, after I rejected his attempts at reconciliation. He didn't want to waste time and decided moved on. He said he fell for Ishara's naïve purity, something I no longer possessed," she retorted coldly.

Jeremy snorted, "He's never been into the fragile and pure. If that was the case, he could've been with Darcy years ago! If Mr. Rodriguez was that shallow, why would he have loved you for so long? Haven't you ever thought about that?"

"Mr. DeRoss, he doesn't love me. No need to put in a good word for him anymore..."

"Mr. Rodriguez himself admitted it to me, on the night of the Rodriguez family dinner. We were engaged in a conversation when he mentioned that, 'Having loved you once in his life, how could he ever love another?'"

Winnie froze, a trace of disbelief in her eyes.

Her gaze was icy as she scrutinized Jeremy's expression, refusing to believe it!

Lawrence's actions had deeply wounded her, every single one in stark contradiction to what Jeremy was saying!

"I think there's something significant that Ishara has over him. His romance with Ishara seems more like a compromise to me," Jeremy said.

Winnie was shocked. How could it be? A man like him, with his status and power, could be manipulated by someone?

Yet, that night, Sidney also questioned if Ishara had some leverage over their father.

"What do you mean?"

"He doesn't like Ishara. I can tell. But his care and affection towards her, that puzzles me. I've been guessing, what's really going on? Whoever was used as a leverage over Mr. Rodriguez must be someone important in his life, a situation his influence can't mitigate."

"I suspected it was either Oscar or Aunt Rodriguez. But with Oscar gone, I wonder, what's Aunt Rodriguez's connection to Ishara?"

"Tonight, he suddenly decided to take Ishara to Lymington to see Aunt Rodriguez. Winnie, you might think it's about meeting the parents, but I don't. Because I just got off the phone with the hospital, Aunt Rodriguez has been in a coma for two days."

"What?" Winnie gasped in surprise.

No wonder on the day before the competition, he wasn't at ST Corporation. He must have gone back to Lymington.

"Aunt Rodriguez must be in a dire state, lying there unconscious. Why would he be in the mood to take a girl back home, unless... Ishara serves a purpose? Mr. Rodriguez wouldn't be in such a hurry otherwise."

Jeremy narrowed his eyes thoughtfully.

Winnie clenched her fists, her mind churning with a tempest of suspicions, chaotic and compelling her toward a certain direction.

"I can't figure out the role Ishara plays in all of this. But Mr. Rodriguez being with her, it's certainly not about chasing after the new and getting tired of the old. So, Winnie, he's not a cad; he's just hiding something, and perhaps, he's suffering inside too."

"If it weren't for his deep feelings, why else would he have put Ishara's well-being aside to save you tonight? That proves just how much you really matter to him."

"The wound from the knife is there on his body - if he didn't care about you, why would he risk his life?"

"I remember the last time, three years ago, he was already hopelessly in love with you!"

"But with Ishara, aside from taking care of her health, he hasn't done much else. Don't you find that odd?"

Winnie was profoundly shaken.

The words he'd said tonight kept replaying in her mind.

One phrase stood out: "I had important things to deal with tonight..."

But, "nothing is more important than you..."

She hadn't believed it at the time, but now, as he lay there unconscious, her heart ached with uncertainty.

Could it be true? Was what Jeremy was saying to her accurate?

What's his real struggle? Does he not truly love Ishara?

"Besides caring for her health, he hasn't done much else."

It was as if Jeremy's words had struck a nerve with Winnie; all this time she'd seen him overly indulgent with Ishara, leaving her ravaged with heartache.

But now, upon reflection, it was indeed clear; he seemed especially anxious whenever Ishara was ill-a cough or the slightest discomfort would send him into a panic!

But why?