CHAPTER 33: CHAPTER 33: PATERNITY TEST

He was half leaning by my bedside, feeling my forehead, and asked, "Are you feeling any better now?"

I looked at him, fighting the sting in my eyes.

This face finally overlapped with the last one in my dream—he was no longer the Timothy Xavier I once knew.

Maybe he saw the tears in my eyes, Timothy gently said, "I know you’ve been wronged this time. I’ll tell Doris it was you who saved her."

I curled my lips in disdain and asked, "Does that even matter?"

His deep dark eyes looked at me, and he enunciated, "It matters."

I don’t get why it matters.

I nearly died several times just to give her blood, all for her to say "thank you"?

But I still thought too highly of Timothy and Serena’s daughter.

Turns out, all the blood I gave these days wasn’t even enough for her to say ’thanks.’

When Serena found out I’d woken up, she brought Doris to my hospital room.

When Timothy heard Doris was coming, he’d already let go of me, got off the bed and fixed his clothes, like our relationship was some shady affair.

Serena brought Doris up in front of me, sweet and sensible in front of Timothy, saying, "Timothy, I brought Doris here to thank Miss Ellison. She’s Doris’s savior—her second mother."

Timothy was very pleased with Serena’s approach, nodded, and waited for Doris to say her thank you to me.

But unexpectedly, the little brat looked at me like I was her enemy and said, "Why should I thank her? When I was sick, it was Mommy who took care of me, Mommy who told me stories, Mommy who tucked me in—what does this evil woman have to do with it? I’m not thanking her!"

"Doris, what did Mommy teach you?"

Serena acted nervous, ’educating’ her daughter. "Didn’t Mommy say? We must repay kindness."

Doris glared angrily at me and said, "She didn’t do me any favors. My dad and mom are the ones who care for me! I never liked injections, so if she hadn’t given me blood, I wouldn’t have had to get any at all!"

Serena gave me an awkward look, saying, "I’m really sorry, Miss Ellison. Doris is too little—she doesn’t understand. You saved my daughter; whatever you want me to do, I’ll do it. Even if I have to serve you, I won’t refuse."

I stared coldly at Serena, thinking this woman always gets dragged online for her acting, but she’s actually pretty unjustly treated.

Compared to that day when she threatened me with a needle, she was like a whole different person now.

She can play any role, and still nail it!

I couldn’t help but sneer.

Before I could speak, Timothy said to Serena, "Take Doris back to the ward."

He was afraid if Serena stayed, I’d ask for something outrageous.

He couldn’t stand Serena being wronged.

As Serena left with Doris, Doris ran to Timothy and said, "Daddy, why do you care for that maid instead of me and Mommy?"

Even just now, after Doris said that crap, Timothy still couldn’t bear to scold her.

He still spoke gently to Doris, "Be good, go with Mommy first. Daddy will come soon to be with you, okay?"

Only then did Doris, reluctantly, leave with Serena.

After they left, Timothy said to me, "Don’t blame Doris, she’s just a child, she doesn’t understand anything. I’ll teach her—slowly."

Not this again!

A child!

Heh, such a small child, not only does she understand everything, she already knows how to fight for herself and her mother.

I really think this family of three is hopeless.

Now, I don’t even feel like cursing them out.

I just want them to stay out of my sight—it’ll save me the headache.

I ignored him and asked, "Now that your daughter doesn’t need my blood, can I have my phone back?"

Timothy paused, then handed me my phone.

Once I got it, I said, "Go be with your daughter. I’ll have Jenna come keep me company soon."

Timothy’s mind was all on Doris, so when I said this, he had no objection.

He told me, "Rest well, if you feel unwell call the doctor."

Then he hurried out.

There were tons of missed calls on my phone.

I quickly called Jenna Sutton back.

She answered, her worried voice coming through, "Zoe, why haven’t you answered for days? I was freaking out! Ezra Payne said your phone was broken—is that true?"

"Yeah, I dropped it by accident."

I was afraid she’d find out what I’d been through lately, or with Jenna’s personality, she’d track Timothy down and raise hell without a second thought.

Worried she’d keep pressuring me for answers, I changed the topic: "Oh, by the way, I have Serena Sawyer’s hair. When are you coming back? Help me take it to the testing center."

"So soon?"

Jenna sounded surprised, "I thought you’d have to wait till you got home after discharge to grab it. I’ll be back tomorrow, I’ll come to the hospital to see you and get your discharge handled then."

"Great."

After talking to Jenna, I saw a few missed calls from my own family.

All from Wednesday.

If I guessed right, it’s probably Mrs. Ellison calling to tell me Serena didn’t go over.

After all, with Doris sick these days, Serena was always at the hospital—no way she could go home with my brother.

I called back, and sure enough, Mrs. Ellison told me Serena hadn’t gone with my brother Wednesday. Serena’s family was ill, so Serena had to care for them herself.

I just smiled, already expecting this.

I probed her, "Maybe they had a fight? Relationship not so stable, huh?"

If their relationship was shaky and they split, Timothy wouldn’t get to see this drama unfold.

Mrs. Ellison chuckled, "Of course not! At first, your dad and I worried too. But your brother said, he and Serena have been together for years—if it wasn’t stable, they’d have split ages ago."

I asked along, "So did my brother say when he’ll bring her back next?"

"She’ll have to wait until her family recover a bit, right?"

Mrs. Ellison didn’t know the exact time, so she said, "Once it’s set, I’ll let you know."

I said okay and hung up.

Hopefully, by then my mom’s heart-lung machine will be on the market and I’ll be halfway through the divorce process with Timothy.

I checked my calendar; only one week left.

Almost there!

...

The next day, Jenna came to handle my discharge.

So as not to alert anyone, I went back to The Xavier Manor.

I’d held out this long; what’s one more week?

I still couldn’t walk normally, relying on a cane and wheelchair.

Nanny Lowell and Jenna carried me back to my room.

"Ma’am, the mister’s hired a nutritionist for the villa—says you should really be getting good nutrition,"

Nanny Lowell wasn’t too clear on what’s been going on lately, still praising Timothy and trying to patch things up between us.

I gave a small smile and said, "I know. Nanny Lowell, you go ahead. I’m just going to talk to Jenna."

Once Nanny Lowell left, Jenna looked around my guest room, cursing under her breath.

She said to me, "Next week, once the equipment’s out, we’ll go buy it right away. Then you’ll move in with me—even if he won’t agree to the divorce, don’t set foot in this damned place again! Seriously, it’s bad luck!"

"Yeah."

I responded, pulling out the hair I’d yanked from Serena’s head. "Help me take this to the lab, and get the paternity test for Serena and Doris as soon as possible. When the results are black and white, none of them can deny it."

Jenna just thought about it and cheered up, "Once your divorce is done, we’ll plaster those paternity results and their hi-def photos all over the internet. I really want to see if Serena will still dare show off constantly on X!"

To get the test done fast, Jenna didn’t waste time and told me, "I’ll go handle it now at the lab, I’ll see you again tomorrow."

After she left, I went to the bathroom and wrapped my foot in plastic before carefully showering.

Then I sat at my desk and opened my laptop.

Because my foot hadn’t healed, HR at work said I could take another month’s sick leave. But I was still in probation, and this wouldn’t look good.

So I called Victoria Monroe and told her I could do some remote work at home.

Soon enough, that workaholic had sent all my tasks to my email.

And aside from her email, there was another invitation to sign a contract.

I remembered the novel I’d started on a whim at some fiction site.

I opened the novel site’s dashboard, and—surprisingly—there were tons of update requests.

"Why aren’t you writing anymore? Where did the author go?"

"That shameless mistress pisses me off! When will you kill her off?"

"Scum man and cheap woman get locked up, let the heroine thrive on her own! Author, hurry and update!"

"..."

Hundreds of update comments lit up my screen.

Guess it’s true: sometimes the best things happen by accident.

I added the site editor’s QQ from the contract invite.

She said my book was perfect for the site, and with current momentum, really hoped I’d sign with them.

Plus, after signing, I’d get a steady royalty.

I’d never signed with a novel site before, so I was pretty new to this.

So I didn’t agree to the editor right away, just said I’d think about it for a few days.

Even though I hadn’t signed yet, since so many readers were pushing me, I went ahead and posted new Chapters.

Seeing so many people like my work, I felt that besides this failed marriage, there were plenty of things still giving me a sense of accomplishment.

I kept writing till late at night, finally feeling a little tired.

...

Early next morning, I was woken by noisy commotion outside.

At first, I thought it was just Doris’s dog barking.

But then I clearly heard Jenna screaming.

Startled, I quickly got out of bed and hopped to the window.

Turned out, Doris was discharged—the whole Xavier crew was back.

Not only that, Jenna came to see me, but their dog chased her, trying to bite her.

She was running for her life, Doris pointing all around, seemingly commanding the dog.

I was furious, rushing to call Nanny Lowell to push me outside.

"Timothy Xavier, make that dog stop!"

I yelled at him in anger.

Timothy let his daughter have her fun first, then finally lazily ordered the dog, "Snowy, come here."

The Labrador finally stopped chasing Jenna and obediently returned to Timothy’s side.

Doris covered her mouth, laughing with delight, and said to Jenna, "Serves you right! You’re just like that evil woman—bullying my mom!"

Jenna’s cheeks flushed with rage, pointing at the dog and cursing at Timothy indirectly, "Really, like owner, like dog! Rabid mutt!"

This time, Serena didn’t bother pretending to be weak in front of Timothy and snapped shamelessly at Jenna, "Miss Sutton, you slapped me the last time we met, now you come here and shout at me. I haven’t called the cops—you should be grateful!"

"And you deserve to be yelled at!"

Jenna pointed at her, hollering, "You’ve got the nerve to say this is your home? This is my best friend’s house! If it weren’t for your bastard kid, you wouldn’t even be here clinging on!"