CHAPTER 112: CHAPTER 112: THE RESULTS ARE OUT

Jean Ellison’s heart skipped a beat, and she instinctively avoided his overly direct gaze.

She clenched her fingers tightly, her nails digging into her palms, bringing a subtle sting that helped her stay calm.

She lowered her eyelids, staring at the floor heavy with the scent of disinfectant, her voice striving to remain steady, though it still betrayed a subtle tremor.

"I didn’t mean that, it’s just, didn’t you say you had an important meeting."

"The meeting can be postponed."

Justin Holden interrupted her, his tone indifferent.

He took a step closer to her, instantly closing the distance between them.

The light from the overhead lamp in the hospital room shone from behind him, casting his tall silhouette and conveniently enveloping Jean Ellison.

The scent of cool air from his body became distinctly apparent.

Jean instinctively wanted to retreat, but her heel hit the metal railing of the hospital bed, leaving her with nowhere to go.

She could feel her breathing becoming somewhat rapid, her heart uncontrollably racing in her chest.

She forced herself to raise her head, meeting his gaze: "Lawyer Holden, there’s no need..."

"No need for what?"

Justin Holden stepped closer again, almost touching her.

His gaze was sharp as a knife, as if it intended to dissect all the emotions she attempted to hide.

"No need to stay here? No need to ask why you collapsed and cried in the hospital?"

His questions came one after another, pressing her step by step.

She opened her mouth but found she couldn’t make a sound.

Every explanation and distance she created now seemed pale and powerless.

He looked into her eyes, which clearly reflected his image, and also her panic and helplessness.

He saw her slightly trembling lashes and the way she lightly bit her lower lip out of nervousness, that pale lip color now had a heart-stopping vulnerability.

Justin Holden’s Adam’s apple moved slightly.

The icy indifference deep in his eyes seemed to melt, being replaced by a deeper emotion.

A desire he himself had not fully understood, a possessiveness nearly out of control.

He slowly raised his hand, his long, well-defined fingers carrying a trace of hesitation, but eventually gently caressing her cheek.

The touch of his fingertips was slightly cool, yet it felt like an electric current coursing through Jean Ellison, causing her to shudder, nearly collapsing.

Her skin was cool, like fine white porcelain.

He could feel her slight trembling.

Jean was completely immobilized, her mind blank.

She should push him away, should immediately flee from this overly intimate and dangerous contact.

But her body seemed to be under a spell, unable to move.

His fingertips seemed to carry a magic, igniting small flames wherever they touched, burning her sense of reason away.

Justin Holden’s gaze remained locked on her, the cold, detached eyes raging with intense emotions, almost consuming.

His gaze slowly moved from her eyes down to her slightly parted, bloodless lips.

The surrounding air seemed to freeze, and time felt infinitely stretched.

The ticking of the monitor seemed distant and unreal.

The world seemed to consist only of the two of them, and the suffocatingly ambiguous space between them.

His head slowly lowered, his breath growing closer, masculine allure mixed with a hint of dangerous temptation, completely engulfing Jean Ellison.

She could even feel his warm breath lightly brushing against her lips.

Jean instinctively closed her eyes, her long lashes violently trembling, her heart pounding as if it might burst from her chest.

Justin Holden’s lips were about to descend.

"Mom..."

An extremely weak child’s voice.

Jean abruptly opened her eyes and pushed away the close-proximity Justin Holden.

The force was so great that the unprepared Justin Holden stumbled a half step back.

She turned around in panic, rushing to the bedside, her voice filled with urgency and concern, still carrying remnants of hoarseness.

"Jesse, Mommy is here, Mommy is here, you’re awake, how do you feel, where does it hurt, tell Mommy."

On the bed, Jesse struggled to open his sleepy eyes, his little face scrunched up, clearly woken by the pain and discomfort of his injuries.

She weakly looked at her mother, tears brimming in her eyes, softly moaning.

"Mommy, it hurts, I’m thirsty..."

Justin Holden stood where he was, watching Jean immediately dedicate all her attention to her daughter, her frightened yet gentle demeanor a stark contrast to the woman just trembling slightly in his arms.

He slowly straightened up, raised his hand, and slightly tidied the front of his shirt, which had been a bit disheveled from Jean Ellison’s pushing. His movements were calm and methodical.

The taut jawline and slightly pursed thin lips betrayed the fact that his inner peace was far from what it appeared on the surface.

The ambiguous atmosphere had vanished completely, leaving only the faint groans of the child in the ward and the anxious and gentle soothing voice of the mother.

Justin Holden silently watched it all.

In the editor’s office, Leah Sutton sat behind the wide desk, a feature article needing final proofreading spread out in front of her, yet the pen in her hand hadn’t moved for a long time.

Her gaze was unfocused, staring at a line of text, her fingertips unconsciously twirling the pen, while her mind kept replaying the scene of Justin Holden tightly embracing Jean Ellison in the hospital.

"Editor-in-Chief Sutton, Editor-in-Chief Sutton."

Several calls snapped Leah Sutton back to reality from her chaotic thoughts.

She looked up and saw Lily, her most active editor, standing in front of the desk, her face carrying a hint of nervousness and confusion.

"Hmm, what’s going on?"

Leah Sutton quickly gathered her thoughts, trying to put on her usual smart and capable demeanor.

Lily carefully observed her expression and reported.

"It’s about next week’s entrepreneur summit interview arrangements; we need your final confirmation on the candidates and time slots. The secretary on the other side is urging quite a bit..."

"For such trivial matters, you all can decide on your own. There’s no need to ask me about everything."

Leah Sutton interrupted her somewhat impatiently, rubbing her temples with her fingers.

"Leave the schedule here; I’ll look at it later."

Lily was stunned for a moment, clearly noticing the editor-in-chief’s absent-minded and unusual emotions today, but dared not to ask more, so she just gently placed the folder on the corner of the desk.

"Okay, editor-in-chief, should I leave now?"

Leah Sutton waved her hand casually, signaling her to leave, her gaze involuntarily drifting towards the window again.

At that moment, the internal phone on the desk suddenly rang, breaking the room’s heavy atmosphere.

Leah Sutton was startled, took a deep breath, trying to make her voice sound normal.

"Hello?"

A formal female voice came from the other end of the line.

"Hello, Miss Sutton. This is the BioCross Genetics Center. To inform you, the test analysis of the sample you submitted has been completed, and the report is available. Please bring valid identification to retrieve it at your convenience."

Genetics center?

Holding the receiver, Leah Sutton was completely at a loss for a few seconds.

What sample? What test?

A few days ago, in the restroom of the mall, she had carefully packed, in a sealed bag, a straw and cup fragments with Jesse’s saliva on them. Also, after a family gathering, she inexplicably kept a wine glass used by Justin Holden.

Driven by a strong reluctance because the child resembled Justin Holden, she impulsively took these two samples to a private test agency for a kinship comparison.

Afterward, the scene in the hospital had almost made her forget about it.

Now, the results were out.

"Alright, I understand, thank you."

Leah Sutton’s voice strived to remain calm, but her fingertips were already slightly trembling.

She quickly hung up the phone.

Looking up, she found Lily still standing there, seemingly waiting for her next instructions.

Leah Sutton immediately stood up, grabbed her handbag and car keys from the desk, speaking urgently.

"Lily, report back on the interview later. I have an emergency to attend to; handle anything in the office for now, and do not call me unless it’s urgent."

With that, she didn’t even wait for Lily to respond, took her things, and in high heels, hurriedly walked out of the office, leaving Lily startled and standing there.

The sound of high heels echoed urgently in the hallway.

Leah Sutton almost ran to the elevator, impatiently pressing the down button repeatedly.

As soon as the elevator doors opened, she quickly slipped inside and directly pressed the floor for the underground parking lot.

She looked at herself in the shiny elevator doors, seeing her somewhat agitated appearance, took a deep breath, and forced herself to calm down.

But that imminent urge to know the answer burned like a flame in her heart.

Were Justin Holden and that child... related?

The answer lay within that report.

"Ding," the elevator arrived at the underground parking lot.

As the doors opened, Leah Sutton briskly stepped out, walking quickly towards her parking spot.

The sound of high heels striking the concrete floor was particularly urgent in the empty parking lot.

She found her car, swiftly unlocked it, opened the door, and sat in the driver’s seat, starting the engine.

The car drove out of the parking space, the tires making a subtle sound against the ground, speeding quickly towards the exit.