Hayden shook Nicole’s hand, too concerned about the current situation to argue with her. He only knew that if Nicole and Matthew continued to clash like this, with the child’s stubborn personality, the relationship between mother and son would only get worse.
Nicole pulled her hand away again and said coldly, “I’m not going back, and I wasn’t wrong to slap him.”
She lifted her pale face. “I told you, if you’re not satisfied, you can find Matthew a new mother and yourself a new wife!”
Nicole turned to leave. Hayden took a deep breath and finally lost his patience. He snatched the
decorative tree from her arms and threw it directly into the trash can.
Nicole couldn’t stop him in time. The decorative tree crashed hard into the garbage bin, mixing with a pile of syringes and medicine boxes. Her face turned deathly pale as she looked up at Hayden.
Hayden was displeased. “You’ve become less and less like yourself lately. From now on, I forbid you from coming to this hospital or getting near that doctor again. Come home with me!”
He grabbed Nicole and started walking. Nicole had barely struggled twice before Hayden scooped her up in his arms. As her body left the ground, a wave of dizziness rushed over her.
Nicole almost retched aloud, feeling her head spin and a dull pain beginning to throb. She instantly lost the strength to struggle as something warm trickled from her nose.
Nicole pinched her nose, her face growing paler and paler. Hayden didn’t notice her expression and carried her straight downstairs, shoving her into the back seat. His face was dark as he forcibly took
Nicole home.
Nicole leaned against the back seat, lacking any strength to resist. She held her nose until she felt the nosebleed stop, then slowly let go and fumbled for tissues in her bag to wipe it clean, clutching the bloodied tissue in her palm.
Nicole sat up and looked at Hayden expressionlessly. “Where are you taking me?”
“To see Matt. He’s still sick and keeps crying. You have to apologize to the boy.”
Hayden gripped the steering wheel tightly, staring straight ahead, not noticing the blood on the tissue Nicole was clutching.
His mind was filled with Nicole’s recent cold behavior toward both him and Matthew. No matter what he
tried, he couldn’t get Nicole to return to how she used to be.
He had thought it was because Matthew was too disobedient. Now he realized it was because Nicole had
another man in her life.
Hayden began thinking about how Nicole had fallen for him at first sight, pursuing him without regard for propriety. Clearly, when she liked someone, she would stop at nothing.
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And now there’s Jeremiah? Just the thought of Nicole abandoning him and his son made Hayden’s expression darker and filled him with panicked irritation.
“Starting today, you’re not allowed near that man anymore. No more hospital visits to see him, or you can forget about that piece of land!”
Nicole didn’t even have the energy to be angry anymore. She stared at his cold, unfeeling reflection in the rearview mirror with a deathly pale expression.
She said quietly, “Hayden, remember that if I die someday, it will be because you killed me.”
Hayden dismissed this as angry rambling and didn’t take it seriously, silently pressing down on the accelerator. The car sped even faster down the highway.
Nicole’s fingertips were ice cold. She closed her eyes, not wanting to look at him anymore.
She couldn’t possibly avoid seeing Jeremiah. Her physical condition depended entirely on Jeremiah’s help with treatment, and he was the only doctor who agreed to keep her illness secret. It seemed she would need to find a way to get that piece of land as quickly as possible.
As Nicole was lost in thought, the car stopped in front of Olivia’s house. The door was open, and she immediately saw that Gloria was there too.
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Chapter 37
