Filed to story: The Regretful Billionaire: An Unpredicted Reunion
She was done eating at the same time she switched off her phone. After she cleaned up, she beamed at him. “James, I promised to treat you to dinner tonight, but we got into this situation instead. Again, I owe you one.”
“Don’t sweat it. You’ll have the chance to return the favor. What you should do now is get well soon.” He smiled with a tinge of disappointment but was glad to have noticed she was in danger. He couldn’t imagine what would have happened to her otherwise.
Am I Prejudiced?
Despite wanting to stay, James left Danika’s room out of consideration of her injuries and recovery. After he left, she finally returned the missed calls on her phone. First on her list was Jade, followed by Graham. She informed them that her phone had died but did not bring up the topic of her injuries. She hid the truth from Jade because Jade would be worried, and she didn’t tell Graham because nothing would come out of it.
At this moment, she had no evidence pointing to Rowena and Jolene. If she blindly accused the two in front of Graham, he might think she was up to no good just to bring them down.
She needed sufficient evidence to show Graham the true face of Rowena and Jolene, for she wanted him to deal with them with his own hands. That was the main reason she refused James’ help. Only by showing Graham the true colors of his wife and daughter would he be disappointed in them.
After responding to all the missed calls, she finally got to Eustace. She was kept waiting for a long time before he picked up.
“Were you looking for me?” she asked, wondering if he had seen the gossip online.
On the other end, Eustace was staring at the news about Danika and James on his computer. His eyes pierced through the photos with a profound look in his eyes.
“Yeah. Why was your phone turned off?” he asked, holding back the anger inside him.
After some consideration, she decided not to tell him about the attack. He’d be worried if he learned about it, and there was no guarantee that he wouldn’t go up against Rowena and Jolene.
She made up an excuse instead and changed the topic of the conversation.
“Why did you look for me?”
“Nothing much,” he replied.
“Okay.”
There was a short silence between them as they tiptoed around their words.
Noticing the awkward shift in the air, she blurted out, “Have you seen the news online?”
“Mm,” he grunted. He knew that he should trust Danika. Moreover, since they weren’t dating anymore, he didn’t have the right to grill her over her private life.
“The netizens are making things up. He’s my senior from school, and you knew it too,” she clarified.
Of course, Eustace knew James’ relation to Danika, but that only upset him more. He could tell that James was interested in her, and the two were growing uncomfortably close to each other by the day. Moreover, James was part of the
Windsor family, making him the perfect partner for Danika with his social status. In the past, Eustace had scoffed at the concept of a good match in relationships, but he finally had a taste of inferiority when he fell victim to it.
Danika was rather unhappy at his silence. “Did you really think that I’m involved with him?” She was overcome with an unexplainable disappointment. She hadn’t planned to pick a fight with Eustace for not noticing that she had fainted in the photos-she even wanted to explain the situation to him. To her dismay, he suspected that she was involved with James.
“I trust you, but I don’t trust him,” Eustace muttered.
A little furious, Danika chuckled loudly at his answer. “Eustace Quincey, you should not judge others with prejudice. There’s nothing between James and meyou’re overthinking.’
“Am I prejudiced?” Now, Eustace was unhappy as well. He definitely didn’t overthink when he suggested the obvious fact of James being interested in Danika. He fully trusted his intuition when he examined James’ behavior from a man’s perspective, which was usually accurate.
“Aren’t you?” Danika was angry and amused at the same time. “You’ve been staring at that photo for a while. Did you notice that I had lost consciousness in the photo? I thought you would trust me even if you overlooked that detail that would’ve shown you I was attacked. Looking back, perhaps I was too trusting of you.”
I’m Sorry Doesn’t Always Work
Eustace was dumbfounded after hearing what Danika had to say. He zoomed into the photo and realized that Danika was indeed unconscious. Upon closer look, he saw traces of blood stains on her body.
“Something happened to her,” he thought as he was riddled with guilt for interrogating her about James instead of noticing her injuries. Even after Danika had chided him, he still felt horrible about his behavior.
“What am I doing? How could I have missed that obvious fact?” he silently scolded himself.
“I’m sorry,” he blurted out after a pause, not because he was reluctant to apologize. He hesitated because he knew the apology could not compensate for the hurt he had inflicted on Danika.
Just as he expected, Danika was calm and composed when she heard the apology, and she even thought he was hilarious. Laughing, she said to him,” I’m sorry doesn’t always work, you know.”
“I know.” He couldn’t think of a better way to express his regrets anyway.” Are you…okay?” He wanted to ask her about the incident she was involved in, but he understood that his question had arrived too late. Danika replying to his missed call meant that the problem was resolved.
“I guess I’m okay since I’m still alive.” She was a little exhausted and refused to engage him further. “It’s late. I need to rest.”
“Sure.” He didn’t protest. He knew that she was angry at him, but he couldn’t find a way to cheer her up. He had become slow-not only did he fail to notice that she was in danger, but he also couldn’t even think of a way to beg for her forgiveness. His mind went blank as he fell into a stupor.
After hanging up, he realized that he was in a bad mental condition. He found the contact number of the psychologist that Danika recommended to him, and he finally made the call.
Perhaps, he should stop running from his problems.
Meanwhile, Danika didn’t fall asleep right after the call. Instead, she was ruminating in anger and disappointment at Eustace. He had never behaved in that way in the past, but why was he acting differently now?
Suddenly, she seemed to have gained an understanding of his situation.
He must be in a terrible mental state. Judging from his out-of-line actions, he might even have gone ahead to contact the psychologist she recommended to him.
Sighing, she told herself not to get angry at Eustace as he was not in a rational state of mind.
The next day, James delivered breakfast to Danika early in the morning.
Although she was touched by his care, she wanted to avoid any misunderstanding and suggested, “James, you don’t have to deliver the food in person because you’re busy. I can ask the nurse to buy food for me.”
“I’m worried that the hospital food is not to your taste.” He ignored her suggestion and handed her the unwrapped breakfast. She took the food and asked him, “James, aren’t you busy? The Windsors are a wealthy family. You must be busy dealing with the family business.”
“It’s not too bad. Everything’s going smoothly. There are no fires for me to put out.” Compared to the other elite families, the Windsors were relatively stable internally. There was nothing that James had to worry about, which explained the ample free time he had to make hospital visits. Still, he picked up the hint from her tone. “Would you rather not see me around? Am I being a bother?”
“No, that’s not the case! How could I think of you like that?” She hurriedly waved at him. She’d be a horrible person if she complained that he was bothersome after all he had done for her. She secretly admonished herself for being irrational.
How could she even think of cutting off ties with James, her senior, just because of Eustace’s jealousy?
That would be out of her character, and she would hate herself for doing so. She and Eustace were independent adults who should lead separate lives instead of clinging to each other.
You Must Be Worried That I Wasn’t Dead
During her few days’ stay at the hospital, Graham called her a few times, mostly asking her why she didn’t come home. She made up some excuse, and he didn’t press further.
“I plan to go to Parrington tomorrow. Do you have time to come with me?” she asked. She had wrapped up work at Bardoff City, and it was time to get to the matters awaiting her attention in Parrington.
Graham paused while he checked his schedule with his assistant. Soon, he answered, “Sure, but I can’t stay for long. There’s a lot of work in the company.”
“Okay. It won’t be a long trip-probably three to four days,* she assured him.
Once they agreed on the trip, he went ahead and arranged for a private jet. Traveling in a private jet was a necessity for a man in his position, who had to be careful in each step he took. It was all for safety.
When Danika returned to Zellweger Castle, she ran into Rowena and Jolene, who wore guilty expressions on their faces. Despite their good acting, Danika could instantly tell that they were culpable.
Unfortunately, James failed to arrest the martial arts expert in disguise who plotted to murder Danika. After James showed up to the rescue, the man knew his plan was foiled and quickly escaped.
He stood no chance of going after the martial arts expert, not to mention that he had to take care of Danika, who had fainted. Without getting hold of the man,
Danika had no evidence pointing to Rowena and Jolene, even if she knew they were the masterminds.
However, that didn’t mean she’d give up. Knowing that Rowena and Jolene were backed by the Glass family, Danika decided to tackle their backers for now.
She wasn’t capable of taking down the influential family, but it was easy to cause them some trouble. At the very least, she could keep the Glass family occupied to distract them from making a move on her or Eustace.
“Eustace Quincey. Why am I thinking of him again?’ she thought. Ever since he apologized to her, he hadn’t shown up in front of her, contrary to her expectation. Days went by without contact, but she didn’t reach out to him, thinking he’d initiate contact if he wanted. It’d be meaningless to reach out when he refused to get in touch.
She collected herself and focused on Rowena and Jolene. “Hi there, good afternoon.”
They ignored her greeting and stayed tense in front of her.
“Don’t worry. I won’t lay a finger on you. We’re in Zellweger Castle, after all. Even if I plan to make a move, I will do it in secret.” She flashed them an unnerving smile.
Rowena held back Jolene, who was ready to charge at Danika, and said,” Danika, what do you mean? You didn’t come home for days. Your sister and I are worried about you.”
“You’re worried for me?’ Danika sneered as if she had heard a ridiculous joke.
“You must be worried that I wasn’t dead!”
Rowena chuckled dryly, feigning ignorance. “What makes you think so? Your sister and I are concerned about your safety! You’re family. Why would we want you to be in danger?” She added, “Look, Danika, I know you hold a grudge against me, and I don’t blame you for that. But you cannot make things up and give your dad a headache. He’s a busy man, and I’m sure you don’t want to give him trouble. Am I right?”
Rowena knew that any word from Danika’s lips might raise Graham’s suspicion even if there was no proof. Therefore, she’d only feel assured if Danika kept quiet in front of Graham.
I’ll Kill You
Danika did not retort. Instead, she smiled at Rowena. “You’re right. Rowena, you should be more careful. Don’t get caught red-handed.”
Rowena smiled at her without saying a word. Not only would she proceed with more caution, but she’d also send more men after Danika the next time so that she couldn’t escape. However, she was unsure about the timing of her next opportunity.
Danika refused to waste time on them. “Dad and I will head back to Parrington tomorrow. Rowena, do help with the packing.” The intention behind the reminder was less of packing the luggage and more of provoking her. The fact that
Graham had agreed to visit Parrington proved that Danika was important to him, which was Rowena’s greatest fear.
As predicted, Rowena’s expression fell when she heard the news. “Why is he going to Parrington? Don’t you know that he’s busy? Danika, you need to grow up and stop giving him trouble.”
“I don’t want to trouble him, but he insisted on going with me.” Danika beamed smugly and cheerfully.
Her behavior enraged Rowena. ” Oh, is that so? Looks like your dad really loves you!”
“Yeah. He probably felt sorry about my mom.” Danika smiled and said harsh words in front of Rowena.
“What good comes from feeling sorry? The woman is a pile of ashes by now.’ Rowena was proud to be the last one standing, a victory she claimed over that bitch.
Danika wasn’t furious at Rowena’s words. With a gentle smile, she said coolly, “It doesn’t matter if you’re alive or dead. Most importantly, you need to be remembered. As long as you’re remembered fondly, you will not be gone, unlike someone who thinks she’s the winner but has, in fact, lost the game.” Rowena, who had managed to hold back her emotions, finally lost her cool. She stomped over to Danika and glared at her. “Did I lose? That bitch was the loser!