Filed to story: The Regretful Billionaire: An Unpredicted Reunion
She knew that the 15 million dollars wouldn’t be much for Rowena. Given her spending habits over the years, she would soon run out of money and suffer for it.
Graham and Rowena’s divorce was finally done and dusted. The news caused some commotion, and the majority of opinion was against Graham, thinking he was ruthless for ditching Rowena after the
Glasses went bankrupt. Still, the gossip did not affect Graham too much.
On Monday morning, Danika arrived early at the hospital for Eustace’s surgery. Even though she claimed she wasn’t nervous, she was secretly a little anxious. Perhaps, she felt that way because she would be operating on someone close to her, which was a different experience than working with a complete stranger. Still, she managed to calm down and get focused.
She went to the anesthetic room to check on Eustace. The anesthetist was still in preparation, and a completely sober Eustace smiled when he noticed Danika. “Dr. Zellweger, I’ll leave everything in your capable hands.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll do my best,’ Danika answered. He grunted and fell silent. His mood wasn’t exactly good because of the impending surgery, and she felt a little bad for him.
“Did you not inform Mr. Quincey about it?”
“He’s not in great health. It’ll only worry him.’ Eustace knew that she was referring to his grandfather, not Zeke. “If anything bad happens…” He glanced at her and chuckled.
“Could you do me a favor to make frequent visits to him? He seems to like you very much.”
During his last visit to Old Mr. Quincey, the old man mentioned Danika and wished to see Eustace and her together.
“Don’t worry. I won’t let anything bad happen to you.” Danika was determined and well prepared.
Soon, the anesthetist was ready and administered the anesthesia to Eustace, who gradually fell asleep. He was wheeled into the surgery room, and the surgery officially started.
Blake arrived an hour after the surgery started. She came late because she knew she could not stop Eustace from undergoing surgery, which would take time too. At first, she thought she was the only one at the hospital to wait for Eustace, but she was surprised to see Paul Wagner there. She wasn’t too familiar with Paul-Eustace merely introduced him as a friend. She wouldn’t be interested in Paul otherwise because of his lackluster background.
Is the Surgery a Success?
Considering that Paul was a friend of Eustace’s and that she had not given up on pursuing him, she nodded at Paul as a form of greeting. To her dismay, Paul ignored the gesture because he looked down on her. Enraged, she felt disrespected.
“Are all Parringtonians this stubborn?’ First, there was Danika, and here came Paul, who was similarly annoying. She also knew how obstinate Eustace could be.
Paul sat on the bench outside of the operating theater and chuckled. ‘ Maybe it’s not us who are stubborn. Perhaps, Bardoff people are simply weak in comparison.”
“Paul Wagner!” She was outraged. “I didn’t want to fight with you because you’re
Eustace’s friend, but you shouldn’t go overboard either!”
“Miss Watkins, you’re being weird. When did I go overboard? I didn’t even do anything.’ He shrugged, looking innocent. Sure, he did not do anything to her, but his attitude alone was enough to irk her.
She scoffed and sat on the bench across from him, refusing to talk to him for the sake of her sanity. This time around, he opened his mouth. “Miss Watkins, I bet you’re worried. If the surgery is a success, your lies will be exposed.”
Others might not know about Eustace’s situation, but as a friend, Paul was well aware of
Eustace’s history with Danika. Eustace’s affection for Danika was unrelated to mental health issues—it was pure love. Of course, Paul could tell that Eustace’s affection for Danika had morphed into an odd obsession, which might be related to an existing mental health concern. Still, Eustace must have truly loved Danika, and the mental health issue only exacerbated his actions.
“What lies are you talking about? Eustace has been suffering from mental health issues all the while. How can you be sure he didn’t fall in love with her because of his existing issues?’ Blake was fearless-the blame couldn’t be shifted to her even if Eustace regained his memories.
Paul smirked. ‘Miss Watkins, you’re quite stubborn too, aren’t you?”
“Hah, I’m no match for you. Look at you, coming all the way to Bardoff City, but your woman wouldn’t even look at you,” she mocked him.
His expression instantly crumbled. “Did you investigate me?”
“I do that to everyone around Eustace. But I find your background particularly interesting.” She did not deny that she had investigated him, mostly because she didn’t take him seriously. Even after the merger between the Wagner Group and Quincey Group, the
Wagners were nothing more than a second-tier family in Parrington-too insignificant in the eyes of the Watkins.
Paul was seething in anger, but a thought flashed across his mind, causing him to smirk. ‘I bet you’re not faring better than me. If the Watkins cared about you, they wouldn’t have let you practice as a psychologist for years. You are probably betting on
Eustace to take over the Quincey Group. If he succeeds, you can borrow his influence to take over the Watkins family business. But if he fails, you lose nothing, either. At the very least, you could go back to your practice.”
She looked ashen-faced but did not retort because he was telling the truth.
The two stopped squabbling and sank into a long silence. Six hours later, the doors of the operating theater finally flung open, and a nurse emerged.
“I’m looking for Eustace Quincey’s family,” the nurse said. Paul and Blake hurried up and asked, ‘Is the surgery a success?”
Their Relationship Isn’t What You Think It Is
“Dr. Zellweger said the surgery was a success, but the patient needs to be warded in the ICII. If he gets through tonight without complications, there won’t be any major risks down the road.”
Paul felt assured by the nurse’s explanation. He was initially worried about Danika operating on Eustace because he could not gauge her feelings for him. She could have taken Eustace’s life in silence by claiming a ‘slip-up” in the surgery. Thankfully, Danika didn’t pull any tricks on Eustace.
Soon, Eustace was wheeled out from the operating theater to the ICU. Danika came out and noticed Paul by the entrance. She told him, “The surgery was successful. Please inform Mr. Zachary Quincey.”
“Sure, I’ll let him know.” Paul nodded, his worries gone after learning about the successful surgery.
On her way out, she stopped again and said to Paul and Blake, “I need someone to stay guard at the hospital tonight. Which one of you is staying? ” She had announced that on purpose to observe Blake’s response.
“I’ll stay back. Eustace’s my boyfriend, after all,” Blake volunteered. Now that the surgery was a success, it was time for her to make a move.
Danika was fine with it, but Paul objected, “It’s alright. Miss Watkins, you should go home and have a rest. I’ll look after Eustace.”
He had no trust in Blake, who clearly did not wish to see Eustace regain his memories.
“Paul Wagner, are you dead set on turning the Watkins into your enemy?” She choked in anger at Paul’s stubbornness. As Eustace’s girlfriend, she believed that she had all the right to stay back for Eustace.
Paul merely smirked. “You’re overthinking it. That wasn’t what I meant.”
“You-” She glared at him, her features contorted in rage. Still, she could not lay a finger on him since they were at the hospital. Finally, she scoffed and left the hospital.
“Whatever! Eustace is unconscious anyway. I’ll be back when he wakes up,” she thought.
On top of that, she knew Eustace had to rely on the Watkins to gain control of the Quincey family. Hence, she wasn’t worried that Eustace would break up with her after he recovered his memories.
Danika watched on as Blake marched away. She turned to Paul with an amused expression. “Aren’t you worried about getting yourself into trouble, being hostile to Eustace’s girlfriend?”
“Hmph.” Paul scoffed. He didn’t care about offending Blake. For some reason, he blurted out to Danika, ‘Eustace and Blake’s relationship isn’t what you think it is.’
“Oh? What’s their relationship, then?” she asked with a smile.
Paul wanted to tell her the truth, but he had no guts to do so, especially when Eustace chose to keep it under wraps for now. The last thing he wanted was to ruin Eustace’s grand plan to take over the Quincey family.
“You should ask him when he wakes up.” Paul thought it was best for Eustace to explain his relationship with Blake to Danika.
Danika wasn’t too interested in the topic. ‘It’s fine. It was a casual question. I couldn’t care less about their relationship.’
When Danika was leaving, Paul suddenly asked, ‘Is Stephanie…doing well?”
“Oh, Stephanie…” Danika paused on purpose to savor the anxious look on Paul’s face. She laughed at his expression and added, “She’s doing fine! Life’s been good ever since she parted ways with you.
She has a lot of excellent suitors queuing up for her.”
His face darkened. “Does she have a lot of suitors?” “Of course! Steph is a decent young lady. It’s only normal that men are lining up for her.” Smiling, she added, ‘Mr. Wagner, did you seriously think that Stephanie could only be with you for the rest of her life?”
Don’t Panic!
Paul glanced at Eustace from the ICU entrance and sat by the door. At that moment, he was incredibly troubled by Danika’s words even though he didn’t believe her. He was sure that Stephanie loved him. It would be impossible for her to be with another man in such a short time. But what if…
At that thought, he had the urge to meet with Stephanie and question her. Still, he had to put that on hold because Eustace had not woken up.
Meanwhile, Danika hung around in the staff lounge after the surgery. She didn’t have to work the subsequent shift, but she stayed on anyway for reasons unknown. Perhaps, she fully knew what was going on in her mind but was reluctant to admit it.
The hospital was tranquil at night, and Eustace was in stable condition. However, the same could not be said for some others in Bardoff City.
At 3 am, Danika finally managed to fall asleep in the lounge but was woken up by her ringing phone. She shot up, thinking that something might have happened to Eustace, only to realize it was a call from Graham’s assistant after she picked it up.
“Miss Zellweger, something bad happened to Mr. Zellweger.” The assistant, Neil Buchanan, sounded anxious. Danika was fully awake after the initial shock.” What happened? Tell me slowly and clearly.”
In no time, she grasped the events that had occurred. The mercenaries hired by the Glasses had made their move-they ambushed Graham on his way home and abducted him. Danika was the most worried by the fact that Graham had sustained a gunshot wound on his thigh during his abduction, and no one knew if he would receive treatment for the injury.
After hanging up, she was ready to rush to the office, determined to find Graham as soon as possible. On her way out, she was interrupted by another incoming phone call. This time, it was a call for help from Jolene.
“James is in trouble! Please save him.”
Danika heard Jolene’s tearful voice from the other end. Feeling distressed, she asked,
“What’s the matter?”
“A group of foreigners broke in and took him away.” Jolene sounded like she had no idea about the identities of those men. Perhaps, she had formed a guess, but she was too scared to confirm her suspicions.
Frowning deeper, Danika finally discovered the Glasses’ motive through their abduction of Graham and James. After hanging up, she scrambled to get help for the search while leaving the hospital.
When she arrived at the scene of Graham’s abduction, she found a crowd there. Neil immediately went up to her. “Miss Zellweger, what do we do now?”
“Don’t panic!” She assured him and asked, “Have you contacted the police and checked the surveillance footage?”
“Yes, I’ve called the police. They said they saw the cars of the abductors leaving the city, but they lost track of the men’s whereabouts after that,” Neil answered. There was a lack of surveillance cameras in areas further from the city. If the mercenaries deliberately avoided areas with surveillance cameras, it would be hard to track them down.
“You ask the police to get more hands on deck,” she instructed him.” James Windsor was abducted as well. Get them to work on that case too. They might find something.”
Neil nodded in bewilderment. Was James Windsor abducted as well? What did the mercenaries plan to do?
“Let’s get going,* Danika shouted, closing the car door. He was taken aback for a moment before hurriedly jumping into the driver’s seat. He drove and asked, puzzled, “Miss Zellweger, where are we headed?”
Figure Out an Escape
Half an hour later, the car rolled to a stop by the interstate highway.
