Chapter 215


    Madeline shook her head, but just as she was about to say something, there was a knock on the door.


    "Come in," she called out.


    The door opened to reveal a beautiful youngdy standing there.


    "Leigh, you''re back!" Madeline''s eyes lit up at the sight of the girl, and she rose to walk over to the door


    to greet her.


    Leigh Shefford was one of the only two girls who worked for Madeline. Each member in Madeline''s


    team of ten had their own skill set, and Leigh''s happened to be her medical prowess. She was a doctor


    and secretly a medical prodigy with quite an impressive portfolio.


    A while ago, someone engaged her for the treatment of a scion from Oaksbury. She had called


    Madeline yesterday to inform her that she would return now that the job was done, but thetter hadn''t


    expected her to arrive so soon.


    Presently, Leigh was beaming as she walked through the door and gave Madeline a tight hug in


    greeting.


    Luke sat on the couch in the same manner as one imagined an invertebrate might and pursed his lips


    unhappily while narrowing his eyes when he saw the two girls hugging. He hated when others got too


    close to Madeline, but seeing as he knew Leigh, he decided to brush this incident off, albeit


    begrudgingly.


    After all, Leigh did not know Madeline for as long as he had, and their bond was not quite as deep,


    either. That said, the only thing she had going for her was her gender. Where Luke could only settle for


    just dining with Madeline, Leigh could do all the girly things with her like bunking in together and using


    the same restroom.


    For that, Luke had to admit he was jealous of Leigh.


    Meanwhile, Leigh kept in touch with Madeline regrly despite being away on business, and she was


    told of Luke and Logan visiting town. As such, she wasn''t all that surprised to see the younger Adams


    brother sitting in Madeline''s office right now. Smiling, she greeted, "Hey, Luke."


    Luke hummedzily in response, not at all enthusiastic or friendly.


    Leigh thought this was expected behavior on his part and didn''t mind his indifference in the slightest.


    Following this, Madeline led Leigh by the hand to the couch. They caught each other up on all the


    recent happenings in their lives, and the conversation seemed endless.


    While they were talking, Luke listened in disinterest as he remained sprawled on the couch, interjecting


    whenever he caught something interesting. Though he was interjecting, in reality, he was merely


    offering unnecessarily scathing input that nobody asked for.


    However, Leigh and Madeline went on talking in spite of his ruthlessmentary. The former, in


    particr, was dumbfounded by how persistent he was, but she pretended as if he never spoke,


    knowing that he was infuriating on purpose.


    Madeline, on the other hand, would turn and shoot him a dark re when she felt he had crossed the


    line with his words, but he seemed to take this as a triumph instead of feeling ashamed about it. In fact,


    he even looked pleased. He was so exasperating that it was a miracle he had gone this long without


    suffering a well-deserved beating from anyone.


    Madeline shook her head, but just as she was about to say something, there was a knock on the door.


    "Come in," she called out.


    Just like that, she and Leigh continued to ignore Luke throughout the conversation. He was like a


    petnt child whenever he was around Madeline, and the more attention you paid him, the rowdier he


    got. The best solution was to turn a blind eye to his existence entirely, and it wasn''t so much about


    discouraging him from butting in as it was about preserving Madeline''s sanity.


    The conversation took an interesting turn when each woman started taking out their phones to show


    the other pictures they had taken.


    Leigh was showing off hertest client''s before-and-after pictures. "Take a look, Maddie. What do you


    think? Pretty good job, huh?"


    Madeline assessed the young man in the picture and approved, "Indeed."


    Leigh''s client this time was a scion named Gabriel Vanderbilt. The photo had captured his delicately-


    chiseled features and innate elegance. In other words, it wasn''t hard to tell that he was raised with a


    silver spoon in his mouth. He was handsome too and his fine looks rivaled those of any A-list


    celebrities.


    Bumping her shoulder against Leigh''s yfully, Madeline asked, "Come on, spill the beans. Did


    anything naughty happen between you and Young Master Vanderbilt while you were staying with him


    for a whole month?"


    "Nothing happened between us at all, much less anything naughty," Leigh answered with augh.


    "Besides, his family is so messed up. I''d have to be out of my mind to sign up for that wild ride."


    "That''s true," Madeline said with a sigh. "Prolific families like the Vanderbilts are always polished on the


    outside but rotten within."


    Whatever went down at the Vanderbilts'' had been reported back to Madeline.


    Gabriel had fallen sick some time ago. He had been particrly susceptible to illnesses since he was a


    baby, but his condition worsened after his own sister began to poison him bit by bit.


    He had a close friend, Oliver Sinir, whom his sister, Samantha Vanderbilt, had a crush on.


    However, her affections were never reciprocated by Oliver, and he avoided her just to keep her from


    misreading his intentions. While he did not return Samantha''s feelings, he was the best of friends with


    Gabriel, and he would often stay at the Vanderbilts'' ce whenever thetter got sick.


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    Gabriel''s feeble disposition had caused the Vanderbilt cousins to vie for his position as the sessor to


    the family, and they would grow restless whenever he fell sick, eager to prove themselves. But the


    Sinirs were much more formidable than the Vanderbilts, and with Oliver around to back Gabriel up,


    none of the cousins dared make a move.


    Samantha, however, saw her brother''s condition as an opportunity for her to seduce Oliver. Anytime


    Gabriel fell ill, Oliver would move in. She had hoped that over time, he would take notice of her or even


    seekfort in her presence. Thereafter, he could start developing feelings for her. She was confident


    that he would fall in love with her at some point, but it would require a lot of time and she was willing to


    borrow time at her brother''s expense.


    Samantha went on to keep Gabrielpany day after day just so she could spend time with Oliver, but


    for some reason, Gabriel''s condition kept deteriorating, and none of his usual medication worked no


    matter how much of it he took.


    Desperate times called for desperate measures, and Gabriel''s parents were already at their wits'' end


    when they heard through the grapevine that Leigh specialized in odd andplex medical cases. As


    such, they paid big bucks to have her move in with them so that she could treat their son.


    It didn''t take long after that for Leigh to discover Samantha''s plot and call her out on it.


    At first, Gabriel''s parents wanted to cover this up and send their daughter abroad for her studies,


    hoping that the incident would die down in her absence. Much to their astonishment, Oliver called the


    police as soon as he learned the truth, so Samantha was arrested and sentenced to imprisonment.


    With Oliver keeping an eye on the case, none of thewyers Gabriel''s parents had hired for Samantha


    was of much help. In the end, Samantha was made to serve a long sentence in prison, and even if she


    was released on good behavior, it would only be after she had served at least five years'' worth of jail


    time for attempted murder.


    "Sick, right?" Leigh sighed, and she sounded jaded as she said, "How will we ever have faith in


    humanity again if we keep getting jobs like these? It''s disgusting that someone could do something so


    despicable to their own family."


    Madeline nodded, then pulled up photos on her phone and changed the subject to lighten the mood.


    "Here, this is a family photo I took with my parents, my brothers, and my two uncles back at Wendel


    City."


    "Oh, let me see!" Leigh excitedly leaned over to take a closer look. She scanned Madeline''s family


    photo earnestly, but suddenly, the smile on her face froze as she stared at one of the figures. Grimly,


    she asked while pointing to the figure, "Maddie, who''s that?"


    She was pointing at Holly.


    "That''s my Aunt Holly," Madeline replied. She tilted her head to one side when she sensed the other


    girl''s mood shift. "Leigh, what''s the matter?"