Chapter 205
In the sterile hospital room, Ludwik gently ced Whitney down before silently exiting, the door clicking
shut behind him.
“What’s the deal?” Whitney muttered to herself, now alone with Natalie
in the quiet room.
Ludwik left the vi through the back entrance, disappearing into an upstairs room.
The guard in the security room nearly jumped out of his skin, snapping to attention. “Boss?”
Ludwik watched the woman on the monitor and said simply, “Leave us.” The guard nced at the
unexpecteddy of the house on the screen. What was the Boss up to? Without questioning further, he
left as
ordered.
Downstairs, Whitney was clueless about Ludwik’s whereabouts, but she wasn’t about to waste a
precious moment.
She moved back to Natalie’s bedside, taking her wrist gently, a sad smile on her face. “Finally, a
moment alone with you, Mom. I’m going to check your pulse.”
After checking, she sighed and started a gentle hand massage,
followed by some pressure points, then carefully turned Natalie over to her other side.
“This is like a little workout, Mom. I’ll exin the pressure points to Tarynter. For now, let me clean
you up. I know how you like to be fresh and tidy.”
She stepped into the bathroom, turned on the tap, and meticulously washed Natalie’s face and hands,
even removing her socks to massage each toe.
“Is this pressure alright? I know you can’t tell me, but I feel you can sense it,” she whispered yfully.
After tending to Natalie, Whitney returned to the bedside, cing Natalie’s hand gently on her belly.
“The baby’s been so good, usually so calm. Buttely, there’s been more activity. I’ll bring this child into
the world, and maybe that’s the only promise I can keep to you. You know, he’s getting engaged at the
end of the month. You wouldn’t want to see me stay under any other
unsavory title, would you?”
Finishing her words, she fell silent.
Ludwik stared at the screen in the surveince room, catching the moment she wiped a tear from her
eye.
Did she not want him to get engaged?
In truth, he didn’t have to. He couldpensate ine another way. Marrying her was a logical choice,
but there were alternatives. If he stood his ground, he could deal with the Bartels family’s demands.
Watching her care for his mother, Ludwik was trying to discern her true
nature. Even the best actors couldn’t hide the subtleties of their
character.
And his fiancée, ine, hadn’t evene to visit to his mother since
the incident.
Suddenly, the door burst open. Whitney looked up, startled by Ludwik’s unexpected return.
Panicked at the possibility of a misunderstanding, she stood rapidly, “I was just freshening up Mom.
Don’t get the wrong idea.”
Her distress was palpable, stirring a difort within Ludwik.
He sat down on the nearest couch, fixing his gaze on her before speaking in a gravelly voice, “Tell me
again what happened the night
you were taken. I want to hear it all.”
Whitney’s eyes widened in disbelief. He never believed in her. Why ask
now?
“Ludwik, would you even believe what I say?”
“I’ll decide after I hear it,” he replied sternly.
She recounted the details, “Whether you believe it or not, my only intention was to save your mom and
protect my uncle. Maybe I was too greedy, and in the end, I aplished nothing.
But Mom was fine when she was with me, until ine knocked me out and took her away. When I got
to the hospital three dayster, Mom was in a vegetative state and had been rushed into a kidney
donation surgery.”
“So, you’re saying you didn’t harm my mom, but ine did?” Ludwik’s brows knitted together.
Whitney thought of Natalie’s ongoing blood tests and the murky details surrounding ine’s kidney
donation. The truth was not yet clear. She sighed, “I’m not using anyone. The truth wille out
soon. But think about it, what would be my motive to harm Mom?”
Ludwik hesitated, realizing he’d never considered this before.
Ccontent ? exclusive by N?/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.
What motive would Whitney have?
“Ludwik, I wanted to protect my uncle. Why would I deliberately cause your mother’s renal failure?
What benefit is there for me to be hated by you, to face pressure on Skye Gem Ltd., and to have my
uncle jailed while my cousin’s fate is unknown? Why would I make such a loss?”
As Ludwik looked at her, he found no answer.
Whitney pressed further, “I’ve gained nothing. So who has? ine is about to be engaged to you.”
“I trust ine! Nobody would be foolish enough to harm someone and
20:56
ter 205
then donate a kidney, bing disabled for life. Besides, you have no idea how good she’s been to
me. She saved my life years ago.”
Ludwik’s voice was hard, his fingers unconsciously touching the half–ring in his pocket, his gaze
softening, “Without ine, I would have died back then.”
Whitney gasped at the sight of the emerald green ring in his hand. She finally remembered why
ine’s half ring had seemed so familiar.
ine’s was a match to his, together forming aplete ring.
She recalled the stories about the girl saved Ludwik back then, mentioned by ine before leaving
Banyan City, supposedly to provoke her. So, ine was that girl?
Whitney pondered, asking, “When did you find out ine was your lifesaver?”
“Recently. It’s not your concern.” Ludwik was reluctant to discuss the deeply buried topic.
But Whitney’s suspicions only deepened. If ine truly was the savior, wouldn’t she have used that
leverage to marry Ludwik long ago? She
desired him too much to wait.
What was the reason? Did ine also find out recently, or did she only recently acquire the half ring?
Whitney’s thoughts raced. No wonder Ludwik held such unwavering trust in ine. They shared the
‘savior event‘ from years past. She couldn’t help but shake her head with a wry smile, “Ludwik, ine
isn’t as innocent as you think. I’d reconsider the half ring if I were you.”
“What are you implying? That it wasn’t her who saved my life all those years ago, but you?” Ludwik
said, his voice tinged with a mixture of disbelief and confusion.
Whitney paused, taken aback. Indeed, a few years back, she had saved a man’s life, one who had
been suffering from a hysterical fit, but the
AIS
20:56
darkness of that night had concealed his features from her, leaving his identity a mystery to this day.
She shook her head, “I’m not one to take credit where it’s not due. It’s just… odd. ine has gone to
such lengths for you. She ims to have saved your life years ago, and despite yourck of
acknowledgment all these years, she’s still given so selflessly, donating her kidney to your mother
without a second thought?”
She frowned slightly, “And she agreed to the donation so readily. If it were me, I’d at least check in with
my folks first. After all, this body is a gift from my parents.”
Ludwik’s expression froze, and he realized that the Bartels family had indeed been kept in the dark.
ine’s decision to donate her kidney had been an urgent one. At the time, he was tied up at the police
station, and neither he nor his family had been consulted by ine, who had not hesitated in the
slightest before making her donation. Wasn’t that a bit strange?