Chapter 38 - Beautiful Fantasy
Daisy had been supporting Vincent, but when she heard her daughter's cry, she felt a pang of guilt and instinctively pulled her hand back.
Luna didn't notice Daisy's little movement at all. She rushed over and threw herself into Vincent's arms, her little face full of fear and concern.
She stood on her tiptoes, trying to see the gauze wrapped around her father's forehead—blood had soaked through it—but she couldn't reach it no matter how hard she tried. Tears welled up in her eyes from frustration.
"There's so much blood! I'll go get a doctor!"
Vincent bent down and picked up his daughter with one hand, rubbing his uninjured cheek against her little face. "It's fine, just bumped into something by accident."
"Liar!" Luna didn't believe him. She reached out her little hand wanting to touch his gauze, but afraid of hurting him, she left it hanging in mid-air as tears rolled down her cheeks. "It must hurt a lot."
Daisy stood stiffly to the side, and after a long while finally said, "Let's go see a doctor first. You should probably get an X-ray too."
Fortunately, the head injury was just superficial. The wound wasn't too deep. The doctor prescribed some medicine and checked other areas.
Vincent himself hadn't expected that besides his head, he'd taken quite a few hits on his body too. Especially around his collarbone—there was even a fracture.
During the fight earlier, the adrenaline rush had kept him from feeling the pain. But now that he'd relaxed, his whole body ached!
Luna stood beside him with tears in her eyes. "Daddy, please don't get hurt anymore, okay? I'm so scared."
Vincent gently patted her back. "Okay."
Just then, Vanessa came in. She gasped and rushed over, grabbing Vincent and looking him up and down.
"What happened? Didn't you say there was just a small problem at the company? This... did you get in a fight?"
"Not too bad. I fought ten-something guys by myself, so I didn't really lose." Vincent smiled, his eyes showing a hint of pride.
Vanessa glared at him. "You! You're the head of the Blacks family now, how can you still act like some young punk?"
"Daddy, did you really fight ten-something guys by yourself?"
The three of them chatted and laughed together, naturally comfortable with each other. Anyone watching would think they were the closest family of three.
Daisy had been standing silently to the side at first, thinking that since Vincent got injured because of her, she should at least stay to take care of him.
But looking at the situation now, her staying here was completely unnecessary.
Maybe not just unnecessary, but an eyesore.
She quietly slipped out of the emergency room.
As soon as she stepped out, she ran into Ethan. Daisy went up to greet him.
"How's Mr. Black? You're not staying with him?"
Daisy smiled bitterly. "He has people with him. Me standing there would just be in the way. That would be repaying kindness with ingratitude, wouldn't it?"
The two of them naturally walked side by side.
"It's so late, you didn't go home?" she asked.
"I was worried about you." Ethan looked at her. "What exactly happened today?"
"You might not even believe me if I tell you." As they walked, Daisy briefly explained everything from start to finish.
From being left on the roadside by Vincent in the morning, to running into Marcus in the parking lot, then being taken to that villa, and finally Vincent coming with people to rescue her.
She wasn't very good at telling stories. Such a dramatic series of events was wrapped up in just a few sentences.
After listening, Ethan's expression was more serious than ever.
"Marcus? From the Bennetts?"
"You know him too?"
"Not really, but I've heard of him." Ethan's tone was complicated. "The Bennetts used to be quite prominent, but after the family head died, things went downhill. There's been a lot of internal fighting."
"This Marcus is from the main branch. His father died early, and he grew up with his second uncle. I heard he's always wanted to clean up the Bennetts' reputation, and he's been at odds with his second uncle."
Daisy thought about what Mr. Bennett had said, and said with lingering fear, "Power struggles in wealthy families are really scary."
"By the way, what about that USB drive?" Ethan asked. "Did you give it back?"
Daisy said slowly, "What else could I do if I didn't hand it over? My life was on the line. Who cares about getting involved in their family affairs?"
Ethan sighed. "I'm just afraid they won't let it go, especially since you guys took Marcus away. That's clearly going against that Mr. Bennett."
Daisy remained silent.
Actually, even up to now, her mind was a mess.
One moment she saw Marcus covered in blood, the next moment she saw Vincent blocking in front of her, taking those thick stick blows for her without making a sound.
And afterward, he didn't complain at all.
Lost in thought, her phone suddenly rang. It was Shawn calling.
Her tone was excited, like someone who'd been poor their whole life and suddenly won a fifty-million-dollar lottery.
"Dais! Marcus made it through! The doctor said if we'd been half an hour later, he wouldn't have made it. That was close!"
Daisy responded, "Yeah, that's good."
"By the way, where are you now? Did you go home?"
"Not yet, still at the hospital."
"Ah." Shawn paused, then her voice became a bit cautious. "Um... what about Vincent? How is he?"
"Just finished his examination. Should be nothing serious."
"That's good." Shawn said, then suddenly lowered her voice. "Dais, honestly, after what Vincent did today, weren't you even a little bit moved?"
Moved? Of course she was moved.
In the car, she'd even wavered about the divorce.
Until that one sentence from Vincent, like a bucket of ice water poured over her head, chilling her to the bone.
Hearing her silence, Shawn sighed. "Never mind. Whatever you decide to do, I'll support you."
After hanging up, Daisy held her phone and zoned out again.
That evening, Ethan drove her home. After being mentally stressed all day, Daisy fell asleep as soon as she lay down. The next morning, she was woken up by her phone ringing.
"Mommy!" On the phone, Luna's voice was tearful. "Come to the hospital quick! Daddy has a fever! His wound might be infected!"
Daisy snapped awake.
She threw on some clothes and rushed to the hospital by taxi.
When she got to the room, she saw Vincent lying in the hospital bed, his face flushed, the gauze on his forehead already changed to fresh bandages, but his overall condition was much worse than yesterday.
The doctor was taking his temperature. Vanessa stood by the bed, looking distressed.
Luna was lying by the bedside, her little face covered in tear stains.
Seeing Daisy come in, Luna immediately ran over and grabbed her hand. "Mommy! Daddy is so hot!"
Daisy patted her head and walked to the bedside, looking at Vincent.
He opened his eyes, glanced at her, and said nothing.
The doctor finished taking his temperature and said, "The wound is a bit infected, needs observation for a couple of days," then left.
Vanessa immediately stepped forward, poured Vincent a glass of water, her voice so gentle it could drip honey. "Vince, have some water. The doctor said you need to drink more water."
Vincent took the glass, took a sip, and put it on the bedside table.
Vanessa picked up a towel, wanting to wipe his sweat, but Vincent stopped her.
"No need right now. You're sick too, go get some rest."