Chapter 129

Chapter 129

Ollie couldn't hold back anymore. He shoved the door open and stumbled inside.

His white-socked foot slipped on the tiles. He fell with a thud in front of the bed, his knee hitting the floor with a dull thump.

Camilla had been resting with her eyes closed. The sudden commotion startled her awake.

She struggled to open her eyelids and turned her head.

When she saw the little boy on the floor, his face flushed red from crying, Camilla froze.

"Ollie?"

Her voice was terribly hoarse, barely audible.

Hearing her call his name, Ollie's defenses shattered completely.

He scrambled up on hands and knees, threw himself against the edge of the bed, grabbed the white sheets with both small hands, and wailed.

"Mommy! I was wrong!"

Between sobs, Ollie raised his hand and slapped himself hard across his chubby cheek.

The sharp crack echoed harshly in the hospital room.

"I didn't mean to make you mad! You're not a nanny—you're the best mommy!"

Another slap. A red mark bloomed instantly on Ollie's right cheek.

"Ms. Nelson is a bad person! She lied to me! She pinched me! I don't want her anymore!"

The little boy cried so hard he could barely breathe, snot and tears streaming down his face as he frantically emptied his pockets.

Coins clattered and rolled across the floor. "Mommy, don't die. I have money. I smashed my piggy bank. Use it all to get better."

"You can hit me or yell at me—just please don't leave me..."

Camilla leaned back against the pillow, watching her flesh and blood trembling before her. Her eyes gradually reddened.

She'd hated Theodric. Hated Serena. In her darkest moments, she'd even resented this son who'd been turned against her.

But blood ties couldn't be severed.

Looking at Ollie's dirty white sock, his swollen cheeks—Camilla's resentment dissolved completely under the baptism of life and death.

He was just a four-year-old child.

Ignored by his biological father since birth. Brainwashed and manipulated by a calculating woman.

What could he possibly understand?

Camilla forced herself through the aching pain in her wrists and slowly raised her hand, covering Ollie's small hand before he could slap himself again.

"Don't."

Her voice was soft, but it stopped Ollie instantly.

Camilla's warm fingertips gently wiped the tears from her son's face. "Mommy doesn't blame you."

She looked at Ollie's terrified, guilt-stricken little face and sighed softly. "Ollie's grown up now. You can tell good from bad. Mommy's very happy about that."

Hearing this, Ollie lost all control. He buried his face in Camilla's embrace, carefully avoiding the tubes, and sobbed his heart out.

The wall between mother and son crumbled completely in this long-overdue confession.

Just then, steady footsteps sounded from the outer room.

Caspian walked in carrying a thermal food container.

Hearing the movement, Ollie stiffened and instinctively shrank into Camilla's blankets.

He recognized this tall man.

At kindergarten before, this man had protected that kid Holden and scolded him in a really scary voice.

Caspian stopped two steps from the bed.

He glanced at the coins scattered on the floor, then at Ollie trembling in Camilla's arms. His eyebrow lifted slightly.

Camilla instinctively tightened her arm around Ollie.

She looked up at Caspian, nervousness in her eyes.

"Caspian."

Camilla bit her cracked lower lip, her voice tinged with apprehension. "Ollie snuck out here by himself."

She paused, unconsciously gripping the sheets tighter. "Do you... mind?"

Mind that she still had ties to her past. Mind that she had a son with her ex-husband.

Caspian didn't answer immediately.

He walked to the bedside table and unhurriedly set down the thermal container, unscrewing the lid.

Rich chicken soup fragrance filled the room.

Then Caspian turned around.

He didn't look at Ollie. Instead, he bent down and pulled Camilla—blankets and all—into his broad embrace.

The man's body heat seeped through the blankets, chasing away Camilla's chill.

"Stop overthinking." Caspian lowered his head, his chin brushing punishingly against the top of her head, his voice low and steady. "If I love you, I'll accept everything in your life."

He straightened, his large hand cupping Camilla's pale face. "The Mitchell family has plenty of resources. Adding one more set of utensils—I can handle a four-year-old kid."

Finally, Caspian turned his attention to Ollie.

He pulled out two tissues and held them toward the boy, his tone neither particularly gentle nor hostile. "Wipe your tears and snot clean. Don't get your mom's sterile gown dirty."

Ollie timidly reached out, took the tissues, and roughly scrubbed his face.

"Pick up the coins from the floor yourself. The Mitchell family doesn't need your pocket change."

Caspian pulled over a chair and sat down, picking up the soup and blowing on a spoonful. "After you're done picking them up, wash your hands in the bathroom. Then come watch your mom drink her soup."

Ollie froze for a moment, then nodded vigorously. He got on all fours and obediently began collecting the scattered coins.

The atmosphere in the room gradually warmed.

Camilla leaned against the headboard, watching Caspian's profile as he blew on the soup, then glancing at her son picking up coins on the floor.

The bone-deep agony she'd endured these past two weeks seemed soothed in this moment.

She opened her mouth and swallowed the spoonful of hot soup Caspian fed her. Warmth spread through her stomach.

However, this hard-won peace didn't last long.

Brutal footsteps suddenly echoed from the corridor, accompanied by bodyguards' attempts to intervene.

"Mr. Clifford, you can't go in there!"

"Get out of my way! I'm looking for my son!"

The hospital room door was kicked open violently from outside!

The solid wood door slammed against the wall with a tremendous crash.

Theodric stood panting in the doorway, his tie askew, his suit jacket wrinkled, his bloodshot eyes revealing someone on the verge of a breakdown.

Serena had been formally arrested for assault and fraud. Clifford Group's stock had hit daily limit-down after daily limit-down.

He'd returned home overwhelmed, only to discover his son was missing!

After reviewing two full hours of street surveillance footage, he'd finally tracked Ollie to this hospital.

Theodric gasped for air, then jerked his head up to look into the room.

The next second, he froze completely.

On the hospital bed—

His ex-wife, whom he'd scorned for years and discarded like trash, sat quietly propped against the headboard.

And his business rival Caspian—the one who'd crushed him at every turn and driven him to the brink—sat beside the bed, holding a soup bowl, feeding Camilla with utterly natural movements.

What destroyed him even more—

His own biological son Ollie, who'd run away from home, now stood obediently next to Caspian's leg, clutching a tissue in both small hands, waiting eagerly to wipe Camilla's mouth.

A family of three.

Aside from missing Holden, the scene was harmonious to the point of being blinding!

Theodric's chest heaved violently. A surge of blood rushed straight to his head, instantly burning his eyes red.

Overwhelming jealousy, the panic of being abandoned, and the humiliation of having his male pride ground into the dirt—it all consumed him completely.

His hands clenched into fists at his sides, veins bulging on the backs of his hands.

"Camilla!"

Theodric's eyes blazed red as he roared like a rabid beast.

"What the hell are you doing?"