Chapter 30
Lucas froze. That voice... bright and clear, exactly like Damian's rowdy tone.
Juliana froze too. She hadn't expected her son to stay so calm.
"Dami, what are you doing here?" Lucas stared at him intently.
Matthew lowered his head. "I... I saw you rushing out, so I... I snuck into your trunk... Don't be mad, Daddy."
The trunk? Kids being mischievous, hiding in the trunk to follow their parents... It sounded absurd, yet not entirely impossible. Especially since Damian was notorious for being a little troublemaker.
Juliana caught the flicker of acceptance on Lucas's face and immediately pulled out an elegantly wrapped LEGO box from her bag. "Dami, since you're here—remember the birthday present I promised you yesterday?" She handed him the gift.
She'd ordered it late last night and it had arrived this morning. Since she hadn't seen Damian today, she hadn't given it to him yet. Who knew it would become the perfect prop now.
The suspicion in Lucas's eyes slowly faded, replaced by exhaustion. The fever must have scrambled his brain.
"Take out... the needles." He closed his eyes, his voice weak.
Juliana quietly exhaled in relief. She felt like she'd been pulled from water—her back was completely drenched. She didn't dare delay and immediately began systematically removing the needles.
While Juliana focused on her task, she didn't notice Matthew quietly pull a children's smartwatch from his pocket. With his back to the bed, he sent a message.
[Daddy saw me. I'm pretending to be you. Heading back with him. Let's swap early this week—you come to my place.]
After sending it, he tucked the watch back into his pocket.
Half an hour later, Juliana finally removed the last needle. Though Lucas's face remained pale, his breathing had steadied and the fever had subsided considerably.
"Your old injury triggered complications, plus the severe allergic reaction. You need systematic treatment."
The man on the bed nodded.
Meanwhile, Matthew received Damian's reply—he'd arrived.
"Mommy, I'm hungry." Matthew suddenly looked up at her.
"I'll make you something in a bit."
"But I want to eat now. I saw lots of yummy stuff in the kitchen downstairs."
Juliana's heart tightened, afraid he'd slip up somehow. "Wait here. I'll go make you something." Her tone left no room for argument.
After Juliana went downstairs to cook, Matthew pestered Lucas about going home. Still feeling terrible and barely registering their conversation, Lucas agreed in a daze. Matthew took his hand and hurried downstairs.
Meanwhile, hearing Lucas leave, Juliana's heart lurched. She rushed to the door just as Damian came running in. Thinking it was Matthew who'd successfully gotten away, she felt a wave of belated fear. "You little troublemaker! What if he'd figured it out?"
Damian blinked. "But I helped you out of a tight spot, didn't I?"
Juliana found herself speechless. After steadying her nerves, she asked, "Matty, how did you get Lucas to leave? He thought you were Damian but didn't take you with him."
"He fell asleep. I used his phone to text the butler," Damian said.
Such a bold move. While Juliana felt relieved, she couldn't help but praise him. "So clever! What do you want to eat? I'll treat you to whatever you want as a reward."
"Yay!" Damian immediately cheered. "I want pizza from that place last time, and fried chicken and ice cream!" He'd heard Matthew rave about how good it was! He hadn't tried it yet!
Juliana agreed with a smile.
However, when the steaming pizza and fried chicken arrived, Juliana noticed something off. She watched the child across from her dig in enthusiastically, his little mouth shiny with grease, and her brow furrowed slightly.
He was eating way too much.
Normally Matty had a small appetite—one slice of pizza and two pieces of chicken filled him up. But today, he'd practically demolished an entire small pizza by himself, and the fried chicken was disappearing at lightning speed, as if he hadn't eaten in three days.
"Matty, slow down. Don't choke." Juliana passed him a juice.
"Mmm... Mommy, I was so hungry," the little guy mumbled through a mouthful of food.
Juliana's doubts grew heavier. Strange. Hadn't Matty eaten a big bowl of oatmeal and two cream buns at home this morning? How could he be this hungry?
Back at the apartment, that nagging sense of something being off peaked when Juliana spotted the neatly arranged children's slippers by the entrance. She remembered clearly—when they'd left this morning, Matty had worn sneakers. He'd kicked his slippers under the sofa himself.
But now, those little slippers sat perfectly aligned by the shoe cabinet, as if waiting for their owner to return.
"Matty, your slippers..."
"Oh, I put them away when I got back," the little guy replied without looking up as he changed shoes, his tone utterly natural.
Juliana opened her mouth, then swallowed the question. Perhaps she'd been too stressed lately and misremembered?
The next morning, Juliana was woken by her phone. "Lucas" flashed across the screen.
She swiped to answer, her tone unfriendly. "What?"
Silence on the other end, then a man's voice came through—slightly hoarse, but clearly much stronger than yesterday afternoon.
"Come over."
Not a request. A command.
Juliana laughed in disbelief. "Mr. Sharp, did the fever fry your brain? I'm not your servant. What makes you think you can summon me whenever you want?"
"I slept eight hours," the man said, completely off-topic.
"Congratulations."
"No nightmares. No headaches either."
Juliana paused. She knew that with Lucas's condition, forget eight hours—getting two hours of solid sleep would be a luxury.
"So?"
"So come treat me." Lucas's tone made it sound like the most obvious thing in the world.