Chapter 240
Chapter 240
The male secretary pushed open the door. He rarely entered without Ablets permission, but this time he looked flustered. “Director-General, there’s trouble?
“We’ve made the trending topics.”
He held out his tablet for Ablett and Blanche to see.
#Mr. McCarthy Marries a Divorcée#
#Abandoned Husband and Child#
#Poor Kid#
#Shameless Woman#
One headline after another, each one slinging mud at Blanche. She want palle
So, in the end, the truth couldn’t be kept hidden.
“Director-General, Miss Griffiths, don’t worry-apart from a photo of young Master Simmons, there’s nothing else out there. They don’t even know which branch off the McCarthy family’s involved.”
Just then, Ablett’s private phone rang. Very few people had access to that
number-calls were always screened by his secretary first. Whoever was calling att this hour had to be important.
Before answering, Ablett’s expression didn’t flicker. “Take those trending topics down,” he instructed.
The secretary was about to leave when Ablett added, “Bring him in.”
“And find a doctor.”
Blanche didn’t object to letting the visitor in-though she had no desire to see healy either. But with Healy now crying in the rain, turning him away, or leaving him his own devices, would only make things worse for the McCarthy family.
There was really no other option.
“I’ll handle this,” Ablett assured her, pressing his phone to his ear while walking to Blanche’s side. He took her hand in his, gripping it so tightly his t
his palm.
Blanche didn’t react. She just stared at the front gate.
rnails dug mito
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Chapter 240
Healy was carried in by the secretary, his face deathly pale. As soon as they crossed the threshold, Healy tumbled from the secretary’s arms, scrambled to his feet, and staggered toward Blanche, crying out, “Mom…”
His face was wet-whether from tears or rain, it was impossible to tell.
A plainclothes officer stepped forward, blocking Healy’s path.
Healy dropped to his knees with a thud. “Mom, I know I was wrong.”
“I won’t cause trouble anymore. I won’t call Miss Jean ‘Mom’ again. I don’t want Lara, I just want you, Mom.”
His words were choked with sobs, but his voice was no longer the childish whine of years past. He spoke clearly, his desperation plain.
Blanche stared at Healy’s wan little face, but in her mind she kept seeing herself collapsing at a hospital doorway, blood pooling beneath her, the pain in her body and heart unbearable.
She turned away, burying her face in Ablett’s shoulder.
When Healy saw that Blanche wouldn’t even look at him, he clutched his chest in anguish and curled up on the floor.
Ablett glanced at the secretary, who quickly stepped forward, scooped Healy up, and carried him into the room across the hall.
“When he wakes up, have someone take him back,” Ablett said, already ending the
call.
“Alright.”
Blanche collected herself and asked quietly, “Did they give you a hard time?”
On the phone, a deep, gravelly voice: If you marry her, you’re no longer my student.
He had already been displeased that Ablett acted without consulting him; now, he used this chance to threaten his career, trying to force him to back down.
Ablett pried open Blanche’s clenched fist and saw deep marks in her palm. He quietly dabbed antiseptic on the wounds. “No,” he said calmly.
Blanche bowed her head. “Good.”
“The wedding,” she said with a strained smile, “won’t be as low-key as we hoped.”
11-23.8
He was set on making this real.
