Chapter 424: A Truth Too Deep

The servant froze, blurting out instinctively: “Mr. Wayne, what kind of question is that? She’s someone Mr. Simon brought back – of course, we servants know who she is.”

“If you know she’s one of Mr. Simon’s people, how dare you speak out of turn here?” Wayne’s expression went cold. “Do you know what her status is? And yours? Since when did the help have the right to comment on matters of the family?”

The old servant instantly knew he’d made a mistake. He’d meant to flatter the old man, seeing that Wayne was in a sour mood, but instead, he’d struck the wrong nerve entirely.

“Sir, that’s not what I meant.”

He tried to explain, but Wayne wasn’t about to give him the chance. The butler quickly gestured to the guards outside, and moments later, someone entered to escort the servant out.

Once the man was gone, Wayne finally said: “She really does care about that foolish boy. He’s not suffering in vain, at least.”

At Wayne’s level, few people dared contradict him anymore. But Sierra’s first concern had been Johnathan’s wellbeing. Such sincerity was rare – and if he still held it against her after this, it would be laughable.

“Have a serious talk with the rest of the staff.” This was directed at the butler.

Cold sweat broke out across the man’s back as he quickly responded, “Yes, sir.” When the servants made a mistake, it ultimately reflected poorly on him.

Unaware of what had happened downstairs, Sierra had already returned to Johnathan’s room. She had expected to find him asleep, weak with fever. Instead, he was awake – on the phone, in fact – discussing business as if nothing was wrong.

As soon as he saw Sierra, he ended the call and smiled. “If you hadn’t come back, I was about to drag you here myself.”

Johnathan looked the same as always. If not for his dry, cracked lips and flushed cheeks, it would be impossible to tell he had a high fever.

Sierra approached him. Her lips moved like she wanted to say something else, but in the end, what she said was: “Mr. Yaeger, will you work with me – just this once?”

Johnathan had been with Sierra long enough to understand exactly what she meant. He smiled. “Of course.”

Seeing his smile made Sierra’s chest ache even more. But she knew feeling bad wouldn’t help anyone now. What she needed to do was act quickly – ease his suffering however she could.

Her face turned serious. “Since you’ve agreed, then from now on, I need your full cooperation.”

“Now – aside from the fever, are you experiencing any other symptoms?”

Seeing her switch to professional mode, Johnathan also became serious. “Yes. My chest hurts. I think it’s my heart.”

Johnathan was no amateur. He hadn’t intended to hide anything from her.

At his words, Sierra’s eyelashes trembled slightly. “The equipment here is complete. Let’s do a full body scan.”

She turned to call for help, but Johnathan grabbed her hand. “No need. I already had one.”

He looked into her eyes. “The only issue is a few cracked ribs. Everything else came back clear.”

The moment he’d felt pain in his chest, he’d ordered a thorough examination. The results had surprised everyone. The doctors had taken more blood to double-check, but the values were exactly the same as before – identical down to the last number.

Once might be a coincidence. Twice wasn’t. Especially since blood readings were never supposed to be identical.

The doctors and researchers had racked their brains for answers, but nothing made sense. Eventually, they guessed the fever might be due to inflammation around the ribs.

But even they didn’t believe that explanation – how could anyone else?

Sierra flipped through the test reports herself. As expected, there was nothing abnormal.

She lowered her head, and Johnathan, unable to bear the look on her face, said: “Tell me. What’s your conclusion?”

Sierra looked up at him, her eyes filled with pain. “Mr. Yaeger, I’ve never seen a case like this. I’ve analyzed your blood over a hundred times. I still can’t find the cause. I even hoped the fever might be coming from somewhere else in your body.”

But she knew the chances of that were slim. So she kept digging – and finally, she did find something. Something that shouldn’t have been there.

“I don’t know what it is. I can’t identify the substance.”

She had never faced a situation like this before.

With her grandmother’s illness, with Quinn and Dora’s blood disorders – those had all left trails to follow. She’d always known where to start.