Chapter 306
The wrecked apartment, the countess bullet holes, the corpse in the hallway, Suzy’s injury...
When all these pieces connected, a powerful wave of dread rippled through Leonard’s heart. He immediately charged into the apartment, sprinting toward the living room. His legs buckled slightly, but he stumbled for a split second before steadying himself.
Thomas followed right on his heels. His pace was much faster than usual—so fast it bordered on frantic panic.
Derek pressed close behind him, the bright, sunny expression he usually wore replaced by an unprecedented, dark gloom.
Coming to his senses, Liam directly scooped Noah up into his arms and bolted inside as well.
The news of Suzy’s injury sent shockwaves through every single one of them. She was already recovering from a previous wound; getting hurt again now was just adding insult to injury!
As the men crowded into the room, the originally spacious area instantly felt cramped. At this exact moment, everyone’s eyes locked onto the frail figure resting on the sofa.
Suzy lay leaning against the cushions, completely unconscious, her eyes tightly shut. Her face was even more deathly pale than before they had left. The wound on her shoulder was a horrific sight, and the bleeding hadn’t fully stopped.
Aaron was guarding her side, his own face devoid of color. His hands were covered in blood, and he looked completely at a loss.
The blood just wouldn’t stop. He was at his wits’ end, utterly paralyzed by helplessness.
Witnessing this scene, Leonard froze dead in his tracks. He couldn’t comprehend how things had gone so terribly wrong. They had only been gone for a little while. How had Suzy ended up like this?
Thomas reacted the fastest. He rushed to the sofa immediately, shoving the helpless Aaron aside, his gaze fixed intensely on Suzy. His breathing was ragged, and his entire body trembled uncontrollably.
"Suzy... What happened to Suzy? Why is she hurt?!"
Thomas whirled around to glare at Aaron, demanding answers in a harsh, strained voice, his eyes bloodshot with raw emotion. Seeing Suzy like this tore him apart inside. Before they parted ways, she had been full of life, smiling as she warned them to come back safely.
They had returned without a scratch, yet she was the one bleeding out.
Why?
Why did it have to be like this?
The heart in his chest felt as though it were being hacked at with a dull blade, radiating an agonizing pain. The joy and anticipation Thomas had felt on the way back vanished instantly, replaced by a bottomless, unprecedented terror. He didn’t even dare look at Suzy on the sofa anymore, unable to accept her looking so utterly devoid of life.
Aaron didn’t get angry at being shoved by Thomas. He merely averted his eyes.
"Not long after you guys left, the woman outside broke in. She wanted to kill us," Aaron explained in a low, hollow voice that grew quieter with every word. "Suzy got hurt protecting me. I tried to tend to her wound, but I don’t know what’s wrong—she just won’t stop bleeding."
At this point, a flash of agony crossed Aaron’s face. He was terrified that he might end up costing Suzy her life. The blood seemed entirely out of control, refusing to clot. If this kept up, Suzy might actually die from blood loss.
Thomas’s throat tightened, but he couldn’t squeeze out a single word.
Saving someone again. She got hurt saving someone again.
Thomas limply let go of Aaron and looked back at Suzy’s pale face on the sofa.
Derek had already made his way to her side and taken her hand in his. "Her hands are so cold," he murmured under his breath.
"...Wait, the medicine!"
Derek snapped out of his daze and whirled around to look at Leonard, who was still frozen in place.
"Uncle! The medicine! You have it, right?!"
Derek’s words jolted everyone out of their stupor.
Of course! The spiritual spring water!
Suzy’s main crisis right now was that the bleeding wouldn’t stop. Maybe the spiritual spring water would actually work!
On their trip out, not a single one of the life-saving supplies Suzy had packed for them had been used. The spiritual spring water was still completely untouched, safely stored away in Leonard’s space.
"Right, it’s with me."
Leonard strode forward, reached into his pocket, and pulled out the small vial containing the spring water.
"Everyone, back up!!"
Derek and Liam sensibly stepped aside.
Leonard pressed close to Suzy’s side. His hands shook as he uncapped the vial, the sheer tension making the simple task take a little longer than usual. Derek immediately handed him a clean cotton swab. Taking it, Leonard dipped it into the spiritual spring water and gently applied it to the wound on Suzy’s shoulder.
The injury was gruesome and horrifying to look at, sending a sharp pang of distress through anyone who saw it. Leonard softened his touch as much as possible, but the moment the swab brushed against the raw flesh, he felt Suzy’s body give a sudden twitch.
Leonard’s brow furrowed tightly and his lips formed a hard, straight line, his heart aching for her.
It must hurt so much.
"Be gentler," Thomas couldn’t help but snap. Even though Suzy was unconscious and dead to the world, Thomas still felt the pain on her behalf.
"Uncle, if you don’t know how to do it right, let me," Derek chimed in. He was convinced Leonard was being too rough; otherwise, Suzy wouldn’t have shuddered like that.
A vein throbbed on Leonard’s temple. He couldn’t restrain himself from snapping back, "Both of you, shut up!"
The two fell silent, holding their breath as they watched Leonard like hawks.
Watching the scene unfold, Aaron couldn’t help but ask, "What is that? Will it actually work?" He had poured a massive amount of styptic powder on her earlier, but it hadn’t done a thing. The blood had kept gushing out, turning the medicine into a gruesome, clotted paste over the wound.
Leonard gave a casual cover story: "It’s an heirloom remedy from my family. It works wonders on external trauma. It should do the trick."
With that, Leonard meticulously dabbed the spiritual spring water all over Suzy’s wound.
After a few moments, a miracle occurred.
The wound, which had been oozing blood nonstop, suddenly stopped bleeding. Because Aaron had been monitoring Suzy’s injury closer than anyone else, he was the first to notice the shift.
"It seems... it stopped bleeding! It worked!"
Hearing this, Leonard, Thomas, and Derek all leaned closer to examine the wound. To their profound relief, the bleeding had indeed stopped completely.
With the spiritual spring water proving its efficacy, the heavy weight crushing their chests finally lifted. As long as the bleeding had stopped, it was a good sign. Now, they just had to wait for Suzy to wake up.
Even though the injury was no longer critical, Leonard still felt uneasy. To ensure total peace of mind, he carefully fed Suzy a few more sips of the spiritual spring water.
Once the bleeding was completely under control, they called in a doctor, Aaron’s father, to clean and dress the wound properly.
The doctor looked at them with a sigh of mild resignation. "Oh, so now you remember I exist."
When Suzy’s blood wouldn’t stop flowing earlier, he had expected them to come begging for his help right away. After all, he was a licensed medical professional! He never anticipated that Leonard and the others would just whip out some secret family remedy.
His feelings were somewhat complicated.
What kind of medicine was that anyway? Could a random liquid really be more effective than a doctor? ...Well, fine, it actually was incredibly effective.
Though he didn’t understand the science behind it, the sheer efficacy of the substance made even him a little envious. Still, he only muttered the one complaint before quickly getting to work on Suzy’s shoulder.
True to his professional background, his movements were practiced and efficient, and he wrapped the bandage beautifully.
"Alright, she’s out of the woods now."
"All she needs to do next is rest. She’ll likely wake up very soon."
After running a quick, final check, the doctor looked up at Thomas, Leonard, and Derek. His words were meant to reassure them, and as expected, the visible tension draining from the three men was almost palpable.
However...
The doctor quietly cast a subtle glance toward Liam.
Why did it feel like this guy was actually the most heavily affected out of all of them?
Once she was securely bandaged up, Suzy was carried into the bedroom where Liam and Noah slept, as that side of the apartment was much warmer.