Chapter 382 You Tell Me, I Can Handle It
Tristan lowered his head to put her shoes on. After a few seconds of silence, he looked up and met her eyes.
"Look how scared you are." He curved his lips into a smile and kissed her on the lips. "Emory arrived just in time with his ex-wife's brother and saved us. But Duke still managed to escape, and now they're doing everything they can to catch him."
This incident hadn't made the news yet; many such failed capture attempts were often covered up.
So even if Katniss wanted to verify it, she wouldn't know where to start.
However, Tristan wasn't lying. Nelson arrived just after he had injected the drug.
Duke quickly fled to the rooftop and escaped by helicopter, while the remaining dozens of men were dealt with on the spot.
It was said that two of Duke's closest men were kept alive to extract the latest information about Duke.
As Tristan had expected, those who arrived didn't care if there were hostages in the abandoned factory; they immediately launched a fierce capture operation.
However, Nelson's team didn't target Tristan, and Duke's men didn't touch Tristan either.
"Really?" Katniss stared at him with bright eyes, afraid to miss any subtle expression on his face.
She didn't believe it.
Such a devil who didn't care about human life would go down fighting.
How could he possibly let Tristan and Evie come back?
She felt inexplicably uneasy and grabbed Tristan's forearm. "Tell me, I can handle it. As long as you and Evie are alive, that's all that matters."
She was so nervous that she didn't notice a small, red needle mark on his forearm under her index finger.
"Don't believe me?" He stood up, took her hand, and held her wrist. "I'll take you to see Evie, safe and sound!"
He spoke in a deliberately light tone and led her out of the ward.
Evie had been frightened and often woke up in her sleep, but after a doctor's examination, she was found to be fine and just needed time to recover from the fear.
When Katniss arrived, the doctor had just come out of Evie's ward and stopped them from going in.
"Evie is a light sleeper and wakes up at the slightest noise. You'd better not go in; just look through the window."
Through the window of the ward, they could see Evie sleeping in Sophia's arms.
But even so, Evie's little hand would occasionally lift suddenly, and she would make a few sounds.
Sophia had to quickly stand up, pat her, and soothe her gently.
"Doctor, how is she? Should we arrange a full-body checkup for her?" Katniss asked, her eyes never leaving Evie.
The doctor patiently replied, "She's already been checked. She's just scared, with no external or internal injuries..."
After explaining, the doctor left, and Katniss stood outside the door, gently touching Evie's outline on the glass window with both hands.
On one side, Tristan's silent reflection showed her profile.
Katniss's eyes were misty, her eye sockets red, and she didn't know what she was thinking, not moving her gaze for a long time.
"Want to go in and see?" Tristan thought that maybe holding Evie in her arms would calm her down.
She quickly stopped Tristan, shaking her head as tears fell and were quickly wiped away. "She's finally asleep. Let her sleep. I just need to know she's safe."
"Safe. I told you I would bring her back safely." Tristan leaned against the wall, standing beside her, enveloping her. "You, like her, were frightened and needed more rest. I'll take you back."
Katniss nodded, returned to the ward, and let him arrange for her to get into bed. Then they ate the dinner he brought back.
He was particularly calm, only occasionally urging her to eat quickly before it got cold, and he ate quietly.
He ate in large bites, as if very hungry and needing a lot of food to replenish his strength.
"Evie is very important to me." Katniss couldn't eat much, put down her utensils, and suddenly spoke. "But so are you. If you leave me alone... if anything happens to either of you, have you ever thought about what I would do?"
"I haven't." Tristan paused his eating and answered quickly and directly. "I only know that you are the person I care about the most."
She moved her lips, wanting to say something, but he spoke first. "Eat first. It'll get cold. Haven't we turned the danger into safety now?"
He was unusually calm, and Katniss, feeling chaotic inside, didn't think too much about the reason.
Because she had slept a lot during the day, she had some insomnia at night. Tristan patiently stayed with her, watching videos and photos of Evie from childhood on his phone.
Around three in the morning, she fell asleep.
Tristan put down the phone and slowly pulled his arm out from under her.
By the moonlight, he covered her with a thin blanket and turned to leave the ward.
In the quiet night, there should have been no one outside.
But in the small garden, seven or eight tall men were standing. Tristan had just come out, and Emory quickly approached him.
"How are you feeling? Any discomfort?"
"No." Tristan walked to a bench and sat down, his tense body relaxing a bit.
He had been worried that Katniss would ask more questions.
Fortunately, Katniss's mind was chaotic, thinking about many things, still in a state of panic, and she didn't notice anything unusual.
A doctor immediately came over to collect his blood.
"The blood test results from the afternoon are out. Everything is normal, with no signs of poisoning."
Emory cursed and sat down beside Tristan. "That bastard controls the entire drug market, ruining countless families. The drugs from his hands..."
But he couldn't finish his sentence. Tristan's blood tests always came back normal, and no one could determine what drug he had been injected with.
The more this was the case, the more everyone's hearts were on edge.
"The key is, Duke is still on the run." Nicholas spat into the air. "Fuck, I heard this bastard holds grudges. Who knows where he's hiding now? If he suddenly comes back and drags us down with him..."
Before he could finish, Tristan's hawk-like eyes shot over.
His deep eyes were filled with endless gravity, unable to dissipate for a long time.
"Mr. Forbes, please monitor your condition closely. If you feel any discomfort, inform us immediately." The doctor finished drawing blood and packed up his things.
Then he gave Tristan an injection of an antidote, which would dilute any poison.
"Nelson said that with Duke gone, they've already sent people to raid Duke's hideout and take down his lab. Once they find the latest drug, they'll extract the antidote in time."
Emory looked at the vial of blood the doctor took away, frowning. "But are you sure you don't want to tell Katniss? What if one day you just don't wake up? Aren't you afraid you won't have the chance to say something to her?"
Tristan gently pressed the needle mark with a cotton swab, a bright red spreading out.
Without looking up, he said, "She's stronger than you think and more fragile than you imagine."
Tristan couldn't bear to see Katniss break down. If it would leave her with regrets... then let him be selfish.
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