Chapter 299 What if Darwin Looked the Other Way?
Without a word, Dagmar reached out and lifted Charles from Fiona's arms. "Your knee hasn't fully healed yet. Another fall could hurt both you and Charles. Who would be responsible then?"
Once she had said her piece, Dagmar carried Charles out to the car. Fiona followed and got in as well.
During the drive, Fiona was consumed by a mixture of heartache, worry, and guilt. Seeing her like this, Dagmar tried to offer some comfort. "It’s the changing seasons – the temperature shifts between day and night can easily lead to a little sickness in kids. It's not a big deal, don't be so hard on yourself."
"Mm-hmm…" Fiona mumbled in response, her eyes brimming with tears as they rested on Charles.
Soon, they arrived at the nearby hospital. After two hours, Charles’s fever started to subside. Fiona thought it might have just been a cold.
However, the doctor quickly pulled Dagmar aside. It was quite a while before she returned.
"What’s going on?" Fiona asked.
Crouching in front of Fiona, gripping her hands, Dagmar spoke gently, "Fiona, don’t panic. It's just a suspicion for now. I've already notified our hospital back home. We'll take Charles there for a more detailed examination."
"What is it, exactly?" Fiona demanded, a stern edge to her voice.
"It's suspected leukemia."
Fiona felt a buzz in her ears. She immediately thought of the nosebleed Charles had a few days earlier.
"It's just a suspicion, try not to worry," Dagmar's voice seemed to drift from afar.
Fiona's heart felt as though it was being shredded.
She returned to the small infusion room. Charles, looking a bit more spirited, was watching an educational video about physics.
Upon seeing Fiona come back, he looked up at once. "Mommy, can we go home now? Sis just called, wondering when I’ll be back."
Fiona fought back the rush of emotions overwhelming her. She knelt down next to Charles, tenderly stroking his cheek. "Baby, we have to visit another hospital for more tests. We won't be going home today—I'll talk to your sister in a bit."
Charles, an astute boy, gazed at Fiona with his lovely eyes and blinked gently. Then, without a word or a question, he obediently nodded. "Okay."
On the way to the Rhoads Family's hospital, Fiona held Charles the entire journey. She prayed to every power she could think of, asking for her child to be protected. If something had to happen, she begged it would happen to her instead.
Upon arrival, Charles was immediately taken for testing.
Back home, trying to put Chicago to bed, Janna rushed over as soon as she could.
"What's going on? I thought it was just a cold," she asked, her gaze fixed on Dagmar with a tone that brooked no argument. "How did we get to leukemia? Charles gets a check-up every six months. How could he possibly have this disease?"
Fiona remained seated, motionless.
On her way here, memories long buried had surfaced unexpectedly.
As a child, she'd learned from her grandparents' conversations with her mother that there had been an aunt she never knew, who'd passed away at just over three years old.
The cause... it seemed, was leukemia.
After hearing this, her mother had become abruptly emotional, sequestered Fiona in a room, and spoke privately with her grandparents.
The following day, her grandfather took her to the hospital for a test she didn't understand at the time.
"Grandma," Fiona turned to Janna, "can you access my mom's childhood medical records?"
Janna hesitated, then nodded. "I should be able to."
"Then please do."
It didn't take long.
They brought over Jane's records.
A brief review confirmed Fiona's suspicions.
"Jane had leukemia too," Fiona said, reading the details on the file marked with the age of five, feeling a numbness in her scalp and an uncontrollable tremor in her hands.
The record also mentioned a suspected genetic defect as the cause of the leukemia.
"How could this be possible? Joshua never mentioned this!" Janna said gravely. "Why would he keep such a thing from us?"
"What if it's because he realized back then that Jane wasn’t his biological daughter?" Fiona looked at Janna.
Janna froze.
"Back then, Joshua's wife had already passed. What if he didn't consider the possibility of a birth mix-up, but instead, infidelity by the wife he adored? Whether it was for the father-daughter relationship or his and his late wife's reputation, he couldn't let this become known."
Janna had known Joshua since childhood.
She understood his reticent nature through and through.
What Fiona suggested was entirely feasible.
"Genetic defect…"
Fiona covered her face with her hands, overwhelmed by a sense of absurdity and helplessness, as a tidal wave of emotions washed over her.
"We don't have the test results yet, and even if it's confirmed, what of it? If you're sick, you get treatment. Bone marrow transplants are not insurmountable," Janna said firmly.
Fiona remained silent.
The tests weren't difficult.
Before long, the final results were in Fiona's hands.
"Miss Rhoads, we are sorry, but rest assured, we will immediately discuss and offer the best possible treatment plan," the hospital director promised.
"Thank you, everyone," Fiona nodded.
The medical team left swiftly.
Charles was admitted to the hospital as soon as he could get home.
After settling in, it was already the early hours of the morning.
Fiona lay beside Charles who, exhausted, had fallen asleep.
Alone at last, Fiona couldn't hold back her tears any longer—they rolled down her cheeks relentlessly, as if they would never stop.
She had laid down for a while when Burl's call came in.
Climbing out of bed, Fiona walked outside.
There stood Burl, his eyes red and his hair a mess, right at the doorstep.
"What are you doing here so late?" Fiona asked tiredly.
Choking back a sob, Burl managed to say, "You know how Charles has been working to recover the details of that canceled transaction account? We got the results."
Fiona's heart ached even more. Charles had already been sick, and yet, to find the person behind the plot to kill her, he had spent endless nights holed up in a dark room, tirelessly coding.
Maybe… Maybe it was those days of exhaustion that had worsened his condition.
"Who was it?"
Murder flashed in Fiona's eyes.
Burl pulled out his phone, shoving the retrieved account details in front of her, "Lilian!"
Fiona's fists clenched instantly.
"Tell Stuart, as soon as Lilian lands from Singapore, arrest her on the spot," Fiona seethed.
"Stuart's already on it. You suspected her all along, didn't you? Otherwise, you wouldn't have had people watching her in Singapore," Burl questioned.
The matter of Lilian sneaking off to Singapore had not escaped Fiona. She thought she had been covert, but from the moment she purchased her plane ticket, Fiona had been aware.
She hadn't stopped Lilian from leaving the country because she was certain Lilian would return.
Fiona also hoped Lilian might slip up in Singapore, giving her the proof she needed.
"Aren't you being careless? You know Darwin is headed to Singapore too. What if they come back together and Darwin refuses to let you arrest her, protecting and defending her?" Burl exclaimed with worry.
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