Chapter 516 Blown Up
Winona reached out to hug Lydia, but Lydia stopped her. "I just watered the flowers and got all wet. I'm a mess..."
Before Lydia could finish, Winona pulled her in close. "Mom, can you tell me about that boy you almost adopted?"
Women sometimes notice things men don't. Zachary mentioned someone was behind Timothy, and maybe Lydia's story could shed some light.
Lydia had heard about Timothy from Evander, so when she heard his name, she frowned. "Is he in trouble again? I told your dad not to get involved. That kid was nothing but trouble; we should've left him in the orphanage, but your dad insisted on bringing him out."
"No," Winona quickly reassured her, not wanting Lydia to get too worked up. "I'm just curious. He went abroad and hasn't caused any trouble recently."
Lydia responded, "What's there to be curious about with a psycho? Who knows what he's thinking. Just stay away from him."
According to Evander, they had only seen Timothy twice at the orphanage: once to confirm his identity and once to handle the adoption paperwork. Later, they had their people settle Timothy in one of their properties and send him abroad. Could that one incident of animal abuse really make Lydia so hostile towards Timothy?
Winona asked, "You didn't see him that often, but why do you dislike him so much?"
Lydia lowered her lashes, hiding the fleeting panic in her eyes. Under Winona's gaze, she snorted, "I'm not a saint. I can't like someone who has no empathy, especially since he's now lurking around Mr. Ramsey. Just thinking about it gives me the creeps!"
Lydia had been in a terrible state recently. Although she ate, drank, and slept as usual, she visibly deteriorated, becoming so frail that even a light breeze could knock her over. Evander had no choice but to tell her that Zachary was still alive.
He thought Lydia would rush to confirm it, but she didn't. She just silently cried over the paternity test results for an entire afternoon.
Winona pressed, "Does Timothy have no other relatives?"
Lydia replied, "They're all dead."
After venting, Lydia softened her tone. "His parents weren't married. They had a one-night stand and decided to keep the baby after discussing it. But they couldn't get along during the pregnancy, and after the baby was born, they went their separate ways. The mother disappeared completely, and Timothy's father never came back after his accident."
Evander and Timothy's father worked at the same company and were close in age. If it weren't for those later events and his embezzlement, they wouldn't have had a falling out.
Winona said, "He went abroad so young and grew up under your care. Even if he had bad intentions, he shouldn't have any connections."
However, to push Zachary to such a state, Timothy couldn't be just an innocent boy.
Thinking of Otis, Winona frowned. "Is Timothy's father really dead?"
To plant a spy in the Bailey Group, he would need to be highly resourceful, having likely worked there in the past and built a network of loyal subordinates.Evander and Zachary must have thought this through. If they didn't suspect anything, maybe Winona was just overthinking it. She was just asking out of curiosity.
Lydia seemed hesitant to talk about that person. She pursed her lips and finally said, "Yeah, he's dead. When they pulled him out of the water, he was soaked in seawater. The body exploded when the inexperienced bodyguards retrieved it, spraying them with goo."
Winona fell silent.
She could picture it.
She felt like throwing up.
Lydia's voice was calm. "They did a DNA test and confirmed it was him."
Winona glanced at Lydia. Lydia was so calm about such a disgusting scene that she almost suspected Lydia had made it up out of hatred.
Winona asked, "Has anyone suspicious contacted him over the years?"
Lydia shook her head. "Not that the caretakers mentioned."
She hadn't been keen on adopting Timothy in the first place, but did it for Evander. The Bailey family could afford to support one more person. However, after witnessing Timothy mistreat a dog, Lydia abandoned the idea and left it to Evander to deal with, not giving it much thought afterward.
So she wasn't very clear about Timothy's affairs.
Winona was arranging flowers with Lydia when she got a call from Austin. Austin asked, "Where are you? The nurse said you were discharged?"
Winona replied, "I went home."
"You..." Austin paused, afraid that mentioning the miscarriage would upset her. He said, "After such a major surgery, shouldn't you take a year or so to rest?"
He had just asked the nurse about the complications of a miscarriage: uterine perforation, heavy bleeding, and damage to the birth canal.
It almost scared him to death. He wanted to drag Winona back to the hospital and have a doctor watch over her 24/7.
Winona was sitting cross-legged on the sofa, eating fruit that Sarah had washed. She replied, "I can't stay in the hospital for a year. The doctor said I could be discharged."
Austin asked, "Where are you staying after discharge? Are you still in that small apartment you rented near the Bailey Group? Is anyone taking care of you?"
Winona said, "No, I'm staying with Lydia. She'll take care of me."
Austin had met Lydia and recognized that she genuinely treated Winona like her own daughter. Staying there would guarantee the best care. Austin said, "Send me the address."
Winona asked, "What for?"
Austin said, "I have something for you. I forgot yesterday because someone interrupted."
Winona instinctively asked, "What is it?"
Austin replied, "You'll know when you see it."
He had been back in the military recently, crawling through mud, flipping tires, lifting logs, practicing shooting, camouflaged in the jungle for days. What good thing could he have for Winona? He just wanted to buy her some supplements but knew she would refuse, so he made up an excuse.
"Give me the address, and I'll come to you," Winona hadn't planned to stay at the old house overnight, so she could stop by on her way back.
Austin remarked, "You need to take care of your health now. Don't think about running around. The nurse said you shouldn't be exposed to cold wind or touch cold water for a week."
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