Chapter 78: Is it really you?

Chapter 78: 78: Is it really you?

"What is it now? What complaint do you have now?" Cassian shouted back, glaring at them.

"Change it. She can’t address you as her heartbeat, the remaining two of us are both her heartbeat too," Raymond replied, glaring fixedly at him.

"That’s right, it’s not acceptable," Alan commented.

"I say, are you both deliberately messing with me? This is not acceptable, that is not acceptable—what is acceptable then?" Cassian questioned, glaring back at Alan and Raymond.

"Puppy is okay," Raymond replied.

Nova burst into laughter right away. Staring at Cassian’s twisted expression, she couldn’t hold back her laughter, laughing so genuinely. She looked flawlessly breathtaking, giving off the aura of a goddess.

Cassian’s mouth opened speechlessly. "What puppy?" he questioned, staring at Raymond with disbelief.

Raymond laughed, not replying. Alan, seeing Cassian’s bitter expression, couldn’t control his laughter as well.

"You both!" Cassian pointed at the two and stared at Nova, who was still trying to control her laughter. He walked closer to her. "Darling, say something," he said.

Nova finally took control over her laughter and took in a deep breath, still giggling. "How about I call you sweetheart?" she replied.

Cassian smiled immediately. "I’m fine with it," he replied and pressed a gentle kiss on her lips.

Nova nodded and finished her food, then drank the soup Cassian had brought her. "I’m full. I’m going to the painting room now," she said.

Before she could stand up, Raymond immediately put the tray on her lap away and lifted Nova into his arms. "I will take you there," he offered.

"Do you even know which room it is? Let me carry her there," Cassian said, wanting to carry Nova from Raymond, but Raymond ignored him and started walking away.

"Well, if I use half of the day to search the entire mansion, I will find it," he replied and left.

"Hey, let me take you there then!" Cassian shouted and followed immediately.

Alan, who was still sitting on the bed, raised the blanket he was using to cover his lower body and peeked inside, sighing.

"Even I myself didn’t know I had such a big libido. I just realized," he murmured, recalling his intimacy with Nova, his body turning hotter and his lower body getting hard. "Ahh! I’m really... damn it!" He jumped out of the bed and rushed to the bathroom immediately.

.... The Hospital ....

A suffocating, heavy silence hung over the sterile office. The sharp smell of antiseptic felt overpowering, almost sickening.

"I’m confused. Who did you offend to punish you ruthlessly like this?" Inside the doctor’s office, a middle-aged man dressed in a lab coat stated, staring at Mr. Zion, who was sitting across from him with a pale, hollow expression.

"Your eldest daughter is completely paralyzed. She can only spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair, unable to move a single muscle. Your second daughter might look intact on the outside, but her reproductive system has suffered severe pelvic organ prolapse and catastrophic internal scarring. She will never be able to carry a pregnancy, and if she tries, the uterine rupture will kill her instantly. And your wife... every single one of her teeth was brutally ripped out from the gums." The doctor explained, his voice flat with horror as he laid out the grim medical report.

Mr. Zion clenched his fists tightly, hot tears welling up in his eyes as a wave of paralyzing dread washed over him. "James... I... I think she’s back," he said, his voice heavy, trembling, and filled with panic.

"Who is back?" Doctor James questioned, his face filling with confusion as the air between them grew tight.

Mr. Zion clenched his fists even tighter until his knuckles turned deathly white. "It’s her. She did this to my family," he replied.

Doctor James frowned tightly, but then his tense expression relaxed, seemingly having understood what Mr. Zion was talking about. "I think even you need to get checked. There’s no way she can ever be back. If she were really back, do you think you would be sitting here chatting with me?" he replied.

Mr. Zion shivered violently, Nova’s terrifying, dark smile replaying in his mind repeatedly like a haunting nightmare. "I’m... I’m scared," he replied, his heart hammering against his ribs. "The book is also missing," he added.

Doctor James froze, the blood draining from his face as the room instantly felt freezing cold. "What? How did you lose it?" he questioned in a loud, demanding voice.

"It... it wasn’t me! I... I don’t know why or how it went missing. I am completely confused!" Mr. Zion replied with a shivering, broken voice.

Doctor James gritted his teeth together, a cold sweat breaking out on his neck. He pulled his phone from his lab coat pocket with shaking fingers and hastily dialed a number to call someone.

The call rang a few times before it was connected. Before James could even speak, another man’s voice echoed over the speaker, laced with anxiety.

"Have you heard that the entire Sunny family is dead? The necklace is also missing."

Doctor James froze completely, his breath hitching in his throat. "What killed them?" he asked, his voice starting to shiver.

"That is what’s confusing me, the evidence shows that the whole family killed themselves. But I think there’s more to that... much more."

"This... this..." Doctor James stuttered, staring at Mr. Zion with wide, terror-stricken eyes. "Come to the old house. We need to talk seriously," he said.

"What’s the matter?" the man’s voice echoed again, sounding slightly surprised by the sudden shift in urgency.

"Old man Zion is with me right now. His family situation is currently horrific, and according to what he’s saying, he said she probably is back. And most importantly... the book with him is missing," Doctor James explained.

"What!" the voice exclaimed over the phone, the sudden shout crackling through the receiver. "How can he be so careless! I’m coming right away!" he added, and the call was abruptly disconnected.

Doctor James breathed out heavily, his chest heaving as the looming shadow of an inescapable threat settled over him. "Don’t panic. Go and check on your family first," he said to Mr. Zion.

Mr. Zion nodded numbly and stood up from the chair, stumbling as he exited the room.

Doctor James’s eyes darkened with deep, suffocating dread. "The necklace is missing, the book is also missing, the family killed themselves... I’m afraid I will be the next target. Is it really you?" he murmured, clenching his fist together tightly while his body trembled.

Inside the dim hospital room, the air was thick with misery. Mrs. Zion, seeing Mr. Zion walk in, immediately stood up from the bed, grabbing his arm with trembling hands.

"Have you got her arrested? Is she in jail now?" she asked, her voice sounding slurred, hollow, and horrifyingly garbled since all her teeth had been violently removed.

Mr. Zion violently yanked his hands away from Mrs. Zion’s grip. He stared at his two unconscious daughters lying motionless on the hospital beds, then stared back at his disfigured wife, his chest rising and falling heavily as the built-up terror finally exploded into pure fury.

"Look at the two daughters you raised! Both of them invited ultimate doom to our house, and you, as their mother, didn’t do anything to stop them—yet you dare to ask me if she’s in jail?!"

He stared right into her face, his eyes bloodshot with terrifying fear. "Can you use your brain for once and think about whether we are even going to survive from now on or not?!" he shouted, finally letting out his deepest, most suffocating fear into the quiet room.