Even if Ste had been slow to catch on, she realized now that Leonard knew everything she had ever done for Joshua.


    Her expression as she looked at him grewplicated.


    As if sensing her disbelief, Leonard said, "Star, I don''t go back on my promises. I hope you can trust me this one time."


    Whether she trusted him or not didn''t seem to matter anymore. She had no other choice.


    Ste asked, "Do you have any other conditions?"


    A glint appeared in Leonard''s eyes, and he ultimately gave in to the temptation.


    "If possible, I''d like you to take care of my injuries during this time."


    Ste looked at him. "Entrusting your health to someone who hates you... aren''t you afraid I''ll poison you again? Even if I can''t kill you outright, a slow-acting poison would be just as dangerous."


    Leonard said, "People like me are either killed by our enemies or by our own family. It makes no difference to me whose hand it is."


    He looked at Ste. "If you want revenge, you can make your move anytime. No need to rack your braining up with a n."


    Ste remained silent. She didn''t want revenge right now; she just wanted to leave. But leaving immediately was nearly impossible.


    Looking at Leonard''s injuries, Ste finally nodded.


    "Fine, I agree. I hope you''ll keep your end of the bargain. If you go back on your word..." An icy glint appeared in her eyes. "Leonard, I might just kill you."


    Leonard''s injuries had to healpletely, or he wouldn''t be able to fly the helicopter to leave.


    Leonard needed to recover, and she still had to prepare the gifts.


    Ste roughly estimated she would have to stay for at least another ten days, maybe two weeks.


    Still, it was a much safer bet than staying for the full three months or risking Leonard''s wrath by trying to plot against him.


    Ste and Leonard had reached a preliminary agreement.


    Ste was very good at taking care of people. She had looked after Keen O''Brien for a long time, and after meeting Joshua, she had nursed him back to health several times.


    Tending to Leonard would be no different.


    To help Leonard recover faster, Ste was much more meticulous than before when preparing his meals, focusing on foods that would aid his healing.


    After all, her chance to leave depended on his full recovery.


    Besides the time spent caring for Leonard, Ste had to use the rest of her day to prepare his so-called birthday gifts.


    Naturally, she wouldn''t put as much thought into Leonard''s gifts as she


    had for Joshua''s. But she didn''t


    choose to bepletely perfunctory either. -


    It hade to this; there was no point in provoking Leonard further. She couldn''t give him any excuse or reason to keep her here.


    As for Leonard... she would just give him whatever came to mind. Whether he liked it or not was not her concern.


    She could only promise not to just hand him a pile of junk or a few pebbles to get it over with.


    She decided the drawing of the little. cat she''d made earlier would be one of the gifts. She also collected some beautiful leaves and made thorn into bookmarks.


    The ind was rich with shells, so Ste gathered some pretty ones, nning to make a wind chime.


    Her options on the ind were, after all, quite limited.


    One day, as she was working on the wind chime, there was a soft knock on her door.