Chapter 1763:


    They parted ways, and Henrik made his way alone down the corridor until he reached the right door. He knocked.


    The sound drew Christina to the door. She opened it, her expression shifting into one of quiet, puzzled attention as she took in the man standing before her.


    “Mr. Martel. What brings you here?”


    Over the past two weeks, Alban had made several attempts through the Wade family to separate Gillian from the Jones household. Every one of those attempts hade to nothing. She found herself wondering whether Henrik’s unexpected appearance was connected to that.


    “I heard King performed the surgery on the child,” Henrik said, his voiceposed. “I was hoping you might know where King could be found. And I wanted to see how the girl was doing.”


    His actual purpose was toy eyes on Adide following the surgery. The search for King was a convenient pretext — by the time word had reached them that King had been at the hospital, the operation was already over, and King had almost certainly left by now. He held no genuine expectation of running into the doctor.


    “I’m afraid we don’t know where King went,” Christina replied evenly.


    “Then I suppose we have no choice but to wait for another opportunity.” Henrik let out a quiet, tired sigh.


    “The surgery went well,” Christina added. “Once Adide is through the critical period, she should make a full recovery. She’s still unconscious at the moment.”


    “Would it be possible for me to see her?” Henrik asked, and beneath the measured tone there was something that couldn’t quite be contained — a quiet urgency, a hope.


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    “Give me a moment. I need to ask her mother first,” Christina said, and drew the door closed.


    It wasn’t her ce to decide who could or couldn’t enter. She turned to Gillian. “Alban’s grandfather would like toe in and see Adide. Is that alright with you?”


    Gillian considered it briefly. Henrik was an elderly man, and she had no personal grievance with him. Refusing without cause would be unkind. “Yes, he cane in.”


    Christina opened the door again. “Please,e in.”


    “Thank you,” Henrik said, the gratitude in his voice genuine and immediate.


    He stepped into the room and his eyes went straight to the small figure resting in the bed. Something moved across his face — a wave of emotion he made no effort to conceal — and his eyes reddened almost at once.


    “Poor little thing,” he murmured, his voice carrying the soft, helpless tenderness of someone who was already attached to what they were seeing.


    Christina noticed it. The warmth in Henrik’s gaze as he looked at Adide was striking — deeper and more personal than simple sympathy for a sick child warranted.


    What she didn’t know, of course, was the full story: that Gillian and Alban had spent a night together years ago, and that Adide hade from it. Christina had only ever assumed that Alban’s persistent interest in Gillian had stirred some secondary concern within his family for the child. She had expected Henrik toe with a quiet warning — to caution Gillian against bing entangled with Alban.


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