Chapter 418 Gavin Visits
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Everett’s voice rang out, low yet measured, the way a man speaks when he believes he owes a debt no one can name. “While you were unconscious,” he had said, “I took the ne to the diagnosticsboratory for authentication. They confirmed it is the very piece the Fane family once fastened around Yara’s neck. The fire damaged several links, so I had a master restorer clean and mend them. Only now, after proper care, do I dare return it to you.”
Quinn epted the ruby ne with both hands, its cool weight startlingly familiar. For a breathless instant, the gem’s crimson heart mirrored her mother’s smile, and the hospital ward fell away like a dream.
After Everett left, she sat by the window and studied the ne for hours. Daylight bled into dusk, then into full darkness, yet she remained there until her eyes stung. Only when the ward lights clicked on did she ease the lid shut, setting the velvet box gently on the nightstand beside her bed.
Later, after her evening shower, steam still curling from the bathroom doorway, she stepped into the dim room and froze. Someone sat in the visitor’s chair at the foot of her bed, framed by the green glow of the heart–monitor.
It was Gavin. Family physician to the Whitethorn family, a man known for arriving with solutions instead of exnations.
She had met him once before when Julius‘ insomnia threatened to consume the heir from the inside out.
Now Gavin sat hunched over the night–stand, the velvet box open, the ruby ne resting in his gloved palm. His expression was so focused it bordered on reverence, as though the jewel whispered secrets only he could hear.
Quinn tightened the belt of her robe and cleared her throat. “Mr. Huxley, it is well past midnight. What exactly brings you to my room?”
Gavin jerked upright, eyes wide behind silver–rimmed sses. “This ne–is it yours?”
“Yes,” she said, unable to hide her confusion.
“How did youe to possess it?” His voice cracked with urgency that did not fit the hush of
the ward.
“Why shouldn’t I? It belonged to my mother.” Quinn’s brows knitted as she met his gaze.
“Your mother? But years ago, this very piece was traded overseas for food and medicine, was it
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not?<b>” </b>
Quinn’s heartbeat stumbled. “How do you know about that?”
The question alone confirmed what Gavin had feared. This was the ne Julius had hunted for half his life.
As a boy, Gavin had once seen Julius sketch this very pendant in meticulous detail, puzzled that a child who despised finery wouldbor over any jewel.
“If I ever find that ne,” young Julius had whispered, “I might finally repay the little girl who saved me.”
“Repay?”
“Yes. It was her mother’s, yet she bartered it away for food and medicine. That girl saved me, so I want to repay her. Guess what, Gavin. She was younger than I was, yet she wanted me to live,” young Julius had said.
For the first time, Gavin had seen light in Julius’s frost–blue eyes—a flicker of life straining to <i>stay </i><i>lit. </i>
Gavin had murmured, “Do you even want to live?” though he doubted Julius would answer.
“I don’t know,” Julius had said. “But I wonder if I meet her again, will she still choose to save me? Will she wish for me to live?”
That night, the question had drifted unanswered into the dark. Tonight, Gavin finally knew the
answer<b>. </b>
Yes–she would. The realization rang like a bell through the hush, bright and undeniable.
The little girl who had once hauled Julius Whitethorn back from the brink of death had been Quinn Bridger all along.
When fate spun them together a second time, Quinn saved him again, her every breath a silent plea that he keep living.
No wonder Julius kept insisting the hand that preserved his life had always belonged to Quinn.
Their bond had sprouted in childhood, rooting itself long before either understood what it
meant.
That was why Julius now wagered his life without flinching–everyst breath offered in tribute to Quinn.
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Chapter 418 Gavin Visits
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“Mr. Huxley, have you admired the ne long enough? I’d like it back.” Quinn stepped up to Gavin, palm open, her gaze steady and upromising.
Gavin pressed his lips together, lowered the lid of the velvet box, and ced it in Quinn’s waiting hand. “Quinn, Julius has seen this piece as well. He knows it was your mother’s keepsake.”
Quinn’s brows drew tight. “Yes, and? What of it?”
Gavin exhaled, the sigh slipping out before he could stop it; the confirmation stung more than he cared to admit.
“Julius has spent years hunting for that ne,” Gavin said quietly.
Quinn blinked. “What? Why would he be searching for it?”
“Long ago, overseas, a little girl pulled him back from death. Heter learned this ne had belonged to her mother. He vowed to return it and thank her. Luck mocked him–he never found it until now, when it is already in your hands,” Gavin said slowly.
The truth froze Quinn where she stood, her breath snagging in her throat.
She remembered Julius telling her once that a girl abroad had saved him, and that he had searched for her ever since.
<i>Could </i><i>that </i><i>little </i><i>girl </i><i>have </i><i>been me</i><i>? </i>
“Abroad? When we were children?” She sifted through hazy memories of traveling with her parents, moments of hurried charity–yet no clear image of Julius surfaced.
“Yes. Overseas, artillery shattered a house, and debris pinned Julius beneath the wreckage,” Gavin said, his voice low. “You were the one who dragged the stones away and freed him. Later, he fell for you, <i>so </i>it’s no surprise he would go this far.”
A ripple of dread cut through Quinn. “What has he done? Mr. Huxley, you know where he is, don’t you? I need to <i>see </i>him–right now.”