The hand at her waist was strong, supporting her as she swayed.


    "Are you okay?"n''s low voice held a hint of tension. "Are you dizzy or is it your heart?"


    "Dizzy," Eleanor said, her eyes closed. Her voice was hoarse from crying. The world was spinning, and any movement made it worse.


    Instinctively, Eleanor wanted to push him away, but she realized she didn''t even have the strength to stand. The immense emotional shock and days of intense work had taken their toll on her body.


    "Let go of me—" Eleanor struggled.


    "Ian, put me down," Eleanor protested, but he gently ced her on the soft bed. She tried to sit up, but a firm hand pressed her back down.


    "You need to rest, now,"n said, his voice low and firm. He pulled a light nket over her.


    "I don''t want to rest here—" Eleanor turned her face away, resisting the scent of him in the room, resisting his care. Besides, after he had hidden so much from her, she didn''t want to face him right now.


    "If you still want to save him, you need to take care of yourself first. If you get sick, Mansfield will have no hope,"n said, standing by the bed and looking down at her, his gaze as deep as the sea. "And you have Evelyn to think about."


    His words hit Eleanor where she was most vulnerable. Her daughter was her weakness, and Mansfield''s life depended on her research Right now, she was so dizzy she really did need to lie down for a while.


    Seeing her fall silent, stubbornly biting her lip with tears still on her cheeksn''s tone softened. "Res here for a bit. When you''re not dizzy anymore, I''ll personally drive you back to theb."


    Eleanor''s mind was a mess. She closed her eyes and forced herself to rest.


    Just as he stepped back into his office, his phone rang. He nced at the caller ID and answered, "Hello, Principal Maxwell."


    A sigh came from the other end. n, did Eleanore to see you? I was on the phone with Ryan, and she identally overheard me mention Mansfield''s condition."


    "I''ve already exined everything to her. She''s a bit emotional, so she''s resting here right now."


    Principal Maxwell let out an even deeper sigh, his tone sympathetic. "Ian, I''m sorry you had to deal with this. It''s natural for Eleanor to be? emotional after learning the truth. She probably gave you a hard time, didn''t she? We had to follow Garth''s gag order, but on the other hand, we really didn''t want to burden Eleanor with too much psychological pressure and affect her research."


    Hearing Principal Maxwell''s understanding tone,n sighed softly. "I understand the Vice President''s intentions. If I were in his shoes, I would have done the same thing."


    "Well, try tofort Eleanor and reason with her. She should be able to understand the Vice President''s difficult position."


    "I will,"n said calmly. "I understand how she feels, too."


    "Then I''ll leave things in your hands. You''ll have to manage her emotions and


    ensure the research continues, or even speeds up. Mansfield had a bit of a downturn this afternoon."