Chapter 164

[Evelyn’s POV]

I was a nervous wreck.

No matter how hard I tried to calm my nerves, I couldn’t seem to relax for longer than a few minutes.

When I reached out to Edward’s Doctor, I wasn’t entirely sure what I was expecting from our call. I knew it had something to obviously do with Edward’s erratic shift in his health.

Honestly, all I was really hoping to hear was some kind of probability statistics or rather a time frame for when I could expect my brother to wake up. Unfortunately, I knew better than to assume anything so fantastic as that.

Then again, I should have known better than to assume anything in regard to the doctor. When he had first answered the phone, I was somewhat anticipating being met with a lower, aged voice. But that wasn’t the case.

The man sounded...young? I wasn’t at all expecting the excited tone the moment he’d realized who was trying to contact him.

“Evelyn...Evelyn Kingston?”

“Yes, you’ve been treating my brother, Edward these last few months and have been trying to reach out,” I had said. “I want to apologize for taking so long to—”

“Oh my God! This is wonderful! Yes, of course, I’ve been hoping that we could talk,” he exclaimed. “I’ve been tracking your brother’s progress these last several weeks and I still can’t wrap my mind around how he’s managed to recover from such a drastic default in his health.”

My heart flipped in my chest whenever I recounted that awful time. It filled me with unmeasurable anger and loathing toward my Stepmother.

“Believe me, no one was more confused and shocked by that sudden drop in his health than me at the time,” I muttered.

“Mrs. Kingston, I have to tell you that I know what was causing your brother’s health to suddenly fail.”

“What?!”

I nearly fell over my own feet when I heard those words. I swiftly stood up from the table and began pacing.

“Yes, is there a chance that we could, perhaps, meet in person and discuss this matter in greater detail?” he asked.

There was no mistaking the eagerness in his tone.

I stopped my manic pacing and went still as stone.

“M-Meet in person?” I stuttered.

I felt my throat go dry and my palms begin to sweat. Knowing that this man has been sitting on this information for God only knows how long, it didn’t seem right to turn him down.

I unconsciously lifted my hand to touch the cool hard material of the mask that now sat on the right side of my face. No one beyond the pack perimeter, apart from Samantha and Liam, knew about my current state.

“I have a bunch of reports on your brother’s progress since the incident in his health occurred. I think it would be much easier if you were able to actually look at them for yourself,” he acknowledged.

It made sense.

“Alright. The thing is, I’m not...I’m not in the best condition to be out and about at the moment. Would you be able to take a trip to Kingston Hall?” I questioned.

“Of course. Would tomorrow afternoon work for you?”

“Yes,” I said shakily.

Unfortunately, I had very little choice in the matter either way.

So, there I was. Anxious as all hell waiting for this doctor to show up just so I could find out what he managed to uncover from Edward’s health results. I’d informed some of the staff that I was expecting a visitor today and to please inform me when he had arrived.

In the meantime, I began flitting about the kitchen setting up a pot of tea for us. Right as I finished setting everything up on the portable tray, one of the maids poked her head into the kitchen and spoke.

“Evelyn, Doctor Cawfield is here.”

“Thank you,” I said. “Will you please escort him to the back patio area? I’ll be there momentarily.”

She nodded her head and disappeared.

I carefully picked up the tray and headed out toward the back end of the manor. I did my best to steady my nerves, not having a single idea what I was walking into.

My mind didn’t have enough time to plot possible scenarios in my mind. As I came to approach the patio, I almost toppled over when I saw the person who’d been patiently waiting for me.

Doctor Cawfield was nothing like how I imagined him to be. Naturally, I was raised with the ideology of ‘never judging a book by its cover’; however, nothing about this man made me think that he was a literal doctor.

The man couldn't have been any older than me. He wore a nice button-down dress shirt and pants. His light dirty-blond hair was gently slicked back and away from his face with the exception of a few thick strands hanging over his forehead.

His chiseled features looked like they belonged to a model much less a medical professional. Needless to say, he was fairly attractive. I knew it was wrong to have had some kind of stereotypical expectation for the man to be as old as Ian. Clearly, that wasn’t the case.

I set the tray down on the table and cleared my throat. “Hello, Dr. Cawfield.”

He took a brief moment to look at me. My stomach rolled before I was struck with one of the most stunning smiles I’d ever seen on a man.

“Evelyn. Please, call me Henry.” He reached out to take my hand. “Thank you again for reaching out. I’ve brought the reports with me like I said earlier on the phone.”

“Great,” I breathed. “Why don’t we sit down?”

Over the course of an hour, Henry went over Edward’s charts from the time right before his sudden decline to after he was able to show signs of progress. I was thankful that he was able to look past the strange oddity of me wearing a mask.

“I’d spoken to some of the staff at Silverwood Estate,” he explained. “They told me that you came when you heard Edward wasn’t doing well. Evelyn, what did you do? I mean, how did you know how to fix the problem?”

I was touched by the wonderment in his eyes.

“At first, none of it made sense,” I told him. “Edward’s treatment had been working like a dream. He was making such amazing progress that I genuinely believed he was going to actually wake up soon. But then to hear that, out of nowhere, his health had taken a turn for the worse...No. I refused to believe it. I went back home and I tried to look into his charts and treatment plans. Nothing was adding up.”

My heart clenched from the thought of seeing my brother that close to the brink of death.

“What was more conflicting was that there were zero traces of any possible administrations on his body. Which could only mean that it was his actual treatments that were being tampered with,” I concluded.

“Yes, you’re right,” he confirmed proudly.

“I immediately switched out his present IV drip to a whole new one and...I hoped for the best,” I said honestly. “Over the falling days since I made the switch, I realized that my conclusions were correct and Edward’s health was gradually improving once more.”

Henry was utterly astounded. His smile never left his face even as he shook his head in disbelief.

“I promised I’d tell you what it was that was actively killing Edward.”

“Yes,” I prompted.

God, I couldn’t take the suspense any longer. I needed to know!

“It was Hemlock.”