I Was His Wife, Then His Widow, Then No One's But My Own novel Chapter 98

The moment they reached the front door, Bonnie didn't even bother taking off her shoes. She bolted up the stairs with rapid footsteps. Nora followed her up to the second floor. The study door was slightly ajar, and Bonnie pushed it open gently.

Inside, Xander was sitting at his computer. The top two buttons of his dress shirt were undone, and his sleeves were rolled up past his elbows, revealing the faint outline of veins on his forearms.

He looked unimaginably worse than he had that morning. A fine sheen of sweat coated his forehead, his lips were chapped and peeling, and a sickly, feverish flush had taken over his face.

Yet, he was still working, stubbornly refusing to take a break.

Bonnie ran over, tilting her head up. "Dad."

Xander looked down, momentarily stunned. "Why are you two back?"

"Did you have fun at the summer camp?" His voice was incredibly hoarse.

"You're sick, and you're still working! The assistant wasn't lying to me!"

Bonnie pouted, tossing her small backpack aside before standing on her tiptoes to press her hand against his forehead.

The intense heat made her immediately flinch. "Dad, you need to go to bed right now. No more working!"

Looking down at his daughter's fierce but teary-eyed expression, a faint smile tugged at Xander's lips.

A look of deep affection softened his gaze. He closed his laptop and shoved it aside. "Alright, Dad will go lie down."

He pushed himself up from the chair, but the moment he stood, his vision spun. Instinct took over, and he grabbed the edge of the desk just in time to keep from collapsing.

Just then, Nora knocked gently on the doorframe. "Mr. Harrison, may I come in?"

Xander's reaction time was a beat slower than usual. His gaze drifted to the figure in the doorway, his pupils contracting slightly before his tone immediately shifted to its usual icy register. "Come in."

"I'm fine," he said, maintaining his signature aloof tone, though the unnatural flush creeping up his neck betrayed him entirely.

Nora couldn't help but offer a helpless smile. "You're barely lucid, yet you still insist you're fine."

"I used to be just as stubborn as you. I'd force myself to push through whenever I was sick, thinking it would magically pass. And you know what that got me?"

She paused. "Zero gratitude, and a body that never quite fully recovered."

Bonnie aggressively nodded her head in agreement from the sidelines. "Dad, listen to her! You have to listen to Nora!"

Xander looked down at the woman and the child standing before him. There was a strange harmony to the picture, as if this was exactly how things were always meant to be. Before he could say another word,

Bonnie and Nora each grabbed one of his arms, dragging him out of the study and straight toward the bedroom.