My First Love Died, Now My Step Uncle Wants Me-Chapter 114: It Could Kill Him

Before Warner Zimmerman could finish his sentence, Caleb Rhodes had already rushed into the room.

In the dim light of the room, Warner Zimmerman was kneeling on the floor, cradling Nina Wynn against his knees. He was patting her face, calling out, "Miss Wynn, Miss Wynn..."

Caleb Rhodes’s heart plummeted. He strode forward and scooped Nina Wynn into his arms. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

He pressed his hand to her forehead. She didn’t have a fever, but his palm came away slick with sweat.

A dull ache tightened his chest as regret began to set in.

He felt her clothes and found that the oversized white T-shirt she’d put on that morning was completely soaked.

Just then, Warner Zimmerman touched the spot on the floor where Nina Wynn had been lying. He gasped and said in a low voice, "She sweated so much... the floor is wet."

Caleb Rhodes’s heart sank further. Anger and regret warred within him, creating a maelstrom of emotions.

’Is she really willing to die in here rather than just admit she’s wrong?’ he thought. ’He regretted locking her up for so long. He was furious at her escalating stubbornness.’

’Would it kill her to just say she was wrong?’

After a pause of several seconds, he carried Nina Wynn and hurried into the bedroom.

He laid her directly on the bed, and his gaze immediately fell upon Nina Wynn’s face, which was utterly devoid of color.

It was a ghastly, snow-white pallor, as if all the blood had drained from her body, leaving only sweat in its place.

Her normally timid eyes were shut tight, and even her long, thick lashes, which usually fluttered, were almost completely still.

Looking at her, Caleb Rhodes said in a low voice, "Bring in a cup of hot milk. And get Dr. Chapman over here."

As he spoke, he gently caressed Nina Wynn’s face, calling her name softly. "Nina!"

Nina Wynn seemed to sense she had been moved. She fluttered her eyes open, but her gaze was unfocused. After just a moment, she closed them again.

She looked so weak she didn’t even have the strength to keep her eyes open.

Caleb Rhodes sat on the edge of the bed and lifted her up, letting her lean against his shoulder. "Are you always this stubborn?" he asked in a low voice. "Do you have to fight me on everything?"

Nina Wynn didn’t answer. Her head rested limply on his shoulder. Her injured finger was even more swollen, now a sickening shade of blue and purple.

Soon, the hot milk was brought in.

Caleb Rhodes took the milk and held the cup to Nina Wynn’s lips. "Drink a little," he urged softly. "Dr. Chapman is on his way."

Nina Wynn didn’t respond.

Her utter lack of response felt like just another form of defiance.

One surge of anger hadn’t faded before another rose to take its place. The two forces twisted together, rampaging in his chest. He felt like she was about to drive him to lose control all over again.

He gritted his teeth. Holding the milk in one hand, he used the other to grip Nina Wynn’s chin, intending to force the milk into her mouth.

Her jaw, which was usually easy to open, was clamped shut so tightly it looked as if she were trying to shatter her own teeth.

Caleb Rhodes was furious. He grabbed her hand, intending to force the cup into her grasp.

But as soon as his fingers closed around hers, he felt something was terribly wrong.

He looked down and saw that Nina Wynn’s little finger was swollen to the size of an egg. It was a dark, bruised purple and seemed to take up two-thirds of her palm.

Caleb Rhodes’s pupils contracted violently. The cup slipped from his hand and fell to the floor with a CRASH.

His heart plunged like a roller coaster, and for the first time, a savage panic seized him.

He had never felt panic like this before. Not even when Nina Wynn was suffering from hypothermia in the snow had he been this terrified.

A fatal premonition struck him: he felt that Nina Wynn was slowly slipping away from him.

An immense pain exploded in his chest. Staring at her swollen finger, he called out her name in a strangled voice, "Nina."

He remembered that when he’d slammed the door shut, it hadn’t seemed to close properly, as if something had blocked it.

’So that’s what it was. Her little finger.’

’Such a delicate hand, so small... was it crushed shut in the door?’

’Did she faint from the pain? Did she lie in that room for an entire day?’

’How much pain must she have been in to sweat that much?’

’And how stubborn must she be to rather die from the pain than beg me for mercy!’

These extreme emotions battered his chest. He’d never felt anything like it.

Not even back in Aridia, when hundreds of billions were on the verge of being lost and the Ainsworth Family was about to be devoured by their rivals, had he ever panicked.

But this time, for the first time in his life, he tasted the bitterness of impending loss.

’No!’

’Absolutely not. She belongs under my control, in the palm of my hand!’

At that thought, a dark chill rose in his eyes—paranoid and terrifying.

He laid Nina Wynn back on the bed, changed her into a set of pajamas, then wrapped her in a blanket and carried her out of the room.

Willson Lawson saw Caleb Rhodes emerge carrying Nina Wynn, his face terrifyingly cold, as if coated in a layer of frost.

Caleb’s gait was unsteady from the alcohol he’d drunk. Willson Lawson hurried forward to take Nina Wynn from him. "Third Lord Master, allow me."

"Don’t touch her!" Caleb Rhodes’s tone was exceptionally sharp. "Get the car. We’re going to the hospital, now!"

Willson Lawson flinched.

After so many years with Caleb Rhodes, this was the first time he had ever heard him speak with such a cutting tone. He knew instantly that something was terribly wrong.

But he didn’t dare ask any questions and quickly pulled the car around.

When they arrived at the hospital, the doctor took one look at her hand and shook his head.

Too much time had passed since the bone was crushed. It was a comminuted fracture, and some of the tissue was already necrotic. We recommend amputation.

Caleb Rhodes didn’t explode in anger. Instead, in front of the entire department staff, he stated coldly, "If you can’t save Miss Wynn’s finger, then no one in this department will have fingers."

The last time Nina Wynn was left in the cold, Caleb Rhodes had merely looked displeased, not uttering a single word of blame, yet the entire nursing team had been fired. To this day, no other hospital dared to hire them.

That incident hadn’t been long ago; it was still fresh in everyone’s minds.

So now, when Caleb Rhodes calmly stated that if Nina Wynn’s finger wasn’t saved, no one would have fingers, the entire staff of the orthopedics and surgery departments were terrified.

No one doubted he was joking.

This was The Valorian Crown Prince, known throughout Elysian City for his cold, ruthless methods. Many secretly called him "The Grim Reaper," and it was a title well-earned.

The Crown Prince was a man of few words, but when he did speak, there was virtually nothing he couldn’t make happen.

Therefore, everyone in the department was struck with terror upon hearing his words.

The older specialists on staff found the situation particularly dire.

Nina Wynn’s fracture was severe, but if she had been brought in immediately, they could certainly have saved it. They might have even been able to repair it perfectly.

But by the time she was brought in, more than ten hours had passed since the initial injury. Worse, there were signs of a second trauma to the area, which made things even more difficult.

The necrotic tissue had already begun to putrefy. When they made the incision, they found pus had already formed inside.

Now, forget about restoring it to its original state; the chances of saving the finger at all were slim.

Moreover, if an infection set in, they feared even the adjacent finger might not be salvageable.