The Ex and Her Riches novel (Gwendolyn and Maverick)

Chapter 185 Still Alive

Nico belatedly looked up, only to find a pair of bloodstained hands with slender fingers tightly gripping his wrist.

Maverick had woken up.

That was not all. He had also recovered most of his strength after receiving the 023 antidote injection earlier.

He lay on the chaise lounge and turned his head to look at Nico. A faint smile curled on his bloodstained lips as he

chuckled and said, “I’m not going down so easily, so pull yourself together.”

“Boss!” Nico’s eyes flashed with shock and delight, but then he continued to cry, “You scared me to death! I really

thought you were gone!”

Swain, who was considerably younger than Nico, had been scared witless, too.

At that moment, the two men burst into tears in front of Maverick, completely dispensing with their image. After a

while, they started laughing with relief as tears continued to stream down their faces, making for a rather comical

sight.

Maverick gently patted Nico’s shoulder, comforting him, “I was just exhausted. The S404 RNA virus caused my

heart and pulse to go into temporary cessation, but I heard everything you said.”

“Then why didn’t you answer me?” Nico was furious and angrily pounded on Maverick’s arm.

Stupid boss! He made me cry like a baby! I completely humiliated myself!

Maverick furrowed his brows and let out a pained grunt.

“Sorry, sorry, I shouldn’t have hit you!” Nico looked distressed. To punish himself, he hit his own right arm with his

left fist.

Maverick sat up and said, “All right, tell me what’s the deal with this suppressant.”

Nico wiped the tears from his face and turned to look at Swain.

Swain nodded, sniffed, and reported earnestly, “Professor Yancey was shocked to learn that you were infected with

the S404 RNA virus. This suppressant cannot cure the disease, but it can temporarily inhibit the virus, thereby

allowing the body to recover for a short period of time. The effects of the medication can last up to a week at

most…”

One week. Maverick considered this. That means I can stay in Fairlake for another seven days at most.

Nico chimed in, “Boss, you must go back for treatment this time. Professor Yancey has already started working on

the antidote, and they need you to return for blood tests. Don’t you want to recover and have a long and happy

future with Ms. Shalders?”

Maverick pursed his lips and made no reply.

He had promised Gwendolyn to disappear from her world after a year, and she still had evidence of this in her

phone. To stay by her side forever was no easy endeavor, and it required some forethought.

He pondered on this and remembered the plan Swain had come up with the last time.

He was still deep in thought when he suddenly felt someone tugging on his clothes. He snapped out of his reverie

and saw Nico pawing at his shirt.

“What are you doing?” Maverick demanded.

“Boss, the wound on your back can’t be treated by ordinary medicine from any hospital dispensary. Professor

Yancey has provided a healing ointment for S404 burns. The least you could do is let me apply it on your wound,”

Nico explained.

That makes sense.

Maverick did not hesitate to unbutton his shirt. He elegantly removed his dark suit jacket, then proceeded to shrug

off his blouse to reveal his perfectly-chiseled physique.

Nestled between the defining lines of his muscular back was a palm-sized burn.

The wound was still a ghastly shade of red even though it had been three days since the viral infection. At this point,

the wound had already festered, and the surrounding skin and flesh had begun to peel away. It looked grotesque.

Even someone as bloodthirsty and ruthless as Nico could not help inhaling sharply at the jarring sight of the wound.

He asked Swain to fetch a basin of hot water from the bathroom. Then, using a towel, he first wiped the bloodstains

off Maverick’s back, then used tweezers to remove the rotting flesh surrounding the wound.

Maverick broke out in a cold sweat, his veins bulging and his jaw tightly clenched.

Nico felt a pang of sympathy for the man and remembered the tranquilizer gun they had brought with them. “Boss,

should I give you a sedative? This can hurt really bad.”

“Don’t worry. The 023 antidote is working. I can handle this much pain.”

Nico had no choice but to grit his teeth and apply the ointment on Maverick’s wound.

Swain, who was nearby, did not remain idle, either, and seized the opportunity to clean up the bloodstains on the

floor.

However, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of several figures outside the villa gates who were

running in their direction.

Swain paused his cleaning and took a proper look this time. Then, his eyes widened as he hastily cried, “Ms.

Shalders is back! Ezra and Justin are with her, too!”

Maverick frowned. “So soon?”

Swain glanced out the window again. “She came back here on foot! I don’t see Charles anywhere.”

Pressed for time, Nico had no choice but to speed up in applying the ointment while Swain quickly cleaned up the

scene.

Outside, Gwendolyn was just about to step through the iron gates of the garden.

Swain gasped dramatically as he remembered something. “Oh, no! The bodyguards are still lying in the garden!

There’s no way we can cover this up…”

Gwendolyn ran all the way back from Bay Hill, her anxiety intensifying with every step she took.

She had stopped hating Maverick ever since he rescued her at Crane Bridge, and he no longer owed her anything.

Given that they were divorced, it was best for them to be estranged in the future. She would never consider

remarrying him, let alone returning to the Wright family to endure their mistreatment.

However, that did not mean she was prepared to watch Maverick die.

Distressed, she made her way into the garden, only to stumble upon Elven and the others lying unconscious in the

backyard.

Ezra and Justin were both astonished.

Has the villa been burgled?

Justin stepped forward to examine the scene, and through his keen observation, he noticed that all three of the

unconscious men had a pinprick on their necks.

“Ms. Shalders, they were all knocked out by tranquilizers,” he concluded grimly.

Gwendolyn’s expression grew somber. Whoever did this had been able to make Elven and the other two put their

guards down and lure them out of their hiding spots, thereafter knocking out all three of them at once. It could only

be accomplished by someone they knew.

“Take the three of them to the living room first. Find a way to wake them up, then ask them what happened,”

Gwendolyn said decisively.

After that, she quickly entered the villa, headed up to the second floor, and pushed open Maverick’s bedroom door.

She found Maverick sitting on the edge of the bed. He was wearing only a thin silk shirt that he was currently

buttoning up.

When he saw her walk in, his eyes widened in surprise. He quickly fastened the last two buttons at his collar and

asked, “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be having dinner with Charles right now?”

Gwendolyn tried to catch her breath. She was a little worn out from running all the way back home.

Once her breathing had grown steady, she made her way over to him, her heels clicking against the floor.

She came to a stop in front of Maverick and narrowed her eyes as she assessed him icily. She grabbed his chin and

leaned in slightly, closing the distance between them.

Maverick’s ink-black eyes had regained their usual brilliance, and he looked up to meet her gaze.

She noticed the change in his appearance and frowned.

In just a little over ten minutes, his condition had seemingly improved significantly.

What did he do while I was gone?

Gwendolyn was close enough to him to detect a faint, metallic scent on him. It smelled like blood.

Even more peculiar was the dark red stain on the inside of his pale lips.

Gwendolyn brought the tip of her nose close to his lips and gently sniffed. As expected, there was a faint scent of

blood.

Maverick looked at her face, which was mere inches away from his, and suddenly held his breath. Any closer and

the tip of her nose would touch his lips.

If I were to take the opportunity to kiss her now…

He held that thought for a moment.

She might just beat me to death.

Just as he was lost in his thoughts, Gwendolyn’s face gradually pulled away.

She straightened up and stared at him for a moment, then said gravely, “I smell blood on you. Did you cough up

blood?”

This was a test as much as it was an interrogation.xo.com fast update

Under the dim lights of the room, they held each other’s gaze.

Maverick’s expression remained unchanged as he gestured toward the trash can next to him. “No, I did not cough

up blood. I did, however, just apply ointment to my back.”

Gwendolyn followed his gaze and looked at the trash can. Indeed, there was a heap of bloodstained bandages that

looked freshly removed.

How could he have possibly applied ointment on the center of his back without any help?

“Is that all?”

Maverick nodded obediently. “That’s all.”

He had been full of lies these days. Gwendolyn did not trust him at all.

She let go of his chin and quickly unfastened the metal buckle of the belt around his waist, then pulled his belt off in

one swift motion.

Maverick’s eyes widened in surprise. “Gwendolyn?”