My First Love Died, Now My Step Uncle Wants Me-Chapter 13: Face the Consequences

Nina Wynn’s head snapped up, and she saw Caleb Rhodes inside the car. His cold, dark eyes were fixed on her, the chill in them scraping against her like blades of ice.

She was startled and subconsciously took a step back, her eyes filled with panic.

"U-Uncle Caleb..."

’Didn’t he leave? Why is he still here?’

Caleb Rhodes’s well-defined hand tapped the steering wheel, neither too lightly nor too heavily. His voice carried a hint of a warning. "Nina Wynn, I’m not a patient man. I don’t like to repeat myself more than twice. Get in the car!"

Nina’s face paled further. The oppressive aura radiating from Caleb Rhodes washed over her, and she felt her stomach churn even more uncomfortably.

With no other choice, she had to pull open the rear door and sit in the spot farthest from Caleb Rhodes.

The air conditioning in the car was blasting. Nina couldn’t help but shiver, and her stomach, as if chilled to the core, began to ache even more intensely.

Caleb Rhodes picked up something from the passenger seat and handed it to Nina. "Drink this!"

Nina took it and saw that it was a bottle of sobriety aid.

He then handed her a bottle of water. "Rinse your mouth."

Nina’s stomach hurt so much she could barely sit up straight, but under Caleb Rhodes’s immense pressure, she had no choice but to do as he said.

However, taking them didn’t alleviate her stomachache. In fact, the pain grew even more intense, but she didn’t dare make a sound, curled up in the back seat and drenched in a cold sweat.

She didn’t know where Caleb Rhodes was taking her, nor did she care. The immense pain left her with no desire to think.

Her head was bowed low, revealing only her smooth forehead, which was covered in a fine, dense layer of cold sweat.

With one hand on the steering wheel, Caleb Rhodes would occasionally glance at Nina in the rearview mirror.

The lighting was dim, and he could only see her curled into a small ball, pressed against the car door.

She was so small, yet she looked stubborn, very much like some kind of small, soft, but difficult feline.

Neither of them spoke, and the atmosphere in the car was heavy with tension. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Finally, as they drove onto a tree-lined road, Caleb Rhodes pulled the car over to the side.

Traffic on this road was light, and both sides were lined with towering Gaulian plane trees. The light was naturally ambiguous, tinging the atmosphere inside the car with an intimate hue.

Caleb Rhodes gripped the steering wheel, his voice ice-cold. "Nina Wynn. Explain."

He wanted her to explain why she had been hiding from him.

Nina’s stomach pain had her drenched in sweat, so much so that even the leather seat around her was damp.

Her lips moved, her voice trembling slightly. "I... I went to the restroom. When I came out, you were gone."

Hearing her lie so blatantly, Caleb Rhodes felt the beast within him straining at its leash. His eyes grew darker and more inscrutable, yet his tone was light. "Why didn’t you call me? Didn’t you know I was waiting for you?"

Nina felt like she was about to pass out from the pain, and a metallic, sweet taste rose in her throat. But she didn’t dare leave Caleb Rhodes’s question unanswered.

"My... my phone died."

That, at least, was the truth.

Caleb Rhodes said nothing more, only staring at her through the rearview mirror.

The space inside the car wasn’t large to begin with, and the light was dim. Caleb could only see her small, smooth forehead and her slightly parted lips.

Glistening lips, just as they were that afternoon three years ago, with a hue that could make a man lose control.

After what felt like an eternity, he suddenly spoke. "Nina Wynn, that afternoon three years ago..."

"Uncle Caleb!" Nina’s head shot up, her small, deathly pale face filled with terror. "I’ve forgotten! I don’t remember anything about three years ago."

Even her fingertips began to tremble. "I really don’t remember, can’t you just..."

"No!" Caleb Rhodes cut her off coldly. "You don’t have amnesia. You couldn’t possibly forget, and I certainly haven’t forgotten. What happened, happened. It’s a fact."

’Even though we didn’t take the final step.’

In an instant, the memories she had deliberately tried to forget came flooding back into her mind. Nina was too terrified to look up, and the tension made the spasms in her stomach even more severe.

Suddenly, a warm gush surged into her throat—metallic and sweet.

She opened her mouth, but before the two words "Uncle Caleb" could escape her lips, the metallic, sweet liquid began to drip from the corner of her mouth.

In the rearview mirror, Caleb Rhodes saw a large amount of something red gushing from the corner of her mouth.

He whipped his head around. "Nina?"

Nina clutched her stomach tightly, in too much pain to speak. The cold sweat had nearly soaked her clothes.

Caleb Rhodes quickly moved to the back seat to check on her. He saw her clutching her stomach, her face contorted in pain, and a flash of anger colored his cold, desolate eyes. "You’re in this much pain and you wouldn’t say a word? How stubborn can you be?"

Nina was on the verge of fainting from the pain, biting her lip tightly to keep from making a sound.

Caleb Rhodes’s gaze grew even more piercing and cold. He quickly fastened her seatbelt and said in a low voice, "Hang on. We’re going to the hospital now."

He ran who knows how many red lights on the way, and by the time they reached the hospital, Nina had already fainted from the pain.

When she woke up, she saw Caleb Rhodes standing by the window, talking on the phone.

He was still wearing the white shirt and black trousers from earlier in the day. Noble and aloof, with broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and long legs—even just the sight of his back was enough to command anyone’s attention.

Nina had just woken up and couldn’t immediately recall what had happened. She simply stared blankly at Caleb Rhodes, thinking she must be dreaming.

Caleb Rhodes’s hushed voice drifted over:

"Replace them. They’re all a bunch of incompetent fools. What’s the use in keeping them..."

"Terminate the partnership. Make him get the hell out of Elysian City..."

"Look into the Prescott Family. See if they’ve made any moves worth noting recently."

Perhaps sensing her gaze, Caleb Rhodes quickly ended the call and turned around.

He looked at Nina’s dazed expression, his tone faint. "You’re awake?"

The hospital lights were bright enough to illuminate his handsome face, accentuating the sharp, defined angles of his features and giving his good looks an aggressive edge.

Nina was still a little groggy, staring at him in a daze.

Caleb Rhodes walked over, his tall frame blocking the overhead light. Nina was completely enveloped in his shadow, and she instinctively shrank back, whispering, "Uncle Caleb..."

Caleb Rhodes stared down at the small whorl of hair on the crown of her head, his voice cool. "You drank too much. Now you have gastric bleeding. You’ll need to be hospitalized for a week."

The faint scent of cedarwood, mixed with the hospital’s disinfectant, entered Nina’s nostrils. That familiar, suffocating feeling instantly washed over her again, making it difficult to breathe.

She instinctively pressed herself back against the bed. "A week?"

’Does it really have to be that long?’

But she didn’t have that much time. She needed money—a lot of money—and earning it took time.

As if he had read her mind, Caleb Rhodes said coldly, "Nina Wynn, you will stay put in this hospital for the week. If you dare to run again..."

He didn’t finish the sentence, merely fixing Nina with a cold stare.

Nina couldn’t help but shudder.