My First Love Died, Now My Step Uncle Wants Me-Chapter 43: Uncle, It Hurts

Caleb Rhodes’s expression was as cold and detached as ever, but the ferocity in his eyes was terrifyingly palpable.

"Don’t be nervous. Just tell me how you came to acquire this dress."

The moment he spoke, the shop owner was so overwhelmed by the oppressive air of a man in power that he didn’t dare to look him in the eye.

He timidly handed the dress to Caleb Rhodes. "Last night, it was almost ten. A young girl, maybe seventeen or eighteen, came in with this dress. She said it was a new model she’d just bought for over two hundred thousand and asked if I could buy it."

"The style isn’t available on the market yet, so I thought it was a fake and tried to send her away. But the girl insisted it was the latest model and that she’d only worn it for half a day. I took another close look, and the tag, quality, and craftsmanship all checked out. I was sure it wasn’t a counterfeit, but the model really wasn’t on the market. In the end, I gave her a thousand yuan and chalked it up to doing a good deed."

"Later, out of curiosity, I searched for it online and discovered it was actually a new, unreleased model for the next season. So I examined it carefully and found a mark you’d placed on a small clasp. I immediately contacted the brand’s distributor, but I never expected you to show up so early this morning."

After he finished speaking, he looked at Caleb Rhodes again with fear and trepidation, terrified he had said something wrong that would displease the famous Valorian Crown Prince and cost him his small shop.

Caleb Rhodes ran his fingers over the dress’s delicate tulle. His voice was heavy. "What was her condition?"

The shop owner tried to recall. "She didn’t look well, like she was seriously ill. I have security footage, would you like to see it?"

Just then, Willson Lawson entered from outside and lowered his voice. "Third Lord Master, we traced the footage. She’s in an old residential complex up ahead."

Caleb Rhodes’s expression was terrifyingly cold and grim. Willson Lawson hardly dared to meet his gaze and just said, "That complex is not in a good area. The conditions are poor, and it’s dozens of kilometers from where the incident occurred. There are almost no security cameras around there. We only found it by using Skynet. But at least we found her."

"Lead the way."

This was one of Elysian City’s first mixed-use residential districts, at least thirty or forty years old and incredibly crowded. It was no exaggeration to say that tens of thousands of families were crammed in here, a stark contrast to the boutique high-rises not far away.

The streets were also extremely narrow. After entering an old alley, the car could only go twenty or thirty meters before it could go no further. They had no choice but to leave it on the side of the road. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

After a twenty-minute walk, Caleb Rhodes stood at the entrance of the dilapidated complex, his expression grim.

Willson Lawson pointed to a window on the fourth floor of the outermost building. "That’s the one. But I asked around—this apartment has been vacant for about ten years. I have no idea why Miss Wynn would be staying here."

It was ancient and unbearably decrepit. The paint was peeling off the open wooden window, and the glass pane looked as if it were about to fall out.

Caleb Rhodes stared at the window without a word, so Willson Lawson naturally kept silent as well. After a moment, the two of them walked through the rust-spotted gate.

This was, without a doubt, the worst residential complex the Valorian Crown Prince had ever set foot in. The stairs were narrow and coated in rust. Dust constantly flaked from the walls, which were plastered with a chaotic collage of small advertisements.

They soon reached the fourth floor.

It was an old-fashioned layout with two apartment doors facing each other. Nina Wynn’s place was on the right.

The door was made of sheet metal, a type that hadn’t been used in over a decade. After knocking for a while with no response, Caleb Rhodes’s expression began to change.

His voice was terrifyingly cold. "Open it."

Willson Lawson had a few skills. He found a small piece of wire and had the flimsy metal door open in seconds.

A musty smell hit them as they entered, though it was clear the place had been cleaned recently.

The sofa was a twenty-year-old wooden model, draped in a yellowed, ancient slipcover. The wooden floorboards were almost completely cracked, CREAKING with every step.

On the dilapidated table sat an old-fashioned thermos, disposable paper cups, and two boxes of instant noodles.

The rickety window was open, letting in a draft, and the air seemed to be tinged with the faint scent of blood.

The darkness in Caleb Rhodes’s eyes deepened. He softly called out her name. "Nina Wynn."

There was no answer.

He called out twice more, but still received no reply.

Willson Lawson quickly said, "I asked the man at the gate downstairs. He said he didn’t see her leave today. She’s probably in one of the rooms."

The apartment wasn’t large—just two rooms. Caleb Rhodes glanced at the door on the right and pushed it open.

A small, jade-like figure was lying on the bed in the center of the room. She was wearing an oversized T-shirt that barely reached the tops of her thighs. Her pale, slender legs and arms were splayed across the dark purple sheets. Sunlight filtered through the broken window pane, dappling her body in a scene of indescribable beauty.

Her hair was fanned out on the bed, making her small face look as white as paper. Her lips were just as colorless. A trail of dark, still-wet blood trickled from the corner of her mouth down to her neck.

Caleb Rhodes took one look, and his expression changed drastically. "Nina Wynn!"

The person on the bed didn’t move or respond.

Caleb Rhodes instinctively held his fingers under her nose. The faint warmth against his skin pulled his scattered thoughts back together.

The memory of that perilous scene was still vivid in his mind. Caleb Rhodes’s eyes seemed to plunge into an abyss, dark and icy.

He raised a hand and lifted her T-shirt.

Her entire torso was a mass of livid bruises, and the blood on her abrasions looked as if it hadn’t yet dried.

Caleb Rhodes’s hand trembled. He called her name, his voice hoarse. "Nina."

There was no response. He reached out to touch her face and only then discovered that her forehead, arms, and legs were covered in countless scrapes, some already scabbed over.

His hand trembling, he gently pressed the wound on her forehead. "Nina!"

This time, Nina Wynn’s eyelashes fluttered, and she slowly opened her eyes.

Her gaze was unfocused. It seemed to brighten for an instant upon seeing Caleb Rhodes, but it dimmed again just as quickly.

Her paper-pale lips parted. "Uncle..."

Caleb Rhodes lowered his head, pressing his cold lips to her forehead. His voice was raw and broken. "Nina, don’t be afraid."

Nina Wynn tried to raise a hand to clutch at his clothes but lacked the strength. Blood began to seep from the corner of her mouth again. "Uncle, am I going to die...?"

Her soft little voice seemed completely devoid of life.

Caleb Rhodes felt as if someone had seized his heart and was trying to rip it from his chest. Though the hot summer wind blew in from outside, it felt like a thousand sharp, icy blades against his skin.

Slicing him apart, piece by piece.

The chill was so deep it ached in his very bones.

Nina Wynn’s faint voice was what pulled his soul back from the brink. "Uncle, it hurts..."

He turned his head and called to Willson Lawson outside, "Go buy a blanket and bring it up."

Willson Lawson had likely seen the scene. He was shocked, but also astounded by the girl’s terrifying endurance. Still, he felt they should go to the hospital immediately. "Shouldn’t we call an ambulance?"

Caleb Rhodes’s voice was exceptionally sharp. "Did you not hear me? I said get a blanket."

Willson Lawson immediately headed out. "Right away."

By the time the blanket arrived, Nina Wynn was mumbling, her words broken and unclear.

"No hospital..."

"Police there... no hospital..."

"Scared... no hospital..."