Chapter 18 Putting on a Show
Sadie clenched her fists which were hanging next to her thighs tightly into a ball after asking the question. Her knuckles were turning white from the tightening of the skin.
"I said, I need a bride," Julian stared straight into her eyes. He smiled slightly seeing the glimpse of anger and hatred in her eyes.
She was extremely obedient when she first came to the Mccarthy family, but now she was like a prickly hedgehog.
It was fun and fresh to see her extend her quills.
Sadie wouldn't normally speak in such a harsh tone to him. In the first two to three years, she would even seek his opinion for everything she did.
Because of this, Cayden Mccarthy, Julian's grandfather, didn't like her that much. He thought that she wasn't bright and didn't have a mind of her own. He didn't think that she was a good marriage partner for Julian.
One could easily judge a person's personality in the future by looking at their temperament as a child. She was almost ten years old back then, but she was still seeking for Julian's opinion on what to eat. She was also shy and fidgety, she would often lower her head in front of people.
He would say that he liked the present Sadie even more.
Bright and baring her fangs, it was how she should act for her age.
"You'll toy someone and keep them at bay, just because you need a bride?" Sadie snickered. She let go of her tightly clenched fist and swung her palm at his face.
Julian reacted quickly and grabbed her hand, his seductive thin lips smiled ambiguously. "I remember saying before, that this hand shouldn't be used to hit others, especially me."
Sadie couldn't break free of his grip as he had inhumane strength, she then squealed, "Go to the psychiatrist is you are mentally ill, stop bothering me!"
"You really mean that?" Julian stopped smiling and the temperature around him dropped. "I'm not done talking yet, don't be so agitated."
It was so quiet in the living room that one could probably hear if a needle were to drop on the floor.
Sadie felt humiliated for the first time in her life, she glared at him angrily and her face was turning pale, "You crazy bastard!"
Julian didn't care, but a hint of displeased could be seen in his deep and quiet eyes. He walked towards the priest who was standing on the other side and said to Sadie, "You are just my wife on paper, just put on the show with me. If you can't, then I will demolish that charity house."
"Put on a show? Why?" Sadie couldn't believe her ears, her eyes were now wide open. Was he bored out of his mind that he pulled so many stunts just so he could force her to "put on a show" with him?! Julian tilted his head to one side and tried to hide his laughing intention, "You look ugly but unique."
Sadie was taken aback, she was about to take off her high heels and stabbed him on the head with them.
Her phone rang after the oath and it made her heart skipped a beat. Khalid brought the phone to her and she quickly went up to take it. She thanked him and immediately took the call.
She was listening intently while biting her lips and then she said dejectedly, "I see." Suddenly, everything turned pitch black and she fell to the ground.
"Lady Sadie!" Khalid reacted quickly and caught her in his arms. He looked up and saw Julian running towards him. Julian carried her and rushed out the entrance.
Doctor Rees wasn't here today, but he arranged a colleague to be at the wedding ceremony to ensure that everything would go well.
Julian put her into the car and sat down in the passenger seat. He said coldly, "To the hospital!"
The driver didn't dare to take his time, he quickly stepped on the pedal and reversed the car skillfully. The doctor who was checking up on Sadie at the back seat was scared out of his mind.
The wedding ceremony wasn't even half-way through, and the bride had fainted. He crossed his fingers and wished that they wouldn't blame him for this.
He wiped the sweat off his forehead after the check-up was done and softly reported to Julian, "She had a high fever. Based on the preliminary diagnosis she most likely caught a cold." Julian rubbed his nose bridge and told the driver to speed up.
The Health Hospital was the closest to ZSB Garden. Within 10 minutes, the car arrived at the entrance of the hospital.
Julian got off the car and carried Sadie out, he carefully put her on the wheeled stretcher.
She was so light that he couldn't feel any weight on his arms while carrying her. This made the expression on his face looked even worse.
After a proper diagnosis, Sadie was put on a drip to bring down her fever and was brought to a VIP wardroom. Julian pressed his lips against each other and moved a chair next to the bed, he held her burning hand in distress.
He should've noticed that she was burning up when she tried to hit him in the morning.
"Master Julian, we manage to trace the phone call. It was from the hospital and her foster mother wasn't in a good condition." Khalid passed Julian Sadie's phone and said quietly, "Doctor Smith can only be here in a few days."
Julian raised his brow, took the phone and put it in his pocket without any hesitation. He then said to Khalid, "Buy her a new phone and get her a new sim card."
"Okay." Khalid glanced at the person on the bed as he quietly left the room.
Julian rubbed his nose bridge after Khalid left the room. He inched closer to Sadie and kissed her gently on her forehead.
She was sick, but she was still thinking about making money to pay the hospital bills. Heaven knew how much she had gone through throughout the years.
He placed his palm on her head and tousled her hair. He thought of the bump on the back of her head and his eyes slowly turned dark.
He had to dig out the person who did this to her!
Sadie's fever didn't go down and she was still unconscious after two bags of drips.
Julian's face was turning darker and darker every second. He stood silently in the corner of the room and gave out an air of displeased.
The doctor and nurses were working hard at the patient's bed.
"Add more doses and do physical cooling as well." The doctor finished up the check-up and turned to Julian with numbness in his head. "According to the CT scan result, she will be in a serious condition if her fever continues like this."
"Treat her according to your medical treatment plan." Julian pursed his lips and his tone of voice was frigid and bleak, "Go now."
The doctor nodded and ordered the nurses to keep an eye on her condition. The doctor then quickly walked out of the room.
Khalid gave Julian a bottle of water, Julian was frowning hard and looking very worried. "Lady Sadie will be fine, she's a fortunate person."
Julian glanced at him and pressed his lips together until they formed a straight line. He then loosened up his lips and said, "Prepare her casual clothing."
Khalid nodded and stepped away while taking out his phone. He gave Julian's personal assistant a call.
Sadie was still in the wedding dress, it might aggravate her condition if she woke up and saw a wedding dress due to her past trauma.
A set of clothes were quickly brought to the hospital and Julian made everyone else leave the room. He locked the door and helped her change into the clothes that were brought over.
The birthmark on her collarbone was disfigured, but other than that she didn't have any other burn marks. She definitely didn't look like someone who escaped and survived the fire.
His rough hands slid down her smooth back and he couldn't seem to stop himself.
Sadie was now 18 years old. She hit puberty and matured, she had long slender legs and an hourglass figure. She was a healthy and alluring fair young maiden. Julian tried to suppress his urge to tease her and took off the wedding dress carefully.
He put the wedding dress into a bag and sat down next to the bed. He touched the scar on her collarbone with his pointer finger and his eyes turned dimmer.
It was a unique birthmark, he could definitely recognize her based on the birthmark even if her face got disfigured.
The birthmark was initially only as large as a sesame seed. Once he jokingly said to her that he wouldn't be able to find her again if she got lost because she didn't have any unique features on her.
She looked at herself in the mirror naively and then she went and got a red pen. Her eyes were filled with tears as she said tearfully to him, "Julian, draw a mark on me so that you can find me when I get lost." He took the red pen and drew a circle on her birthmark, he then took her to the tattoo parlour.
She was only 7 years old, but she wasn't afraid of the pain from the tattoo needle. She even crawled into his bed at night and asked him if her tattoo looked good while smiling brightly.
Why would she get hurt at such a place though? Judging by the shape of the scar, the only thing that was disfigured was the birthmark and the surrounding area was smooth and fine. It was as if someone purposely wanted to wipe the mark off her.
But who was this person and why would they do this? He was in a daze until he heard a soft mumbling voice, "Where am I?"
Julian snapped back into reality and he looked deeply into her eyes. He said gently, "Sadie, you're awake."
Sadie opened her eyes wide and she clearly jumped upon seeing him, she said after a long pause, "Who are you?"¶¶¶¶