Chapter 263
Sharon stared at the calendar, her eyes lingering on the date. She marked it carefully in her notes.
Twenty-five days left in the divorce cooling-off period.
It felt way too long. Each day dragged like a lifetime.
Just as the thought crossed her mind, her phone rang-
She glanced at the caller ID, then picked up.
Carter’s voice came sharp through the receiver, tinged with irritation.
“Sharon, didn’t you promise me that Kelly would finish at least one full course of the medication? She went to get it today. Why didn’t you give it to her?”
Whether Kelly was willing to take the medicine was one thing. Whether Sharon gave it to her was another entirely.
She’d known Kelly would go running to Carter. Of course she would. It was exactly the kind of thing that could be twisted as ” evidence” that Sharon wanted her dead.
Sharon’s voice was calm. “I gave you a letter of forgiveness. I handed over the first round of medicine. And all you’ve done in return is initiate a cooling-off period. That’s it.”
Carter heard the implication. His tone dropped, cold and low.
“You’re trying to bargain with me again?”
Sharon let out a soft laugh, light but unmistakably edged.
“I don’t go back on my word. I said I’d help, and I will. But I won’t be made a fool of. If I’m putting in the work, I expect something in return. Transfer ten million as a deposit, and I’ll give the rest of the medicine to Kelly.”
Carter’s voice turned glacial. “Sharon, have you ever heard the phrase ‘a snake that tries to swallow an elephant dies from greed ? You’re pushing your luck. Keep this up, and you’ll end up with nothing.”
She didn’t even flinch. “Even a mall requires a deposit to hold something. And this is life-saving medicine we’re talking about- crafted from rare and valuable herbs. If you suddenly decide you don’t want it anymore, I take the loss. That’s not fair.
“You can drop tens of millions on a house for Kelly, and now that I ask for ten million as a deposit, I’m greedy?”
Her voice sharpened, the sarcasm cutting clean. “Carter, the double standards suit you well.”
There was a silence on the other end. Then, finally, he said, “Give the medicine to Kelly. I’ll transfer the money.”
Sharon glanced over at Kelly, who was still miserably grinding herbs in the corner.
“You transfer the money first,” she said evenly, “then I’ll hand over the medicine.”
Lately, Kelly had been doing everything she could to sabotage the schedule. She dragged out every task, missed days, slacked off
-so now she was behind by several days’ worth of work.
Instead of catching up, she slowed down even more. Every day, she sat there, barely sorting through a single bag of herbs.
Uriah had seen enough. He reassigned her to grinding medicine instead.
It turned out worse. She mangled almost everything she touched. Piles of ruined herbs.
But Uriah wasn’t easily fooled. He was too old, too sharp, too experienced to miss the game she was playing. She wanted to be dismissed-wanted him to get so frustrated he’d finally cut her loose. But he didn’t take the bait.
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Instead, he doubled down-assigning her a fixed workload each day. If she didn’t finish it, it rolled over to the next. She’d be done when the job was done. He had time.
Grinding herbs was even more exhausting than sorting them. Kelly’s hands were covered in blisters, her skin raw from the constant motion.
She looked over at Uriah, who was calmly consulting a patient, and a dark gleam passed through her eyes.
She reached sneakily for a small porcelain vial. Inside was a deadly toxin, extracted from a snake’s venom-Uriah himself had harvested it not long ago.
If a single dose of the medicine he prescribed today went wrong…
It even one patient suffered, Uriah’s name, his reputation and his life would all be finished.
Today was Kelly’s last day here. She was done with the old man constantly riding her. Done with the humiliation.
So now, she was going to make sure he paid for it.
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