"All right, you said it! Do keep your word. Actually, I just came up with an excellent idea!" Debbie looked at Carlos with a sparkle in her eyes.
He grinned broadly. "You do know how to seize the moment."
"Of course! It's such a golden chance." Deep down, Debbie knew that Carlos spoiled her very much and allowed her to do whatever she wanted. But when it came to matters of Megan, it was hard to tell whether he would agree with her or not. So she wanted to take this chance to reach some sort of agreement with him.
"Tell me."
"Okay. Since you've arranged for me to study abroad, I think it's only fair that you send Megan abroad too. See? You've sent me to England and Dixon to America. So you should throw Megan to some remote, poor country far away from all of us."
Carlos was at a loss for words. 'My wife is crueler than me, ' he thought to himself, smirking.
Debbie didn't really want to drive Megan away to some remote country. As long as Megan stayed away from Carlos, any country was fine with her.
If Megan kept pestering her husband, Debbie was afraid that she would snatch him away sooner or later.
Carlos pondered about it for a moment. Then he said, "Since this semester has already begun, let her finish it. I'll send her to A Country after her final exams." Wesley was originally from A Country. The Li family was rooted there, so Wesley and his family could take care of Megan if she went there.
Now that Carlos had made an appropriate decision, Debbie thought she'd better stop asking for too much. She nodded happily and kissed his cheek. "Honey, you treat me so well."
Carlos pinched her cheek lovingly. "You're my wife. A husband is bound to spoil his wife, right?"
A happy smile crept over Debbie's face. She pulled him closer, pressed his head against her chest and patted him as if comforting a child. "Rest assured, I feel the same way. I'll love you for the rest of my life."
Carlos took the opportunity to run his fingers on her chest and kissed her neck. Startled by his movement, she protested, "Hey, behave yourself. You are wounded. Lie down. I'll give you a massage."
He raised an eyebrow. "Massage? When did you acquire such skills?"
Debbie pulled away from his arms and made him lie down on the bed. As she adjusted the height of the bed, she replied calmly, "I never said I had any special massage skills. I'll just...casually help you relax your muscles a little."
Carlos sighed, shaking his head helplessly.
Debbie took his right arm and began massaging it as she muttered, "Thank you, Mr. Huo, for your dedication to this family. You've been working so hard to earn us all this money. It's my duty to serve you. So, let me help you relax your arm first."
Carlos was suspicious about her sudden sweet words. His wife was buttering him up. It was not like her at all. 'Is this another trick?' he wondered. "Spill it out. What do you want?" he asked outright.
Whatever it was, he decided that he would try his best to meet her needs.
"Why do you think I want something? I really meant it. I do think that you work hard day in and day out. You have a mountain of work in your office, and meanwhile, you also have to act as someone's bodyguard, making sure that person is safe. I feel sorry for you..."
He could sense sarcasm in her tone. "So, you are not going to tell me what you want? You might not get a second chance," he said, studying her face.
Debbie moved to massage his leg. "I don't care. I just want to do my best to protect my husband, while he selflessly puts himself out there for another person. I don't really want anything from you."
Finally, Carlos could sense her jealousy filling the space.
She continued without looking at him, "I won't ask for anything, nor do I want anything at the moment. All I want is my husband's care. I hope that the next time my husband personally goes to the battlefield to protect another woman, or take a bullet for her, he would kindly think of me, his poor wife, who is waiting for him at home."
As she finished, she raised her head to look at him.
With a fake smile, she asked the silent man, "Honey, do you think I'm asking for too much?"
Carlos instantly shook his head. "No, not at all."
"Glad to hear that. Looks like my husband still has me in his heart. Honey, could you please enlighten me? You're a skilled fighter. You have better martial arts skills than me. How did you get shot again?"
Her cute tone had stirred his heart. When his lust was about to be triggered, her sudden sharp question snapped him back to his senses.
He couldn't tell her the whole story. There was a good chance that the truth would make this woman go crazy again. He was afraid that she would go to Megan's ward and throw her out of the hospital window.
Hearing no response from him, Debbie massaged his shin more forcefully, as if venting her anger. "Why the silence? Are you hiding something from me? Is it a secret between you and Megan?"
To appease her, Carlos had to spill the beans. "No. It's just that there were too many enemies this time and they attacked all of a sudden. Megan couldn't protect herself..." 'You got two gunshot wounds to protect Megan, ' she thought angrily.
Her hands stopped moving. Carlos went on, "Wesley was not around at that time. I couldn't just sit back and watch her get shot. Besides, her asthma attacks are more frequent these days. If she got shot on top of that, she would likely..."
Unconvinced by his explanation, Debbie clenched her fists. "Did you consider my feelings? If the bullet had hit your heart or head, instead of your shoulder, you..." Her voice trailed off, and her eyes brimmed with tears. With a quiet sob, she added, "If something worse had happened, what would I have had to face when I came back here? Did you ever stop to think about that? Do you love me at all? You will worry me to death!"
Tears streamed down her red cheeks.
Carlos immediately sat up and grabbed her wrist, pulling her into his arms. "Please, don't cry."
"I can't help it! Are you forgetting that you are not single anymore? You have a wife, and you have your parents. But you almost died for that Megan... How could your family live without you? Even if you are not concerned about me, think about how sad your parents and your grandparents would be."
Debbie cried even more hysterically. She was so scared when she imagined a life after losing Carlos. It struck her that this man meant the world to her, but he would thoughtlessly throw his life away for some other woman.
Her cries gripped his heart. Wiping off her tears with his fingers, he comforted in a hushed voice, "Honey, this will all be over soon. Those gangsters have been put on the police's most wanted list. They are now wanted all over the country. Wesley has found their base camp. When the right time comes, he will take his men to root them out. There will be no threat to Megan's life after that."
This was supposed to be confidential information which Wesley had given him in secret. Carlos hadn't intended on telling her, but to soothe Debbie, he had no choice but to tell her part of the truth.
If they could eliminate all physical threats around Megan, Wesley and Carlos would be more relieved, and they wouldn't need to be around Megan to protect her anymore.
Through her blurry eyes, Debbie asked, "The right time? When is that?"
"If things go well, it should be next month." 'Or sooner, ' he thought.
He would have been on his way to finish off those gangsters if Debbie hadn't come back without notice.
"Hmm..." Debbie sniffed. She completely believed his words, without realizing his true intentions.
Carlos tightened his arms around her. It took him quite a while to finally stop her tears.
In the end, they both fell asleep in each other's arms.
Debbie spent the night at the hospital to keep him company. She had wanted to ask Carlos about the incident of James adding birth control pills in her food. But throughout the night, she couldn't find a chance to ask him about it.
She had already argued with him over Megan, so she didn't want to stir up more matters to annoy him. She understood that Carlos must be stuck between a rock and a hard place. After all, it was his own father. Under no circumstances could he deal with his father like how he dealt with his rivals in business.
Even if Carlos was ready to punish James ruthlessly, Debbie wouldn't agree to it. The last thing she wanted was for Carlos to turn his back against his family because of her.
But little did Debbie know that Carlos had already had a terrible fight with James.