Chapter 4: Looking For Mr. Jauncy

Words : 1909 Updated : Oct 23rd, 2025

"Why didn't you at least try to hold him back?" Lauryn snapped at Madison. Madison just pouted. By the time she'd rushed over, Gabriel had already started saving the man. How was she supposed to stop him? She kept quiet. "Ugh, get moving. Or are you waiting for them to come after us?" Lauryn fumed. "You're all useless! He really thinks he's some kind of divine healer." Madison started the car. She glanced at Gabriel in the rearview mirror and saw him gazing out the window, completely calm, as if her mother's rant hadn't even registered. Something felt off. She frowned at him. Since noon, he'd been acting like a different person, strange in ways she couldn't quite put her finger on. The Gabriel she knew would have been apologizing to her mother again and again, never this cool, never this detached. Puzzled, she drove them home. On their way back, the chief of surgery at Zerton Hospital stood by the man's hospital bed, staring in disbelief. He murmured under his breath, "How is that possible? How?" He'd practiced medicine for more than twenty years and had never seen anything like it. The wound hadn't been sutured, yet no blood was seeping out. Even one of his ribs had been repositioned, right near the heart. "Mrs. Warth, are you sure he didn't use anything, no instruments, no medication?" the chief asked the woman at the bedside. "Dr. Lapwood, you've asked me that several times. How is my husband?" she replied, her brows furrowing as she faced the man in the white coat. "My apologies," Daxton Lapwood said with a rueful smile. "The way he saved him was so astonishing I can hardly believe it." "Shawn," An elderly man in the room said in a low, steady voice, "go find that young man and give him my card. When Pedro recovers, I want to host a dinner in his honor." The Warth family was among Zerton's most powerful. The patriarch, Grissom Warth's word carried weight. He had only one son and had almost been forced to bury his own child. His gratitude toward the young man his daughter-in-law had mentioned needed no explanation. Besides, someone with such extraordinary skill was worth befriending. In any case, they owed Gabriel a proper thank-you. The moment Gabriel, Madison, and Lauryn got home, Lauryn's phone rang. She answered, said a few words, then hung up and turned to Madison, excitement brightening her face. "Madison, your aunt is coming over in a bit!" "Oh." Madison sounded distracted. "And Wilson is coming too," Lauryn added, delighted. Gabriel's brow furrowed. His mother-in-law never stopped scheming to push him and Madison into a divorce so she could land her daughter a prize catch. Her sister, Sharon King, was just as zealous. The "Wilson" Lauryn mentioned was the guy Sharon had set her up with. "If you ask me, let Madison go. File for divorce yourself," Lauryn said with a cold snort at Gabriel. "Let her find a decent man." Before Gabriel could answer, Madison spoke first, her tone chilly. "Mom, tell Aunt Sharon to take him away. I am not meeting him." "How can you not meet him? He came all this way for you," Lauryn protested. "Mom, do you think this is appropriate? Setting up a date for Madison right in front of me?" Gabriel looked at Lauryn and asked. Lauryn blinked, caught off guard, then bristled. "How dare you talk back to me?" She started forward to slap him, but froze when she met Gabriel's eyes. He looked at her with utter calm, his gaze icy. Madison, seeing it, said evenly, "If you really don't want me going on blind dates, then stop sitting around all day." With that, she headed upstairs. A faint smile tugged at Gabriel's mouth. Was she trying to provoke him? Lauryn hurried to open the door. A middle-aged woman, heavily made up, and a clean-cut, fair-skinned young man stepped inside. The young man carried several gift bags. "Mrs. Ades, just a few small gifts," the young man said with a pleasant smile. "I told him he didn't need to bring anything, but Wilson said you shouldn't show up empty-handed the first time. What a thoughtful young man," Sharon King said, beaming. Lauryn's face lit up at the sight of the gifts. "Wilson, you're too polite." "It's only right," Wilson replied, all polished manners. After they sat, Wilson's eyes roamed the room. He didn't see Madison. Lauryn caught on right away. "When Madison heard you were coming, she went upstairs to change." She turned to Gabriel. "Well? Go make Wilson a cup of tea." Gabriel didn't move. Make tea for the guy trying to date his wife? No way. "So this is Madison's deadbeat husband?" Wilson looked Gabriel over, smiling, but there was a thread of disdain in his voice. Before Lauryn could interject, Gabriel let out a soft, contemptuous laugh. "You've got some nerve, acting like you own the place before me." "What is wrong with you today? So mouthy. Get back to your room," Lauryn shot at him when she heard Gabriel mock Wilson. "It's fine, Mrs. Ades, I won't stoop to his level," Wilson said with an easy smile, though a glint of triumph flashed in his eyes. "Let's have Madison come down." Madison's voice floated down from the stairs. "Mr. Wilson, please leave. I'm not getting a divorce. This is only my mother's wishful thinking." Wilson looked up. At the sight of her figure, her stunning looks, a flash of greed crossed his gaze, which he quickly masked with a bright smile. "Madison, why waste your time on this loser? You ought to be with someone better." Gabriel spoke up. "And what makes you think you're better than me?" "Me?" Wilson's tone cooled. "In status, I'm a manager at Warth Group. In looks, I'm ten times better-looking than you. In what way am I not better than a bum like you? I could crush you with one finger." "Ten times better-looking?" Gabriel tilted his head. "You've got so much foundation on your face you could frost a cake with it. You're a grown man wearing makeup, and you still have the nerve to brag?" A soft snort of laughter escaped Madison on the stairs. Still, she couldn't help wondering what had gotten into him today. "You..." Wilson sputtered, at a loss for words. He rallied with a snarl. "If I were you, sitting at home all day without a job, I'd go jump in a river." "Exactly. Look at yourself," Sharon chimed in. "Wilson became a department manager at Warth Group at twenty-five. And you? You're still scraping by with the daily necessities." Knock! Knock! Knock! All eyes turned to the door. Who could it be at this hour? Lauryn opened it. A young man in a crisp suit stood there, smiling. "Excuse me, is Mr. Jauncy in?"

Chapter 4: Looking For Mr. Jauncy

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