Chapter 74

Just then, Simon called me out of the blue.

"Hey Simon, what's going on?" I answered.

"Brandon's in trouble. My guys saw him surrounded by a bunch of people from the Jordan family and taken to the hospital," he said.

"The hospital?"

Kathy and I exchanged a worried look. Brandon was in the hospital, and no one had told me.

"Yeah, apparently he just collapsed during a meeting. Earl and Irene took him to the hospital, and Renee and Karen showed up soon after."

Collapsed?

I suddenly remembered researching the symptoms of syphilis when Brandon was diagnosed.

"Could it be stage two syphilis?"

"Very likely. I had bugged his phone earlier. I'll send you the recording in a bit."

Kathy couldn't hold back, "Serves him right. Sleeping around like that, he deserves whatever he gets."

Simon sounded surprised, "Is Kathy with you?"

"Yeah, we were out running some errands together," I replied.

After I told him about reclaiming the company shares, Simon said seriously, "Got it. I have some things to handle here. I'll send you the recording soon."

Not long after hanging up, Simon sent me the recording from Brandon's phone.

The recording started with chaos in the meeting room: "Mr. Jordan, what's wrong?"

Earl's voice came through, "He's got a fever. Get him to the hospital quickly."

There was a lot of shuffling and noise.

I manually skipped ahead, and soon it was inside the hospital.

Brandon seemed to have woken up, lying on the hospital bed, asking, "What happened to me?"

The room was eerily quiet until someone finally responded, "Brandon, you have syphilis. It's already in the second stage. How did you not notice earlier?"

Brandon was stunned and immediately broke down, "No way, no way. I always used protection. How could I still get infected?"

Irene's voice chimed in, "I hate to say it, but your private life is too messy. You can't just sleep around with anyone."

No one spoke after that, only the sound of Brandon throwing things could be heard.

Soon, Renee and Karen arrived. Karen started crying as soon as she saw Brandon lying on the bed.

"Brandon, how could you be so careless?"

Renee's voice was calm but firm, "It's not a big deal. Syphilis won't kill you and it can be treated. As long as you don't get a blood test, it won't be detected."

"The most important thing now is to keep this from Caroline. Get your treatment done quickly while you have the chance."

Renee seemed to have become the backbone of the Jordan family.

Hearing her words, Brandon stopped his tantrum, and Karen stopped crying.

The recording ended there. I looked at Kathy, "They don't want me to know. What if I go to the hospital anyway?"

Kathy couldn't help but grin, "Great idea. Scare the hell out of him."

We decided to act immediately. We drove to the company, pretending we had just learned about Brandon's collapse, and rushed to the hospital.

At the hospital, I headed straight to the emergency room, tears almost streaming down my face, "Where's my husband? What happened to him?"

"Take me to my husband!"

Kathy couldn't help but give me a thumbs up, "Nice performance."

Soon, Earl came out of the hospital lobby, and I grabbed him.

He looked at me, stunned, "Caroline? What are you doing here?"

I was on the verge of tears, "I went to the company, and they said Brandon collapsed. What's going on?"

Earl frowned. If it weren't for my presence, he might have cursed out loud.

"It's nothing serious, just a fever that wasn't taken care of, so he collapsed. He'll be fine after some treatment."

"Caroline, you should go home. Isn't the kid still at home?"

He tried to stop me, but I shook my head, tears streaming down, "I was so scared. Just let me see Brandon for a moment. It'll put my mind at ease."

Earl had no choice but to frown and lead me to Brandon's room.

Seeing me, the Jordan family members glared at Earl, as if asking who brought me here.

Earl sighed, "Caroline went to the company and found out about Brandon collapsing."

I ignored their conversation and pushed open the door to the hospital room.

Brandon was lying on the bed with an IV drip, and the room was a mess, with broken vases and cups everywhere.

Seeing me, Brandon looked like he had seen a ghost, "Honey, what are you doing here?"

I cried as I approached his bed, but I didn't touch him because I was disgusted by his illness.

"Honey, the people at the company said you collapsed. I was so scared. What happened to you?"

Brandon's face was pale. He looked at me for a long time before slowly saying, "I'm fine, just a bit of a fever."

I immediately stood up, "I'll go ask the doctor. How could you have a fever out of nowhere?"

Brandon was visibly frightened and quickly stopped me, "No, honey, it's really just a fever. I'm fine."

To prove it, he even stood up and walked around the bed, smiling at me.

"I've just been working too hard lately, so I got a fever. I'll be fine after a couple of days of rest."

I didn't know when Renee had slipped in, but she suddenly spoke from behind me like a ghost, "That's right, Caroline. Brandon is fine."

I glanced outside. Kathy was chatting idly with Earl and the others.

For some reason, Renee made me uneasy. I always felt something was off about her.

Thinking about what she had done to Asher before made me even more anxious.

"That's good. I was so worried, wondering how he could collapse out of nowhere."

"It's fine. We'll stay here with him. You should go home and take care of the kids. We'll bring him back after his treatment."

Since she said that, I couldn't argue. I continued my act.

"Honey, come home soon. Take a break for a few days. Don't overwork yourself."

Brandon nodded, pulling the blanket up, "Go on, or you'll be late picking up Brett."

After leaving the hospital, I signaled Kathy to follow me.

Outside, Kathy sighed, "I didn't expect their family to be so tight-lipped. I couldn't get anything out of them."

I nodded, not commenting further.

When it came to this, their family always stood united.

After parting ways with Kathy, I went to pick up Brett and headed home.

At that moment, Jason was standing alone at the gate, looking pitiful, probably waiting for his mom to pick him up.

But I only glanced at him. Kathy was right before. If I felt sorry for him, who would feel sorry for my child?

I took Brett home, where Holly had already prepared dinner.