Thalia’s Pov
He undoubtedly agreed to accompany me to Italy just because I asked him to; the man could do anything for me, which was why I was working my tail off to figure out how to fix his illness.
He could turn or stop the world in order for me to receive the sleep I needed if he wanted to. He was every woman’s dream, yet I couldn’t understand why he had such a hard time finding love. He would have made someone happy without a doubt.
The day to travel came and he’d awoke weak, so I was left to finish the packing. I wanted to cancel the trip, but there was a professor I wanted to meet in Italy the next day.
He was not going to be there for a week because he was attending a summit on another continent. I wanted him to check my math for my project.
Italy provided me with many of the facilities and minds that I needed for consultation. I lied to Brandon, and I wasn’t pleased with myself.
He assumed I was going to rewind and work for his company, but I was actually using it as a cover for my project to save him.
Working for Brandon allowed me to relocate and purchase project-related items without Brandon’s awareness. And it also allowed me to turn one of his rooms in the beach house into my secret mini Lab.
Nestor was all I needed; he knew how Brandon worked and how to keep what I was doing hidden from him. Brandon was still obsessed with bringing Josh down to notice what I was doing.
I was planning to do a walk-through soon and tell him the good news. All he had to do was hold on for me.
When I looked at him, I noticed that he was staring at the wall like a mental patient and that he had lost weight. Surprisingly, I approached him and sat on his lap. “Howdy, handsome,” I said.
He inquired, “Do you recall the promise you made to me if I survived to see the baby?”
I gave the impression that I was pondering and put my palm over my mouth. “Mmmmm, please remind me, I seem to have forgotten,” I said.
He chuckled, his gaze falling on my breast, which I feigned I hadn’t noticed. I was hoping to persuade him to light up about the vacation.
“We’re going to have sex,” he said solemnly, and my heart skipped a beat as I just stared at him. He was dead serious, and that terrified me.
“I’m going to make it, Thalia,” he said, “and I hope you can keep your promise.”
The door opened and Nestor walked in, I exhaled deeply, but I could hear Brandon clenching his teeth in irritation.
“I’m sorry, hope I did not disturb anything?” He inquired.
“Yes you did, now get out!” Brandon became enraged and yelled at him.
“No, it’s fine,” I said as I tried to stand up, but Brandon grabbed my arm and asked where I was going. He wasn’t done with me yet, and he was waiting for my response.
“Is that all you’re looking forward to?” I questioned, clearing my throat, while my gaze locked on him. He smiled and released me as the room fell silent. “You’re the cherry on top,” he said.
“Then you just have one job: make sure you survive,” I stood up and stated.
Nestor gave me a sidelong glance as I proceeded to the kitchen, where he followed me. “Could you just quit promising him phony sex,” he issued a warning.
“I’m sure it’s none of your business, but have you done all the necessary preparations?” I inquired, shifting the conversation’s focus.
“Everything is in place, but Brandon does not appear to be in good shape. Is it possible that we can change the date of our trip?” He suggested, but I ignored him; he was absolutely accurate, but I was not going to let this opportunity pass me by.
“You can assist in the packing process,” I replied.
*Thalia If you put too much pressure on him, he will die before you can create your device.”
“I have taken notice of your viewpoint,” I replied and requested him to hurry up.
“Thalia?” He called me out.
“What?” I yelled angrily.
“Congratulations,” he replied while handing me a small box
“What is this for?”
“I never got to congratulate you on your pregnancy, and I’m sorry for that,” he said. I couldn’t tell if I was supposed to laugh or be puzzled. Looking back, I couldn’t recall him ever congratulating me, in retrospect; pitiful was the correct term to use to describe him.
I received the present and thanked him because he had been so helpful.
“What is that?” Brandon inquired upon entering.
I turned around; we had clearly taken longer in the kitchen, and he had begun to be concerned about what we were discussing.
“After three months, Nestor has finally given me my pregnancy present,” I said as I left the kitchen. Brandon yelled some type of jealousy slur at him.
But I couldn’t help but wonder, was Nestor so enraged at my pregnancy that he refused to even congratulate me back then? What was the point of him congratulating me now?
I grumbled and focused my attention on my phone while putting the present in my suitcase. I needed to confirm that the professor would be available. Following confirmation, I continued packing and stopped when I felt I couldn’t go anymore.
Nestor finished packing, I just sat there.
Brandon couldn’t even cook for me since he was too exhausted. He was having a very horrible day. When I was supposed to be apologizing, he kept apologizing. I was the one who was at fault, I was telling him that everything was fine.
I’d gotten quite good at lying, but where were my lies getting me to if he wasn’t going to live long enough to find out what I was doing for him? Was it worthwhile for me to tell lies? Would I be able to live with myself if I knew I had been aloof from him in his dying days?
I was preoccupied with finding a solution for him rather than spending time with him?
I sat there, pondering and calculating what could possibly go wrong. I raised my eyes when Nestor walked in front of me.
“Everything is packed,” he said, “but Brandon still insists on cooking for you before we leave.”
“Where is he?” Looking around, I inquired.
He said, “In the kitchen.”
I stood up and walked to the kitchen, Brandon was ready to start cooking when I stepped into the kitchen. I ignored his request and stuffed everything back into the drawers.
“Thalia, the baby, requires nourishment,” he cried out.
“Nestor is stopping by in the city to buy us food for that reason,” I explained. He was enraged as he gazed at me, adamant that he would not relinquish control of his kitchen.
I needed to divert his attention, so I leaned down close and gave him a small peck on his dry chapped lips.
It had been a long time coming, but at least he’d have something to look forward to. When I opened my eyes, though, I found him staring back at me. I waited for him to respond, but he remained silent, which was not the response I expected.
I stood up and rolled him outside to the Jet, but he remained silent. I couldn’t tell if he was surprised or enjoyed it. As he flew us to the city and bought us food, Nestor just raised an eyebrow.
After Eight long hours of travel, we arrived in Italy and took up residence in one of his massive villas. We shared the master bedroom despite the fact that the house had a lot of rooms.
We’d gotten into the habit of sleeping in the same bed and I had grown so accustomed to him over the previous few months that I was sometimes only wearing my underwear. I noticed him staring a couple of times, but it didn’t bother me as long as he didn’t touch.
I unpacked everything and called it a night, Brandon was already fast asleep, tired from the useless journey.
The next day came and Brandon stayed in bed, too exhausted to get up. Nestor remained in the country, preparing for my arrival at Mendel. In my case, I went up to the professor to present my study under the pretense that I was going out shopping.
I met up with the professor in one of the restaurants. He was impressed, but he dismissed my calculations by claiming that my device was impractical. Coming from a scientist, it was a letdown.
Nothing in science was unrealistic until it had been tried and failed. Creating a machine that can filter out modifying cells while maintaining the integrity of the production of new cells was far-fetched but I was not going to give up.
According to him, the gadget was capable of killing any living being. It was difficult to remove a person’s blood cells long enough for the same body to manufacture new ones. His other argument was that the replicating cells would overrun the body but a machine similar to mine was already on the market, an (ECMO) extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.
The ECMO machine was similar to the heart-lung by-pass machine used in open-heart surgery. It pumps and oxygenates a patient’s blood outside the body, allowing the heart and lungs to rest. But with mine, it would involve drawing out all the blood fast enough for the new blood to enter the body.
There would be no cancer deaths if it were possible, he said. It took everything I had not to make a snide remark about his intelligence.
All of the medical machines that were developed over the years had some scientists claim that they were impossible, but it took inventors to ignore those scientists, and that is exactly what I was going to do, but I still needed him to adjust my calculations because nothing seemed to add up.
Even if he didn’t believe in the machine, the very least he could do was calculate anything close to possible, and then I would have somewhere to start with.
He consented after an hour of coaxing and vowed to work on them only after his summit. I thought I could deal with that, so I handed him everything and ran back to Brandon. I did not leave him in such a good state; instead, I brought him his favorite, Shrimp.
When I walked into the mansion I was surprised to find the home smelling good. I walked into the kitchen to see him dressed in an apron cooking lasagna, he always looked hot in his apron.
“Hello lovely, you’ve arrived right on time,” he remarked.
I approached him and took his temperature; he appeared to have a normal temperature. He placed a scoop of food on my mouth saying; “Could you please stop nursing me, I’m feeling much better now,” he declared.
I chewed with my mouth open and asked for another spoon since the lasagna was so delicious. He’d honed his skills, and my meals paled in comparison. I promptly gathered a folk and dug in.
“What happened to the clothes you went shopping for?” He asked, catching me off guard. The lasagna turned dull in my mouth all of a sudden. I forgot to buy the clothes because my meeting with the professor was so terrible.
“Nothing seemed to fit me,” I gave my response.
“You’ve been out for three hours,” he declared.
I raised my eyes and saw him staring at me.
My phone beeped and looked at it, it was Nestor alerting me to the fact that I was with him. Apparently, Brandon had called him to find out where I went and who I met with.
I was annoyed and clutched my other hand, which was below the table. Brandon was far too intelligent for me, and I was convinced he had begun to suspect me.
“I caught up with Nestor and he helped me with the work stuff when I couldn’t find anything that fit me,” I said without looking at him. He was silent as if he was waiting for me to glance up and reveal the falsehoods in my eyes. I ignored him and swallowed another spoonful.
“Are you all set to go to work tomorrow?” he enquired
“Yes, I’m all set,” I responded and raised my eyes to him. “How was your snooping turnout? Did you find Victor?” I inquired in an attempt to destruct him.
“The fool has vanished, but I’ve focused my attention on Josh; guess where he went yesterday?” With a small smile on his face, he asked.
“The lawyer with whom he’s having an affair?” I made a guess.
“No the medical doctor,” he said.
“Why? Is he sick, oh my God, has he discovered about his testicles?” my eyes widened. Worried as I inquired.
“Relax, the doctor is under my payroll. Everyone is on my payroll,” he said emphatically. I couldn’t help but think he was warning me because he was suspicious. He was simply reminding me that he could hire anyone.
“So, what did this doctor of yours say to him?” I inquired, smiling.
“He told him, he was fine but stressed out, and he advised him to take it easy on the sex pills.”
I smiled because he was using the same poison that Josh used on me. Bogus physicians assuring him that everything was fine when nothing was. I approached him and hugged him.
“I was hoping for a kiss from you,” he protested.
I walked away, saying, “Not when you expect it.” I could hear him giggling.
Josh was taken care of, but I needed to figure out how to move around without Brandon being suspicious. I was going to lay low for a week until I received the professor’s calculations back. Adding stress to Brandon’s life was not going to help him.
I took out my phone in an attempt to delete all my conversations with the professor but it was wiped. All of the professor’s phone calls and messages vanished. I shrugged and threw myself on the bed, concluding that it had to be Nestor covering my back.
Nestor would be in charge of everything from here on out. Brandon had never had any suspicions about him. It bothered me that he could be trusted and I couldn’t.
The next day, I went to work and I was presented to everyone as Brandon’s part-time replacement. It felt good to focus on anything other than Brandon for a change, but I never stayed long and often simply worked from home, keeping Brandon company.
But when I went into work it was to meet with scientists and big heads in gadgets. Brandon knew about the meetings but he assumed I was securing the future of Gentex.
I established my lab at his beach property in the United States. Because Brandon was suspicious of everything, it had to be in his backyard.
For the past three months, I would occasionally arrange a meeting in the United States and return there for two days to work on my prototype.
The lab was up in his garage, I noted that was the only spot where there were no cameras, and he only went there once when he launched the boat.
It was ideal; even if we had to return, he would never know until I was successful. It was difficult to leave him, but Nestor was there to take care of him.
However, the three-month period came to an end, and we returned to the state.
I turned six months pregnant and fat, though not that fat. Brandon was hanging on but he was not as jovial as he used to be.
He was always in his head. But the good news was that I had made progress with my equipment and I was done with phase one.
We had to return in the middle of the night because Mandel was having a fundraiser slash cocktail party the next morning and I needed to attend. It was the first time I was making a public appearance at the main branch in the United States.
Most of the workers heard a lot of rumors about me and speculation that I was carrying Mandel’s heir were all over.
