The Silent Wife

Chapter 118

Chapter 118

Rachel followed behind Justin and Gloria at a distance while listening as the staff member explained thehorse before them. “This horse is quite small in stature, and it’s quite docile. Mrs. Burton, since you’re anovice at horse riding, you may try riding this one,” he said.

Rachel tried to touch the colt’s head. When she saw that the colt didn’t resist her, she breathed a sigh ofrelief. She had never ridden a horse before, but she was looking forward to it.

After everyone had chosen their own horses, the staff members in charge led the horses out of thestable. At the sight of the scene, Rachel became somewhat nervous.

“This horse is so good-looking!” Gloria’s voice came from behind. “Miss Rachel, your horse is much moregood-looking than the one I chose. I’d like to swap my horse with yours.”

Rachel hesitated somewhat as she looked at the horse behind Gloria. The horse Gloria had chosen wastoo tall; Rachel had never ridden a horse before, so she didn’t dare to ride such a tall one.

“What are you two talking about?” Justin, who had already mounted his horse, rode over and eyed thetwo of them.

Gloria explained, “I like Miss Rachel’s horse, so I want to swap my horse with hers, but she seems a bitreluctant.”

Justin frowned. “Didn’t you choose this horse yourself? Why don’t you like it anymore?”

“I didn’t see Miss Rachel’s horse just now. Her horse is so adorable.”

Rachel looked visibly troubled. However, when Justin was about to say something, she suddenlystepped aside and gestured. I’ll give you my horse then.

Gloria smiled. “Hehe, thanks! I just know that you have a big heart, Miss Rachel,” she said. After finishingher sentence, she got on the horse, snatched the reins from the staff member’s hand, and rode off with asqueeze of the horse’s belly. Her voice could be heard in the wind as she shouted, “I’m riding off first!Hurry up and catch up with me!”

Justin straddled the horse while looking at Rachel. “If you’re afraid, just choose another smaller horse.”

Rachel shook her head. It’s not necessary. I’ll give it a try.

“The horses in our ranch are quite good-tempered,” said the staff member as he mounted her on thehorse. Luckily, despite the horse’s tall stature, it was quite good-tempered, and it walked slowly. With thestaff member leading the horse, Rachel was no longer afraid after riding the horse for a while.

Justin didn’t seem to be worried about Gloria, who was galloping her horse in the distance, as hefollowed behind Rachel with just the right distance between them. Rachel’s long hair was swaying in thewind, and her white shirt, brown vest, and riding outfit fit her figure very well. The scene looked livelyfrom behind as the sun slowly set in the west.

“Would you like to try riding it faster, Mrs. Burton?”

Rachel hurriedly shook her head.

“Actually, you can give it a try,” the staff member kept persuading as he pulled the reins, patted thehorse, and quickened his pace.

Rachel instantly became nervous, and her back tensed up. The staff member comforted her by saying,“Relax, Mrs. Burton. The horse isn’t trotting fast.”

Rachel couldn’t speak and wanted to gesture something, but the staff member couldn’t see it since hewas leading the horse at the front. At the sight of the scene, Justin immediately bellowed, “Slow down!Who told you to lead the horse at such a quick pace?”

The staff member was so startled that he stumbled, but he didn’t manage to stop the horse in time.Rachel cried out in alarm and nearly let go of the reins in her hand. Luckily, the staff member grabbed thereins with all his might. Still, Rachel broke out in a cold sweat as she felt terrified.

“Aaaaah!” Just then, a scream was suddenly heard from a distance.

Upon being surprised by this, Rachel watched from afar while Gloria’s horse raised its hooves high, andthe reins snapped in two mid-air. As Gloria failed to catch them, she fell off the horse.

“Gloria!” Justin immediately turned his horse around and hurried there.novelbin

Rachel was startled as well, and she hurriedly got off the horse before rushing over to the scene. Whenshe arrived, Gloria was lying on the ground with a look of agony on her face, whereas Justin squatteddown next to her but didn’t dare to move her carelessly. He looked back and yelled at Rachel, “What areyou waiting for? Call the ambulance!”

Rachel shuddered upon being yelled at. She fumbled for her cell phone in a panic, only to recall that shehad left her cell phone in the dressing room while changing her clothes there.

Meanwhile, the staff member nearby had called the ambulance. “Hello, is this the first-aid center?”

There was a first-aid station in the park. Frankie hurried over with the staff members and carried Gloriaaway on a stretcher, whereas Justin followed them all the way with a look of anxiety on his face that onehad never seen before.

Rachel was somewhat at a loss as she stood where she was. Suddenly, she noticed from a distance thatseveral staff members couldn’t get Gloria’s horse to move even after they had pulled on the reins.Instead, it kept giving backward kicks like crazy. The voice of the staff member who had led her horsejust now came from behind. “It’s strange. Why is this horse so irritable today? Has it eaten somethingwrong?”

Rachel’s heart suddenly skipped a beat. Somehow, she instinctively sensed that someone had beenfixing their gaze on her the whole time. When she looked up toward the direction of that gaze, she sawwhat seemed like a figure disappearing from the rooftop of the park’s hotel some distance away. If Gloriahadn’t swapped horses with her today, she would’ve probably fell off the horse instead.

At Tran-Q Hospital, Justin kept waiting outside the operating room as Julian operated on Gloria himself.

When Rachel arrived, the surgery wasn’t completed yet. When Justin saw her, he said, “You aren’tneeded here. Go home first.”

Just then, the door of the operating room suddenly opened from the inside. Julian took off his face maskand came out. “She’s all right, so don’t worry,” he said.

Justin heaved a sigh of relief.

“She broke two ribs and tore her thigh muscles, so she needs to be kept under observation in thehospital for quite some time. Isn’t she said to be very good at horse riding? Why did she have such anasty fall?”

Justin looked upset. “I shouldn’t have allowed her to fool around. She wasn’t very familiar with the horsesin the ranch.”

Suddenly, Rachel shook her head and handed Julian a packet; it was a sealed white bag that containedsome particles.

Julian and Justin were both startled. “What is this?”

The horse feed from the ranch. Before Rachel left, she deliberately went to the stables and took a look.Surprisingly, the manger used to feed Gloria’s horse had been emptied. Since Rachel had a weird feelingabout this, she scratched the bottom of the manger while no one was noticing. Then, she packed the

particles and left.

Justin’s face instantly clouded over. “Are you suspecting that this has been premeditated?”

Rachel nodded.

“Julian.”

“I got it.” Julian took the bag of horse feed. “I’ll take this to my friend and ask him to help test this to see ifthere’s anything wrong with it.”

“Thank you.”

“It’s getting late, and Gloria is still under anesthesia. Why don’t you two go home and rest first?”

Justin shook his head. “That’s not necessary. I’ll be here with her.”

The startled Julian subconsciously looked at Rachel, only to see her imperturbable expression. Sheseemed to have become accustomed to such situations. In that case, I’ll be going back first.

Justin then looked at Julian. “Haven’t you gotten off duty yet, Julian? Go home with her then.”

“Okay.”

Justin wheeled the gurney himself as he followed behind the medical staff to the ward; it was as if hisentire mind was focused on the person lying on the sickbed.

It wasn’t until Justin’s figure disappeared in the elevator that Rachel came to her senses. Suddenly, shefelt a surge of gastric juices in her stomach, and she couldn’t help but rush to the trash can before sheretched into

it.

“Are you okay, Rachel?” Julian’s concerned voice sounded from behind.

The woman waved her hand to signal that she was fine.

Julian suddenly recalled how he had once seen her throwing up at home. His tone changed abruptly ashe asked, “Does this often happen to you these days?”