The Rise Of Nicholas Hensaw

Chapter 12

"Why?" Linda asked, raising her eyebrows.

"It's not there! I told you, it's not in this house," Danila insisted, but Linda ignored her. She looked away and cleared her throat, trying to explain further.

"Why won't you listen? It's not in this house!" Danila repeated, but Linda narrowed her eyes and quickly opened the drawer.

She paused for a moment, then turned to face Danila. "You just told me there's no blood tonic here, but what is this?" Linda said, pulling the blood tonic from the drawer.

"Oh, I forgot... I thought I had thrown it away," Danila stammered.

Nicklaus shook his head, seeing through her obvious lies.

"May I examine the blood tonic?" Nicklaus asked, extending his hand.

He took the bottle from Linda and studied its contents. He gasped and raised his eyebrows. "Who provided this blood tonic to your grandfather?"

"It was Danila. She said it would make him healthier," Linda replied. She was beginning to sense something sinister. Her instincts were telling her that Danila had orchestrated something terrible.

"Well, this isn't healthy at all. There's a very toxic substance in this tonic..."

"What do you mean it's not healthy? How is that possible?" Danila asked frantically as Linda moved closer to Nicklaus to examine the bottle.

"This is completely inappropriate for someone like your grandfather. It's extremely harmful to him," Nicklaus explained.

"What? Are you serious? Has this been causing his illness all along?" Linda asked in shock.

"This is exactly the cause. This type of toxin has been slowly destroying his organs..." As Nicklaus spoke, the old man coughed weakly.

Just then, there was a knock on the door. It opened slowly as a servant entered. "I have the food you requested," she said, approaching the bed and handing the plate to Linda.

The servant stepped back but remained in the room in case she was needed.

"Water..." the old man whispered again.

"You need more water?" Linda asked, turning to the servant. The water pitcher was empty.

Nicklaus smiled, observing that while the old man was still weak, he was fighting to recover.

"Will my grandfather be alright?" Linda asked, deciding not to pursue the poisoning matter immediately. Since her mother had chosen to remain silent, it was better to focus on her grandfather's health before investigating further.

"Yes, he will recover," Nicklaus replied just as his phone began ringing.

He pulled it from his pocket and saw it was an unknown number. "Hello?" he answered.

"Is that the police? Tell them you've been bailed out. My mother already handled everything," Linda said. Her gratitude was beyond words.

"Oh..." Nicklaus murmured.

"Hello, Mr. Henshaw! What have you done?" came a voice from the phone.

"Who am I speaking with?" Nicklaus asked.

"Dr. Stevens. Mr. Henshaw, I need you at the hospital immediately. The hospital has requested that the police release you!"

Nicklaus remained unmoved. He narrowed his eyes, ended the call, and shoved the phone back into his pocket.

"I have to leave now," Nicklaus announced, turning toward the door.

Just as he was about to open it, Linda stopped him. "Wait, can't you stay a little longer?"

Nicklaus shook his head and walked out of the room.

He strode briskly out of the mansion and was about to hail a taxi when he remembered he had no money.

Deciding to walk, Nicklaus made his way toward the hospital on foot.

He arrived at the hospital drenched in sweat and breathing heavily. The way he was gasping for air made the people around him stare with disgust.

Nicklaus ignored them and entered the building, heading straight to his sister's room when a nurse spotted him.

"What are you doing here, you murderer!" one of the nurses shouted.

"Dr. Stevens asked me to come," Nicklaus replied calmly.

The nurse narrowed her eyes. "You should be in jail! I thought the police took you away! What the hell are you doing here?"

From the nurse's tone, Nicklaus began to suspect that Dr. Stevens had summoned him for another humiliation, especially after learning he'd been bailed out since he was his sister's only family and no one else could press charges.

When Nicklaus looked around, he was stunned by the number of people staring at him.

"You still have the nerve to show your face here after what you've done? Unbelievable," the nurse said, biting her lip in disgust.

Nicklaus couldn't understand her hostility, but he decided to remain calm. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but shouldn't you be attending to your patients instead of creating a scene here?"

The nurse was momentarily taken aback by his response.

"What do you know about my job, you homeless vagrant?" she snapped.

Nicklaus was about to walk away when Dr. Stevens appeared.

"Nicklaus, you're here! What did you do?" he asked loudly, drawing everyone's attention.