Richard used to go by Richard Garcia back in the day. More than 10 years ago, his wife, Juliana Rivera, had followed him when he moved to Rodonis.

Juliana had been seriously injured around that time and ended up in a coma for several years. When she finally woke up, she couldn’t remember anything that had happened. But the one good thing was that Richard stayed by her side through all of it.

Richard was the only family she had left. If she lost him too, she’d probably give up on the world completely.

“Juliana, you came.” Richard’s weak voice instantly softened when he saw her.

Juliana sat down beside his hospital bed, her face full of worry but still managing to stay calm. “What happened? Why would someone try to assassinate you?”

Richard had only lied to Juliana once in their relationship, and that was 14 years ago. “It’s related to my work,” he said simply.

Juliana knew that Richard had been working for years to shut down illegal human experimentation labs. He’d destroyed countless underground facilities across multiple countries, so maybe this time he’d gone too far and made some serious enemies.

“Are you going to be in more danger?” she asked. He’d been lucky to survive this time. There just happened to be a doctor in that dessert shop when it happened.

Richard tried to reassure her. “Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere for a while. I’ve also hired plenty of security to keep us safe.”

“That’s good.” Juliana let out a relieved breath. “What about that doctor who saved you? Did she leave already?”

“Yeah, she’s gone.”

Juliana made a disappointed sound. “Do you have her contact information? I’d really like to thank her.”

“No, we don’t. She took off right after saving me. Cam asked for her contact details, but she wouldn’t give them.” Richard shook his head.

In a world this big, meeting someone like that was pretty rare luck.

Good people wouldn’t stick around for credit. That was just how Wallingtonians were raised.

“You got incredibly lucky this time,” Juliana told him. “There happened to be a doctor right there when it happened. If not, things could’ve gone really bad.”

Richard’s breathing was still rough, and he coughed a couple of times.

Juliana saw him struggling and said, “Don’t talk anymore. You need to rest.”

“Will you stay here with me?”

For someone his age, he sure does ask a lot of questions that sound like they’re coming from a twenty-something, Juliana thought. “I will,” she smiled.

Richard said, “Juliana, give me your hand.”

Juliana hesitated for a moment but reached out anyway. They were married, but somehow, she’d always kept her distance from Richard over the years. It wasn’t that she disliked him. There was just this weird uncomfortable feeling she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

That was why they’d barely touched each other in more than ten years of marriage and had always slept in separate rooms.

Richard took her hand and closed his eyes with a satisfied smile. When he thought about it, getting hurt wasn’t completely awful. It had been forever since he’d held Juliana’s hand like this.

The shooting made huge news in Rodonis that night because of Richard’s reputation, and Shermaine got dragged into the coverage too.

Chapter 240

The next morning, at the luxury hotel, Kylie grabbed the newspaper and saw the headline about famous philanthropist Richard getting shot and a female doctor from the Republic of Wallington saving his life right there on the scene.

Kylie got so pissed off that she threw the paper across the room. ‘What kind of asshole has the nerve to mess up my plan like that?’ she thought.

Kylie had been given this assignment by the organization. She was supposed to kill Richard. Now that the job had gone sideways, pulling off another attempt was going to be a hell of a lot harder.

Her phone rang almost immediately. It was Dominic, the same guy who’d called her before. He asked, “Kylie, how come Richard isn’t dead?”

“Some doctor saved him right there on the spot,” Kylie sighed.

“Well, that’s just your luck,” Dominic said. “But don’t worry about it. The higher-ups aren’t blaming you. They just said to be more careful next time. This job’s a wash anyway since the client doesn’t want to put in another order.”

“If that doctor hadn’t shown up, there’s no way I would’ve screwed this up,” Kylie said, her voice dripping with menace. “That doctor’s a dead woman walking.”