I've Been There Before (Grace and Caden) novel Chapter 58

His slender fingers touched the scar.

He could feel the unevenness.

It felt like his fingers were burned as he touched it.

“When it comes to a broken body like this, how could you torture her?” Humbert was still on the phone with his half-taunting tone.

But Caden ignored his teasing as his thumb caressed the scar. Suddenly, he did something so strange to her that he covered it with his palm.

Staring at his palm, he didn’t know what he was doing.

Hearing no voice, Humbert thought Caden had hung up on him.

But he didn’t end the call as he picked up a cigarette and lit it to savor the taste of Nicotine, while Caden said unassumingly, “It’s longer than my palm.”

“What?” Humbert paused a beat before figuring it out. “You mean Grace’s scar on her waist?” Humbert understood him as they had been best friends for so long.

“Even longer than your hand?” Humbert sucked up hard on his cigarette before bubbling a smokey circle.

“Which implies her surgeon was really inexperienced, so terrible that…

Well, when I was in the medical college, our teacher let us remove the human specimen’s kidneys for the first time, but we made the scar much smaller than Grace’s.”

“What do you mean?”

“It means, perhaps…No, it’s certain that her surgeon doesn’t have a medical certificate. You know, people like street surgeons.”

Street surgeon, surgeons without medical certificates.

“Picture her scar to me,” Humbert said.

Caden hesitated before Humbert said, “Just one glimpse at her scar can tell me information you didn’t discover. Don’t you want know it?”

Humbert exhaled white smoke. “Send me the photo, and you’ll know it.”

Seriously, Humbert didn’t think he’d persuade Caden, who was too cold and arrogant to understand others, except his endearing Wallis.

Well…Caden didn’t care for Wallis as he, actually, captured her in the palm of his hand.

But Humbert didn’t think Caden should be to blame as it’s hard for people like them to care for a woman. They were apt to confined their women to their social circle.

“Hold on.” Humbert didn’t think Caden could send him the picture as he was about to redirect by laughing, but Caden suddenly spoke two words.

Humbert was shocked to drop his cigarette, which burned his arm on his lap. The sudden pain made Humbert exhaled hard.

Fuck! It hurts. “Wait up, what did you say?”

Humbert’s cellphone popped out a message as he asked. “Well…” Holy crap. Caden did send him a picture.

He hastily tapped it…which was a picture of a “true” scar—a nasty one filling the whole picture.

Humbert felt weird as he stared at the picture. Why did he think it implied Caden was unwilling to show him Grace’s bare skin?

He could almost confirm it as he studied on the HD photo.

“Did you see it? Is it clear enough?” Caden asked annoyingly, and Humbert hastily answered, “I got it.”

“What?”

“I’m sure it’s a street surgeon’s work as the bitch didn’t needle the scar properly, not to mention triple mistakes. I even wonder did the bitch use any anesthetics.”

Caden tilted his jaw as he could picture Humbert’s words in his mind where a twisting woman was pressed against the operation bed…His heart thumped hard.

“Who the heck was the bitch…?”

“You’ve got the answer in your mind.” Humbert cut him off. “You can’t blame them as it’s your bad attitude and indifference that made her life a living hell for the past three years.”

Humbert purposely acted mean. “Don’t you ever blame me for not reminding you that what Grace had suffered was more than a nasty scar.

You didn’t know about her when she was the daughter of family James, and you couldn’t know her better when she was locked in the prison.”

Suddenly, Humbert was shocked by his own words. It occurred to him the reason why Grace, a confident and lively girl, would turn out to be such a coward.

Thinking of his reprimanding her for her degeneration, he felt guilty.

He shook his head. “I didn’t know she was seriously sick until she passed out for no reason.

I suggest you take her to hospital as she had been tortured by a series of sufferings like drowning, fever, pass out and so on.

Take her to hospital for better recovery.”

“Fine. I’ll take her to hospital by car.”

“Then I’ll be there soon.”

Caden hung up on it after they agreed to meet in the hospital.

He stood by Grace and stared at her, Humbert’s words ringing in mind. “It’s your bad attitude and indifference that made her life a living hell for the past three years.”

Was it so?

He’s already got the answer. So it was.

But he never thought he’d find a scar on her skin, which made him ache to kill.

Stuck in the mess, Caden bent down and smoothed Grace’s clothes, then he found out her cashmere coat to wrap her up. Now he could feel her bones as she was too thin, even if she dressed herself fat.

He bent down and swept her off her feet. He used to carry her on his shoulder as he only cradled her in bridal style she wanted when she passed out.

The lift went down to the ground floor. The door was open after the ringing.

Curious glimpses and jealousy glares were all shot to the handsome tall man cradling a lovely small girl, who was walking across the hall of Royal Club before striding out of the front door.