Chapter 1431: The Death of the Child [1]

Nicole lowered her eyes slightly to glance at her own body, then smiled softly, a gentle warmth hanging at the corner of her lips.....

-

At the case conference on Steven Cooper’s condition, several experts from the military district and two experts from Central Hospital, together with the cardiac specialist Joshua Floyd who had performed the bullet removal surgery, all sat together discussing. Steven’s parents and the Seys Family’s representative, Arlo Seys, were also there listening in.

After more than an hour of discussion, the meeting adjourned. Joshua stepped forward to introduce himself to Arlo, and the two of them exchanged phone numbers.

"Nicole and I are classmates. This time it was Nicole who asked me to come help." Joshua held out his hand to Arlo.

Arlo returned the handshake, his voice cool: "Thanks for your trouble. Steven Cooper’s situation is putting you out."

Joshua shook his head lightly. "Don’t be so polite. I’m doing this for Nicole—our friendship is there. Helping is what I should do."

Arlo kept looking at Joshua, feeling that there was something inexplicably familiar in his brows and eyes. After a moment of silence, he asked flatly, "Your surname is Floyd? What’s your relationship to Jose Floyd?"

Joshua froze for a beat. "I don’t really have anything to do with him. When he was in Italy, he and Nicole stayed at my place for a while. What kind of relationship could I have with him? He’s so cold, and I’m this sunny guy, right? My parents are great, his parents are total scum! So we’re not related in the slightest!"

"Nicole and Jose Floyd were living at your place in Italy?" Arlo’s eyes darkened.

"Yeah, they shared a room!" Joshua blurted it out without thinking, then saw how composed Arlo’s face was and hurried to play it off. "But don’t worry, there’s no way anything happened. I gave them a box of condoms!"

Given Nicole’s situation, if she accidentally ended up pregnant with Jose Floyd’s child, things would’ve gotten even messier. Good thing he’d had the foresight back then to give them a box of condoms!

Joshua praised himself in his heart.

Arlo’s face was unusually dark. "How much do you know about my sister’s situation?"

This Joshua was probably one of the few close friends Nicole had. There were some things he might know better. A lot of the time, people choose to vent their unhappy experiences to friends rather than family, just because they don’t want their family to worry.

And Nicole had been through so much, yet never told the family any of it. The only way was to try asking her friends.

The moment Nicole was mentioned, Joshua’s first reaction was the hurt she’d suffered in that relationship with Jose Floyd. He paused, then slowly began, his tone carrying real distress for his friend.

"I don’t know that much about Nicole’s past. After graduation we only got back in touch a few months ago. She suddenly came to me, asking a ton of questions about cardiac nursing. Later I found out she was learning all that so she could take care of Jose Floyd’s mom with angina."

"But her kindness got treated like crap. Jose Floyd’s mom, that woman Olivia Summer, she’s the ultimate nightmare mother‑in‑law! She actually killed the baby in Nicole’s belly! Tell me, how can there be such a vicious person in this world? That was her own grandchild!"

As soon as Joshua finished, the coldness radiating off the Arlo standing in front of him burst out; there was no warmth in the tilt of his brows, and even his voice was icy: "When exactly did Olivia Summer kill Nicole’s child?"

Wasn’t there only that one time with the ectopic pregnancy, where the baby didn’t survive?

Joshua didn’t notice anything off about Arlo, thinking Nicole must have told her family about all the hurt she’d suffered. He answered instinctively, "Just a few months ago. It was right before Steven’s engagement party that the baby was gone. I happened to ask her about it..... If you ask me, Nicole probably didn’t get engaged to Steven because she loved him. She must’ve nodded when her heart was already dead. But thinking about it now, marrying Jose Floyd is worse than marrying Steven Cooper....."