I Was His Wife, Then His Widow, Then No One's But My Own novel Chapter 85

It was well past nine o'clock by the time Nora and Felix escorted Arthur into The Vance Institute of Medical Science.

The lights were still glaring brightly, but the sterile corridors were dead quiet.

Arthur walked ahead, his eyes sweeping critically over the facility, a deep frown settling onto his face.

When the office door swung open, Xavier Vance was sitting on the sofa, deeply engrossed in a stack of medical journals. At the sound of the door, he looked up, and his gaze locked instantly with Arthur's.

The two white-haired titans of medicine stared at each other in total silence. Neither moved to speak first. The air in the room seemed to solidify, and for a split second, even breathing felt too loud.

Standing in the doorway, Nora and Felix could feel a silent, crackling tension radiating through the room. It wasn't exactly hostility—it felt more like a petty, childish showdown.

The soft shuffle of slippers broke the standoff, growing steadily closer.

Zelda Vance walked in carrying a freshly prepared fruit tart. Seeing the two younger doctors blocked at the door, and the two stubborn old men having a glaring contest, she let out an exasperated sigh.

"When are you two ever going to grow up? Hurry up and eat some dessert before it gets warm."

Arthur's face broke into a wide, completely uncharacteristic grin. The heavy, intimidating aura vanished instantly. "Zelda, I've been overseas all these years, and this is the only thing I've genuinely missed."

Suddenly, a cane swung in from the side. Xavier swung it fast and hard, smacking Arthur right on the calf. The strike didn't carry much force, but the warning was crystal clear.

"Arthur, wipe your drool. Keep it off my wife's dessert."

Arthur's gaze softened into pure grandfatherly warmth. He grabbed a slice of kiwi, tossing it into his mouth before wiping his hands on a napkin. "Little girl, if you're the one asking, my schedule is wide open."

Felix stood beside her, jaw hanging open. When he picked the man up at the airport, Arthur had treated him like he was invisible. Now, Nora asks one question and suddenly he has all the time in the world? The favoritism was blinding.

Nora eagerly pulled the thick stack of trial data from her folder.

She spread the spreadsheets out over the table, tapping her finger against the top rows of numbers. Her voice instinctively dropped into a serious, professional cadence. "This is the data from our phase one clinical trial. I know something is structurally wrong, but we've run diagnostics for weeks and can't isolate the error. Could you please take a look?"

Arthur's playful demeanor vanished in a heartbeat. He pushed the dessert plate aside, pulled out his reading glasses, and let his sharp, piercing eyes fly over the numbers.