Chapter 1188

A completely unfamiliar woman brushed past him, jogging toward the person who

had called her name.

The desperate hope in Felix’s eyes instantly died out.

It was the wrong person.

After finalizing the registration, Felix took the elevator up to find Madeline.

The second the elevator doors parted, he saw a familiar silhouette walking down the hall. His chest tightened painfully, and his legs moved completely on their own, sprinting after the woman in a frantic rush.

“Claire!”

He shouted her name just as his hand clamped down on the woman’s shoulder.

The woman spun around. It was another complete stranger.

The stranger frowned, looking at him with deep confusion and irritation.

Realizing his mistake, Felix hastily let go. “I’m so sorry. I mistook you for someone else.”

The woman didn’t make a fuss, merely rolling her eyes before walking away.

Felix slumped against the wall, utterly defeated.

He didn’t know what was wrong with him. Every time he saw a woman from behind, he thought it was her. Every time he heard a voice, he thought it was her.

He was losing his mind.

Inside the hospital room, Madeline’s mother, Jean Rollins, was interrogating her daughter.

“Is this actually going to work?” Jean kept her voice low, terrified someone might overhear.

Madeline wasn’t entirely confident herself. “I’m trying my best.”

Jean practically shoved her. “You need to try harder! You have to swoop in while he’s fighting with that little tramp and pushing for a divorce. Men like Felix Quigley are billionaires. You couldn’t find a catch like him if you searched with a spotlight!”

Just talking about it made Jean’s face contort with bitter jealousy. “If you ask me, that wretched Claire is just stupidly lucky. Both her parents die, and somehow they leave her with a billionaire fiancé. If I had known, I would have just let her starve to death when she was a kid.”

Madeline was equally jealous, but she was far better at hiding her true colors. If she weren’t, she never would have lasted this long by Felix’s side.

“Mom, when Felix comes back, make an excuse and leave. I need to get him alone.”

Jean nodded eagerly. “Don’t worry, I know the drill.”

She paused, a flash of anxiety crossing her face. “Wait, Felix still doesn’t know you stole the credit for saving his life, right?”

Madeline’s heart skipped a beat. “He doesn’t know. Keep your mouth shut.”

Jean exhaled in relief. “Thank God. Because the only reason he treats you like royalty is because of your eyes…”

“Mom!” Madeline hissed sharply.

Jean immediately slapped her own mouth. “Right, right, I know!”

A few minutes later, Felix walked in. Right on cue, Jean mumbled a flimsy excuse and hurried out of the room.

The doctor examined Madeline and concluded the sprain was incredibly miner She didn’t need to be admitted; a few days of resting at home would fix it entirely.

After walking the doctor out, Felix turned to Madeline. “I’ll have my driver take you home.”

Madeline panicked. “What about you?”

“I have a business trip to catch.”

Which meant he was leaving the city again.

That meant all her scheming today

was going to waste. Desperate, Madeline fell back on her trump

card. She squeezed her eyes shut, wincing in pain. “Actually, Felix… my eyes have been burning all day…”

The second she mentioned her eyes, all of Felix’s composure vanished.

“What’s wrong with them? Does it hurt?”

“They’ve actually been bothering me for a while, but I didn’t want you to worry, so I kept it to myself,” Madeline lied, her voice dripping with martyrdom.

Anything concerning Madeline’s eyes was Felix’s top priority. “I’m getting the ophthalmologist right now.”

“Okay.”

Madeline didn’t panic at all. She had played this game dozens of times. All she had to do was act like she was in pain, and it was enough to foot him. Even when the doctors inevitably said everything was fine, as fong as she claimed she was hurting, Felix would stay by her side.

Just as Madeline expected, the eye specialist found absolutely nothing wrong,

simply prescribing some generic eye drops just in case.

Felix was originally scheduled to fly out on a red-eye that night.