The True Heiress's Return

Walter hadn't expected her to dare touch him directly. His deep eyes narrowed sharply, and a multiturle of complex emotions flashed through them in an instant. "Shakira!" He bent down and grabbed her slender wrist, which felt as if it had no bones.

But before he could say anything. Shakira quickly preempted him. "If you don't let me treat you, do you really want to take. me to the grave with you?"

Walter fell silent. Finally, with a dark expression, he loosened his grip. His teeth nearly ground together as he warned, "If your touch anything you shouldn't, you're finished." Shakira's lips twitched. She'd made one mistake, and he really treated her like a beast ever since.

Knowing she was in the wrong, Shakira decided to withdraw from the argument. She gently straightened his leg, holding his foot forward, and tentatively pressed a pressure point at his ankle. At the same time, she closely observed his reaction. Walter's 's brows furrowed slightly, and Shakira's eyes lit up. "What do you feel here?"

"A slight tingling, very faint, not intense. He had been sick long enough to recognize that was a pressure point. A normal person would feel sharp pain from even a light press, especially since he could see that she was applying some force. Shakira continued, "Does it hurt?" Walter shook his head. Her fingers slid up to his calf. "What about here?"

The sensation is even fainter

here, Walter replied.

Shakira tested several acupuncture points between his ankle and knee. As she worked her way up, the closer she got to his knee, the weaker his sensations became.

After she rolled his pant leg back down, Shakira slowly stood up. The nerves in your legs have sustained varying degrees of damage. There's neuritis in a few places at the extremities. Acupuncture is the first step.

A flicker of surprise passed through Walter's eyes. Then, he looked at Shakira with a newfound curiosity,

Since the accident, he'd seen more dog doctors than i in his entire life. Yet all those renowned specialists hesitated to give a diagnosis right away after examining his legs.

Shakira

however, had only pressed a few points and managed to articulate what it took those so-called experts days to conclude. He wondered if she was truly skilled in this field, or those doctors he had brought in were just fooling him. Walter fixed his sharp gaze on her. "You're going to treat me with acupuncture?

Shakira

assumed he didn't believe her and said plainly, "I promise. I'm not making this up or fooling around."

Just as she finished speaking, a massive bolt of lightning struck outside, seemingly right above the house. The brightly lit room was instantly plunged into darkness. Shakira's heart skipped a beat, and instinctively, she reached out to grab the closest thing to her.

Walter, who had been about to call for Brian, suddenly found a weight crashing into his arms. Looking down, illuminated faintly by the moonlight seeping through the window, he saw Shakira trembling, even her eyelashes quivering He had seen her being sharp-tongued, or acting sweet, just like a c***g little fox. But now she was curled up in his arms. Her wide, clear eyes were moist and filled with helplessness, making her look pitifully vulnerable.

Walter watched her, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "Seems like even the lights couldn't handle your promises.

"It's just a coincidence!" Shakira protested.

"Sure, coincidence. Why are you holding onto me then?" he teaserl her.

Grinding her molars, Shakira tried to steady the tremor in her voice. 'In novels, when rich people get assassinated, it's always after the lights suddenly go out. I'm risking my life to protect you, got it?"

Walter mercilessly exposed her bluff. "When you lie, try not to let your hands shake."

Shakira was beginning to suspect that all the sensation in his legs had somehow transferred to his brain.

Seeing her rarely flustered, Walter found it amusing. "Shakira, you're not afraid of anything, but you're scared of a little thunder?" It caught him a bit by surprise.

Since he hadn't cruelly thrown her off him, Shakira kept her voice low and started speaking slowly. "Two years ago, out of nowhere, my adoptive parents gave me a plane ticket. They said it was a birthday gifi, a trip to Solvara. "There's s a direct flight from Crescentville to Solvara's capital, but those are during the day and expensive. To save money. they got me a cheap, red-eye flight with a layover in a small country in Belaris," she continued. Back then, the Smith family had already achieved some level of success and were well-known among Crescentville's middleNôvelDrama.Org owns all content.

class.

It was the first gift Lago and Jessie had ever given her, and they'd done it in front of Eric, who was Lago's father and the only one in the Smith family who cared for Shakira-yet had been bedridden for life after a sudden accident. She had long stopped expecting anything from Lago and Jessie, but she didn't want to break Eric's heart. Therefore, she boarded that flight.

Shakira cast her gaze outside. The night sky had unknowingly filled with thick layers of oppressive clouds, heavy and foreboding.

"That plane was packed. That night was just like tonight-pitch black outside, the clouds so thick they seemed ready to burst, but the rain wouldn't fall. The plane kept jolting and dropping as it passed through the clouds, several times it felt like we were in freefall," she continued. "After an agonizing hour and a half, we landed at the connecting airport. But the flight to Solvara was canceled due to the weather, and there were no replacements. The airport arranged hotels for us and left us to figure out our own way to Solvara," she kept telling the story. Walter's gaze

locked onto her, listening intently as she spoke. "The next available flights were all sold out. My only option was to head to another airport to catch a flight to Solvara. I didn't go to the hotel. I grabbed my luggage and hailed a taxi."

"As soon as we left the airport, the rain finally came. Lightning and thunder filled the sky, and visibility on the road was barely two feet. I got in the taxi, but he didn't take me to the next airport," Shakira said.

At this point, Walter felt a heavy sensation in his chest. His palm instinctively pressed against her shoulder, his voice inexplicably husky. "Alright, that's enough."

Shakira turned her head to look at him. Perhaps it was the dim light, but his features seemed even more defined, the contours of his face deeper and sharper.

Suddenly, Shakira chuckled. "Did you think something terrible happened to me?"

Walter frowned, but then she spoke in a nonchalant tone. "That airport was a total wreck, and the roads were full of potholes. Of course, I knew the driver was up to no good. I locked his throat before he could try anything. He ended up driving to the base of the mountain. I jumped out of the car first I wasn't the one who suffered."

Walter's furrowed browtwitched violently. "Then what's with the fear of thunder?"

"Oh, come on!" Shakira exclaimed dramatically. "When the plane was up in the air, I could see the lightning striking all around us. The plane was dropping like a roller coaster, and we kept losing altitude. I thought I was going to die!" Walter was speechless. He was beginning to feel like he'd wasted time listening to her ramble about this nonsense. Just as he was about to push her away, suddenly, that familiar, bo***p pain surged through his legs, sharp and terrifying.