Chapter 58 Unable to Save or Harm Anyone
I didn’t.
Rachel shook her head furiously to deny.
“You didn’t join hands with Jefferey, or you didn’t poison me?”
Justin gave another snort. “Ah, I forgot. You didn’t have time to poison me, did you?”
Rachel leaned against the headboard with helplessness reflected in her eyes. She couldn’t do anything except shake her head and deny it.
I really don’t know what that bottle of medicine does. It wasn’t the medicine I got before.
Justin grew impatient. “You don’t have to rush to deny it. It doesn’t matter anymore. By the way, did you forget about something? Our deal is still ongoing.”
Rachel froze.
I already did as you told me to. I went to the vineyard.
“Yes, but what of the end result? You didn’t get the prescription, did you?”
At the mention of the prescription, Rachel gave her own palm a mighty pinch in an attempt to calm herself.
Will you let me go if I give you the prescription?
Justin’s cold gaze bore into her. “You know the prescription?”
Jefferey took me to the vineyard and showed me the prescription.
“Why would he suddenly take you to the vineyard?”
It’s part of a deal. I agreed to help with his work at the Burtons.
Justin’s eyebrows scrunched up as he examined her, trying to judge if her words were real.
After a while, he grabbed a notebook from the bedside table and tossed it on the sheets. Then, a cold command came from his thin lips. “Write it down!”
Rachel took the pen with her slender yet pale fingers. She recalled the contents of the prescription she saw in the study that day and replicated them on the notebook stroke by stroke.
Angelica…
After writing down the first ingredient, Rachel’s hand paused for a while. Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced at Justin, who was staring at her. Her heart trembled a little, and then she gritted her teeth as she wrote two words. Three ounces.
“Done?” Justin took the notebook offered to him suspiciously while she gingerly nodded.
The ingredients in the prescription were all traditional medicine and their amounts, which were beyond Justin’s professional knowledge.
“If this were the real deal, then we’ll let bygones be bygones. But if you dare lie to me…” Justin threw her a cold glare, then finished his sentence while putting the prescription away safely, “Be ready for a permanent stay in the hospital.”
Rachel shivered, then unconsciously gripped the blanket tighter.
After obtaining the prescription, Justin left in a hurry, for he needed to verify it as soon as possible. It was not until after the door clicked shut when Rachel gradually relaxed and stopped pinching her palm.
Phew! She must not stay in Riverdale any longer, and she dared not imagine what would happen to her if Justin found out that the doses in the prescription were incorrect.
Presently in the MPV that was leaving the hospital and heading toward Burton Group.
“Mr. Burton, do we go straight to the company or—”
“To the research institute.”
Justin held the prescription Rachel wrote, deep in thought. After a while, he ordered, “Have someone check if Rachel went to Hudson Vineyard after Jefferey’s birthday celebration.”
Frankie was stunned for a moment. “Understood.”
The car soon arrived at the medical research institute owned by Burton Group that was located on the west side of the city.
Burton Group’s intention to purchase Hudson Pharmaceuticals wasn’t something new. Even before this, Justin had planned its execution for a long while, but Burton Group had never entered the medical field before. Hence, many things had to be built from scratch.
The medical research institute was one of the crucial starting points.
“Mr. Burton! What brings you here?” A middle-aged man in a white coat greeted Justin as he walked out of the laboratory.
Justin handed the prescription to him. “Professor Collins, I’d like you to take a look at this prescription.”
“Prescription?” Professor Collins pushed his glasses and studied the contents on the paper for a long while, his expression serious. “Isn’t this the prescription for the sleeping pill manufactured by Hudson Pharmaceuticals?”
“Sleeping pill?” Justin suddenly remembered the medication he saw when he was going through the list of contract breaches, and the Burtons’ ancestral sleeping pill was one of them.
He then asked, “Can you really concoct the medication based on this prescription?”
“Of course. The prescription isn’t that rare, since the ingredients are already listed on the package. The key is in the dosage. Every company has their own doses and usage, and those must never be announced to the public, or others would copy them.”
At that, the look in Professor Collins’ eyes turned curious. “Mr. Burton, how did you get this prescription? It should have been one of the trade secrets of Hudson Pharmaceuticals.”
Justin had no intention of answering. Instead, he looked at the laboratory behind Professor Collins. “I heard that there’s a newcomer in the lab?”
“Ah, yes. Tommy is my student, and he’s an intern here. Still, the professional tasks are left to the professionals only. Oh, right, Tommy was the one who analyzed the medicine Assistant Beckham brought over yesterday.”
“Right, the medicine. I took a look at it too, and I wanted to ask you. The medicine is unable to save or harm anyone, so why would Hudson Pharmaceuticals produce something like that?”
At that, Justin frowned ever so slightly. “What do you mean by ‘the medicine is unable to save or harm anyone’?”
“It’s a bitter medicine with a stinging smell to boot. However, it’s a chronic medicine that would only take effect if taken over a long period of time. No one in this world would be foolish enough to take this medicine for that long.”
“What if it was mixed in with the food?”
“That’s impossible.” Professor Collins shook his head. “If that medicine is mixed in with any food at all, it would be detected almost instantly. The taste is so weird that no one would be fooled.”
Justin’s frown deepened at those words.
In the afternoon the next day, Rachel had slept drowsily for a whole day in the hospital, and she didn’t even have any lunch. It was almost evening when she woke up, and the vibration of her phone had roused her.
“Hello? Rachel, is that you?” Hans’ panicked voice sounded from the other end of the line.
Rachel knocked twice on the back of the phone to indicate that it was her.
Hans immediately relaxed, and his relief was felt on the other side of the line. He complained, “I sent you so many messages, but you didn’t reply. Okay, since you’re here, I’ll hang up now. I’ll tell you on WhatsApp.”
Rachel found a number of unread messages and missed calls on her phone, all from Hans.
‘I’m passing by the library later. I’ll bring you something to eat.’
‘You’re not coming to work?’
‘Why aren’t you replying? Is this an inconvenient time?’
‘The people at the library said that you took the day off. What happened?’
Rachel checked the timestamps. The first message was sent in the morning, and the last one was sent 12 minutes ago. Almost a whole day had passed without any replies from her. No wonder Hans was worried.
‘I’m fine. I just felt a little unwell and had to stay in the hospital for a few days.’
‘You’re hospitalized? Is it that serious? Which hospital is it?’
‘It’s not serious at all. The doctor just said I had to stay in the hospital to recover. Don’t worry, and you don’t have to come.’
After a while, Hans sent another message. ‘Tell me the truth. Did Justin do anything to you?’
Rachel’s hands trembled as they held the phone. Even the mere sight of Justin’s name invoked fear in her. The terror he incurred in her had seeped into her very being.
It took a long while before she sent the simple message. ‘No.’
‘Which hospital are you staying at?’
Hans was persistent in his questioning, and his attitude was resolute. ‘I’m coming over to visit you.’
