Chapter 228 - 217: I’m Here! 2
"Really!"
Georgia Thorne looked at him dubiously, slowly releasing her grip on her arm and inching toward the edge of the bed.
Elliot Sheridan turned off the light, then walked over, lifted the covers, and got into bed.
"Honey, you’re on my hair!"
"Honey, why are you so far away from me?"
"Honey, you always used to love holding me when we slept. Is it because my face is ruined? Are you disgusted with..."
Before Georgia Thorne could finish her hurt-filled question, Elliot Sheridan rolled over, and with a sweep of his long arm, pulled her into his embrace.
Georgia Thorne pressed her cheek against Elliot Sheridan’s warm chest, contentedly wrapping her arms around him and closing her eyes.
Breathing in his scent was especially reassuring.
Georgia Thorne fell asleep not long after, but Elliot Sheridan, beside her, found it difficult to drift off.
The reasons Elliot Sheridan didn’t want to get in bed were, one, he was afraid of hurting her, and two, he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to control his desire for her.
Making matters worse, Georgia Thorne draped her leg over his. He could feel its temperature right through his clothes.
It was cool to the touch—a coolness that could seemingly douse the raging fire burning within him.
Elliot Sheridan closed his eyes, forcing himself to think of other things to suppress his desire for Georgia Thorne.
With Elliot Sheridan sleeping by her side, Georgia Thorne slept soundly and woke up feeling refreshed and full of energy.
When she woke up, she saw the man beside her was still asleep.
There were dark circles under his eyes, and his handsome face looked exhausted. ’That’s strange,’ she thought, ’did he not sleep well last night?’
Georgia Thorne didn’t touch Elliot Sheridan, letting him sleep peacefully.
By the time Elliot Sheridan had conquered his inner demons last night, it was already the early hours of the morning, so he slept in a little.
He didn’t wake up until after ten o’clock.
Georgia Thorne was nestled in his arms, playing on her phone.
"Look here!" Georgia Thorne grinned, then quickly tapped the screen. With a crisp CLICK, she captured a photo of his just-woken-up face.
"Let me see?" Elliot Sheridan reached for Georgia Thorne’s phone, but she quickly pulled it away. "No! You’ll definitely delete the photo."
Georgia Thorne hid the phone behind her back, watching him with a wide grin. She was determined not to tell him she had also secretly taken many other photos of him before he’d woken up.
She had to admit, though—her husband was handsome even when he was asleep.
The two of them played around in bed for a while before Elliot Sheridan finally got up.
He carried Georgia Thorne to the bathroom, and a short while later, Owen Sawyer arrived with breakfast.
"Secretary Sawyer, good morning!" Georgia Thorne greeted him cheerfully.
Owen Sawyer nodded respectfully. "Good morning, Madam!"
Times had changed. Georgia Thorne was now his boss’s wife, so he had to be even more polite.
To be honest, though, he had been quite startled when he learned that Georgia Thorne and Elliot Sheridan had gotten married.
He had thought Elliot Sheridan was just spoiling Georgia Thorne as he always had; he never expected it to go as far as marriage.
He had thought Elliot Sheridan would never get married in his life, just as he once thought Elliot Sheridan would never be with another woman.
"Good morning, President!" Owen Sawyer said fawningly to Elliot Sheridan, who just grunted in response.
Selena Sheridan came to visit Georgia Thorne in the morning, and the two of them chatted for a while.
Selena Sheridan peeled an orange for her. "That night, you scared me half to death!"
Georgia Thorne laughed awkwardly and explained, "I didn’t jump. My foot slipped, and I fell."
"You still have the nerve to say that? You have no idea how much I was sweating!" Selena Sheridan glared at her. "If anything had happened to you, what would I have done?!"
Although Selena Sheridan couldn’t bring herself to verbally accept Georgia Thorne as her aunt, she had already accepted it in her heart.
’We’re already as close as sisters. This just makes us family!’
"See? I’m fine!" Georgia Thorne moved her upper body. "Except for the broken leg, everything else is perfectly normal."
"Sigh, my uncle is so good to you. He moved you from the hospital overnight so you wouldn’t be bothered by Jared Thorne and the others, and he’s even suing Jared Thorne!"
"What?" Georgia Thorne looked at her in shock. ’He’s suing Jared Thorne?’
"You don’t know?" Selena Sheridan ate a slice of orange. It was incredibly sweet. "My uncle didn’t tell you?"
Georgia Thorne shook her head vigorously. "..."
’I really had no idea. Elliot hasn’t told me a thing!’
"Tell me, what exactly happened?" Georgia Thorne asked urgently.
For the past few days, she had followed Elliot Sheridan’s instructions to not worry about anything and just focus on resting and recovering in the hospital.
She had also been wondering why Jared Thorne hadn’t called her.
Selena Sheridan explained the whole story to Georgia Thorne. "The security at this hospital is excellent. You can’t get in without being registered. If my uncle hadn’t been so reluctant to let me visit you, I wouldn’t have waited until now to come!"
Like Jared Thorne, she only found out that Georgia Thorne had been transferred that same night when she went to the original hospital.
She only relaxed after calling Elliot Sheridan to confirm.
She had originally wanted to find the address and come see Georgia Thorne, but her uncle had flatly refused.
Selena Sheridan was frustrated, feeling that her uncle was being a little too overprotective of Georgia Thorne.
’Elliot is suing Jared Thorne, and my lawyer is Byron Shaw. No matter who Jared hires, he’s guaranteed to lose this case.’
Georgia Thorne felt a little uneasy. Although she was disheartened by Jared Thorne, he was still her father, after all.
The bond of blood was there, and it couldn’t be easily severed.
After Selena Sheridan left, Elliot Sheridan returned.
Georgia Thorne brought the matter up with him. "Is what Selena said true?"
"Yes," Elliot Sheridan admitted. "Jared Thorne locked you up. That’s false imprisonment, and we can sue him for it."
"But... he’s my father, after all. This doesn’t feel right!"
"Georgia, you may see Jared Thorne as your father, but does he see you as his daughter?"
"..." Georgia Thorne was at a loss for words. He never had.
’To Jared Thorne, I’m just a pawn. If I’m useful, he uses me; if not, he casts me aside.’
"So what do you want to do after the lawsuit?"
"If you’re willing, you can sever your father-daughter relationship with him!" Elliot Sheridan looked at her. "When he adopted you, he did so as a non-relative. On paper, you have no blood ties, so the probability of you leaving the Thorne Family is very high."
"Georgia, you have me. We will build a happy family together."
Georgia Thorne had completely lost hope in the Thorne Family. Her heart had grown cold, so she had no lingering affection for them.
Besides, she had now found someone to rely on. It didn’t matter whether she had the Thorne Family or not.
"What if my dad demands a paternity test?" Georgia Thorne asked nervously. The blood ties were there; they couldn’t be faked.
"Leave that to me!"
"And my mother, he..." ’Jared Thorne won’t let her rest in peace.’
"I’ve already bought the cemetery. Without my order, no one will dare to touch a single thing!" Elliot Sheridan squeezed Georgia Thorne’s small hand, the warmth of his palm spreading into hers, instantly calming her. "You don’t need to be afraid. I will pave the road ahead for you. I won’t let you suffer even the slightest harm again."
Elliot Sheridan always thought things through. He wouldn’t act unless he was 100% certain.
When it came to Georgia Thorne, he had long since planned for this step.
Besides, she wasn’t Jared Thorne’s daughter to begin with.
His gaze on Georgia Thorne deepened, and he patted her shoulder. "All you have to do is trust me."
Georgia Thorne nodded. She trusted Elliot Sheridan completely.
Seeing Byron Shaw again after so long, she couldn’t help but feel a sense of familiarity.
It was probably because Byron Shaw had always been very good to her, and she had always been grateful to him.
Byron Shaw had come this time for two reasons: one, to see how Georgia Thorne’s injury was healing, and two, to take her statement.
Byron Shaw only asked a few questions, committing the details to memory.
"Attorney Shaw, are you confident about this case?" Georgia Thorne asked curiously.
"What do you think?"
’It was a silly question,’ she thought. ’Given who Byron Shaw is, handling a case like this for me is a waste of his talents.’
’I have no idea how Elliot managed to get him on board.’
Byron Shaw’s eyes fell on the wedding ring on Georgia Thorne’s finger, finding it exceptionally jarring. "You’re married to Elliot Sheridan. Is he good to you?"
"Mhm!" Georgia Thorne shyly fiddled with her hair, a blush on her face. "He’s very good to me."
Georgia Thorne’s smile was genuine, overflowing with happiness and sweetness.
"Congratulations," Byron Shaw said in a low voice. ’If she’s happy, then that’s good enough.’
"Thank you!"
Byron Shaw was about to leave after sitting for a short while when Georgia Thorne suddenly thought of someone. "Attorney Shaw, can I ask you where you were recently?"
"Why do you ask?"
"It’s just... Nathan Rhodes. I saw him a while ago, and he asked me about you," Georgia Thorne said, fiddling with her fingers.
"I was with Seraphina Goldsmith. Her health is poor."
"Oh," Georgia Thorne replied disappointedly.
From what she could tell, Nathan Rhodes was still in love with Byron Shaw and couldn’t forget him. Meanwhile, the relationship between Byron Shaw and Seraphina Goldsmith was incredibly complicated. You could say they were lovers, but they didn’t act unusually around each other. But if you said they weren’t, their bond seemed even closer than that of lovers.
After Byron Shaw left, Georgia Thorne was alone in the hospital room.
Elliot Sheridan had gone to the office and wouldn’t be back until evening.
Around noon, she was in the bathroom when she heard her phone ringing outside. She started pushing her wheelchair toward the sound.
The wheelchair was difficult to control. By the time Georgia Thorne got near the phone, the ringing stopped abruptly.
It was a call from an unknown number.
After a few seconds, the same number called again.
She answered, and Hayley Sullivan’s angry voice erupted from the other end. "Georgia Thorne, where the hell have you been hiding!"
It was Hayley Sullivan’s sharp, cutting voice. "The Thorne Family raised you for so many years, and now you want to disown us and even sue us? If I had known you were such an ungrateful wretch, I never would have let you in the door! We should have just let a little bitch like you starve to death outside!..."
Hayley Sullivan’s tirade grew more and more vicious as she spewed all the vile words she had been holding back, feeling a sense of release.
Georgia had recorded the entire long-winded, abusive rant.