Khloe spoke, and Lenny immediately understood her meaning.
"Madam, Clarice's words can't be trusted! You can't let her fool you with just a few sentences!"
"Do you also think… he's not coming back?" Khloe's question cut him off, leaving him momentarily speechless.
She kept her head down. She was sitting in the very seat Nick once occupied.
Outside, darkness had settled. The night crept in, shadows stretching across the office desk and falling over Khloe's slight shoulders. Yet, despite the gloom, she appeared calmer than she had in days.
"I…" Lenny couldn't speak.
But his subconscious had already betrayed him. From the moment the bus exploded, he had assumed Nick would never return.
He thought Khloe had come to the same conclusion. Her reliance on Ralph to search for Nick in Naraida—he had believed it was merely a way for her to soothe her mind, to cling to some fragile hope. To survive the unbearable despair.
"I believe he's still alive. Even if Clarice's words aren't entirely true, at least this part… this must be true."
Khloe's own thoughts were in chaos. The moment Clarice mentioned Nick, she had lost all sense of normalcy. She had waited until now to make a decision. Since she couldn't make a perfectly rational judgment, she would follow her heart.
If Clarice dared to risk everything, then Khloe had nothing to fear in facing it head-on.
"Madam, you're really being too impulsive…"
"As long as he's alive, that's more important than anything else."
Khloe cut him off before he could say more, then continued, "I have so many assets under my name; there's no rush. They can be organized gradually. And the agreements—draft multiple versions. Avoid mistakes. Do you understand?"
Lenny paused, then fully realized her intent. His eyes flickered, and a small, determined smile appeared on his lips.
"I can…"
Just as Lucas approached the room, he heard Nick's voice.
The door was slightly ajar. Inside, he saw Nick, supported by several people, slowly rising from the bed and moving along the wall with extreme caution. Every movement was painstaking, yet compared to before, his condition had improved significantly.
Lucas's eyes lit with surprise as he looked at the people at the door.
It turned out that Nick had begun cooperating with the doctors early yesterday morning, taking his medication and preparing to exercise. He had never fully lost the ability to move; the problem was that his nerves had been damaged, leaving him unable to control his body.
The doctors' plan combined high-potency medication with physical therapy.
But although Nick could now get out of bed, the medicine carried most of the burden. These drugs intensified his pain a hundredfold, stimulating nerves and muscles to react, accelerating recovery. Every step he took now was like being shattered all over again, a brutal test of both body and will.

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