Chapter 138

• “Miss, are you okay?” The panicked question was accompanied by gentle pats and rubs on Olivia’s back as she bent over the toilet, vomiting what was essentially an empty stomach.
• Morning had long passed, and the breakfast she had eaten earlier had surely already been digested. Now, after expelling frothy saliva, her throat stung, and she felt a tightness in her upper abdomen.
• “Are you sick? Feeling unwell? Should I call a doctor?” the housemaid, a woman in her forties, asked repeatedly.