Not just her child, but there was a gaping space where the bed had stood.
Her entire bed had been wheeled out, and she bolted upright in alarm and scanned the ward around them. Disorientated by being woken this way after only minimal sleep.
Everything was calm and peaceful, with just the low lights of the hallways illuminating the room and the distant noise of nurses at the reception. She got up, threw her blanket aside, swiped her cell from the bedside, and marched towards the door as her anxious heart rate rose.
Why did no one wake her to tell her they were moving her daughter?
She had no idea why they would do that or where she was. It was still dark and early, and she checked her cell, seeing it was just after four am.
What reason would they have for taking her without rousing Meilei?
She didn’t recognize the nurse as being the one from earlier, either.
“Ummm, I’ll check. Shifts just switched a half hour ago, and we’re still catching up on patient notes.” The girl typed something on her keyboard and leaned in to read something on the screen.
“It’s the twentieth floor, but the elevator won’t take you without a pass card. You’ll need to call your family and have them come down.” The nurse’s complexion was paling at Meilei’s very obvious growing distress, but she didn’t know what else to say. She knew nothing about that patient’s move and had no idea why the mother had been left there. This seemed like a custody dispute, and she shouldn’t be involved.
Her mind was a whirring mess as she slammed the elevator button, relieved that the late hour meant one opened almost immediately. She spun inside, scanning the list of floor numbers, and paused beside the twenty. The button had an infrared scanner beside it for a card, and she slammed it hard. Nothing registered no matter how many times she pressed it, and the doors did not shut. Her inner hysteria was growing.
Meilei wasted no time, irritated that an entire floor couldn’t be accessed, and spun around looking for the stairs sign, hauling her cell out as she did and knowing they were already on the eighteenth. It wasn’t that far.
She scanned for Suying’s name and then paused, hovering over it without pressing it.
Meilei knew who was responsible for this, and he should be the one to undo it.
Impulsively, she lifted her cell, growing in rage.
Scrolling her calls until she saw his name from when she was his assistant, ordering her around, and hit it. Ramming the phone to her ear as she followed signs to the stairway door and chewed on her lip to curb her need to cry. Anger, fury, and tears swirled, turning her into a heavy, panting mess with erratic movements.
Kai was stirred out of sleep by the ringing of his cell and rolled over in bed, reaching for it robotically. His eyes were still sealed as he swiped it and opened one slightly to see who was bothering him in the middle of the night.
At first, he glanced at Meilei’s name, not taking it in, and sighed until his brain kicked into gear and realized Meilei was calling him in the middle of the night.
He sat up with startled speed like he had been tasered and answered it, pressing it to his cheek as panic swept him. All instincts kicked him to hyper-alert.
Kai pulled his cell away from his ear with the screeching volume of her rant, screwing up his face with the pain she inflicted on his eardrum, and stared at it for a second. Trying to get his head around what she was saying. He pulled it back when she fell silent to catch her breath. His temper bristled with the sudden assault on his senses.
He had gotten that much, and it spurred him into action. He would rip heads apart if that were true.
Kai paused at the hospital’s name, dropping his head back, pinching his nose at the bridge, and closing his eyes while exhaling in defeat, like a massive slap of realization that came out of nowhere.
Shilai hospital.
For fuck’s sake.
His mother had been a silent director on their board most of his life. Xuchen money practically built it, and he knew without a doubt who was behind this.