She hadn’t seen her mother for a very long time. She remembered the last time she came to the hospital; she was only four months pregnant, wearing loose clothes that barely showed her baby bump, which allowed her to keep her pregnancy a secret from her mother. As her pregnancy progressed and her belly grew larger, she didn’t dare to visit her mother anymore.
Throughout the year of her pregnancy and childbirth, she had been telling her mother that she was studying abroad. To this day, Eleanor was unaware of Isabella’s breakup with James and even less aware that she had a child with a stranger.
If she found out, it would likely cause Eleanor’s heart condition to worsen, maybe even necessitating life-saving measures.
“Silly girl, why are you crying? Mom is perfectly fine,” Eleanor reached out her hand to her, and Isabella quickly grasped her mother’s thin and cold arm.
“Mom still wants to see you marry James and have your children,” Eleanor spoke with a sense of longing.
Isabella, however, couldn’t meet her gaze and bit her lip, unable to respond.
“When did you come back from abroad? Have you successfully graduated now?” Eleanor asked again.
Isabella nodded, comforting her mother, “Of course, your daughter excelled in her studies, and I graduated with honors.”
“Stop boasting about yourself. How shameless,” Eleanor said with a smile, full of affection. “I had an agreement with Mrs. Brown. Once you graduate, you’ll marry James. While I still have the energy, I’d like to see you two get married as soon as possible.”
Eleanor was genuinely afraid that if she closed her eyes one day, she would never wake up again. So, she intended to hand Isabella over to James as soon as possible, ensuring her daughter’s security.
“Mom, are you in such a hurry to kick me out? I haven’t even reached the legal marriage age yet,” Isabella playfully replied.
In her heart, she thought, “The Brown family is indeed planning a wedding, but unfortunately, I’ll never be the bride.”
Eleanor had been confined to the hospital for a long time, so she was unaware of James’s affair with Emily.
Struggling to sit up from the hospital bed, Eleanor reached for a drawer on the bedside table, pulling out a stack of documents and handing them to Isabella. “You should take good care of this. It includes shares in Moonlit Art Inc., several properties I purchased over the years, and a piece of land in the development zone. A new industrial area is planned there, and land prices have been rising. Brown family’s new factory is intended to be built there, and this piece of land should serve as your dowry. Once you marry, no one will underestimate you.”
As a mother, Eleanor had already planned her daughter’s future meticulously.
James, her son-in-law, was her own choice-well-mannered, a real talent. The Brown family was of average wealth, and for women, marrying into an overly prestigious family was not always a good thing; the life of an heiress was not as ideal as it seemed. The Brown family, with its moderate wealth, was perfect for Isabella. Mrs. Brown was Eleanor’s close friend, and Isabella wouldn’t be mistreated.
Eleanor just wanted to see her daughter married into the Brown family, happy and secure, even after she passed away.
Isabella took the documents and, with a touch of exaggeration, held them tightly, saying with a smile, “Now I’m a little rich girl.”
Eleanor saw that her daughter was still a child at heart and shook her head with a helpless laugh. “You, when will you grow up?”
Isabella smiled and rested her head on her mother’s arm, concealing the deep sorrow in her eyes that Eleanor couldn’t see. In reality, she had grown up a long time ago. It was the moment when Emily pushed her into the unfamiliar room and she realized she had been living in a world of deceit and hypocrisy perpetuated by her stepmother and her daughters.
She left the ward, hugging the valuable file in her arms, feeling strangely heavy-hearted. She had a foreboding feeling, much like her mother’s last wishes.
Perhaps due to exhaustion, she felt lightheaded as she exited the hospital. Struggling to make her way to an elevator, intending to go back and rest, she suddenly blacked out and tumbled down the steps.
At this moment, an inconspicuous black Bentley drove past the hospital’s main entrance, and the man who had been reading documents in the backseat suddenly said, “Stop the car.”
The driver turned the steering wheel, bringing the car to a stop by the roadside. Before the car had even fully stopped, the person in the back seat had already opened the door and quickly stepped out.
“Make way!” A deep and authoritative voice cut through the crowd, making a path straight to Isabella, who was lying unconscious on the ground.
At this moment, Isabella was unconscious, and without hesitation, he picked her up from the ground and hurriedly carried her into the hospital.
The emergency department was bustling with many patients, doctors, and nurses rushing back and forth, too busy to attend to bystanders. Only an intern doctor came over and reminded, “Place the patient on the mobile bed over there, and the family should proceed to the registration desk.”
Andrew’s handsome face was stern and cold. His voice, though not loud, carried an undeniable authority. “Summon Vice Director Samuel, tell him it’s Andrew Turner looking for him.”
The intern doctor ran back to the office to make the call, still somewhat skeptical. In less than five minutes, a middle-aged man in a white coat walked into the emergency department with two assistants following him.
“Andrew? What’s going on?” Samuel, seeing him holding an unconscious girl, was taken aback.
Andrew couldn’t be bothered to explain and simply instructed, “She collapsed suddenly at the hospital entrance; check her out.”
Samuel was a doctor, and at any time, he prioritized the patient’s well-being. He temporarily set aside his curiosity.
“Inform the nursing station to transfer her to the VIP ward,” Samuel instructed his assistants.
Subsequently, Isabella was placed on a mobile bed and pushed to the VIP ward on the 22nd floor of the hospital by nurses and attendants.
Inside the ward, Samuel, along with several doctors and nurses, conducted a medical examination.
Andrew was left outside the ward, feeling a sense of unease he couldn’t quite understand. He reached into his pocket, retrieved a cigarette, and stood by an open window, smoking.
Just as he had smoked half of the cigarette, the door to the ward opened. Samuel, wearing a white coat, came out and walked directly to Andrew. He reached out and took the cigarette from Andrew’s left hand, disposing of it in a nearby waste bin, then said firmly, “Smoking is prohibited in the hospital.”
Andrew didn’t express any dissatisfaction and casually inquired, “How is she doing?”
“Initial examination showed no major issues. Her fainting was likely due to malnutrition and excessive fatigue. For further examination, I’ve ordered the nurse to take a blood sample, but we won’t have the results until later tonight,” Samuel replied.
“Okay,” Andrew nodded indifferently. Asher had been hospitalized with a high fever, and she had stayed up all night with him; her body couldn’t handle it, which might be the cause of her condition.
“Arrange for a nurse and an experienced caregiver to look after her. I’ll come back tonight.” Andrew looked at his wristwatch; he had a video conference in half an hour and needed to rush back to the company.
Samuel put his hand to his forehead, showing a hint of helplessness in his expression.
The way Andrew spoke, it was as if he considered the hospital his private clinic and the hospital’s nurses and caregivers as his household staff.