Chapter 116

Chapter 116

Flynn. Again.

But Cordelia had no energy to argue about the divorce right now.

"How did he end up in the hospital?"

That was the only thing she needed to know.

After she'd left the coffee shop yesterday... what happened?

Was it really because of her?

Her expression darkened. A flash of pain crossed her eyes.

But Flynn didn't answer. He hung up.

Of course. Flynn wanted them out of each other's lives permanently. Why would he tell her anything about Ellington's condition?

"Cordelia? Are you okay?" Avery noticed something was wrong, her expression turning serious. "What did they say?"

Just from Cordelia's tone during the call, it was obvious the person on the other end hadn't been friendly.

She hoped nothing had actually happened to Liliana.

Cordelia shook her head and shot to her feet—too fast. She nearly lost her balance.

"What's going on?" Avery's concern deepened. "Talk to me. We'll figure it out together."

Cordelia waved her off. Her gaze was growing hollow.

"Ms. Pace, I need to take the afternoon off. I have to get to the hospital."

Ellington was hurt... because of her?

They were already divorced. How could they still pin this on her? What did his accident have to do with her?

She was going to see for herself exactly what had happened.

Cordelia rushed out of the office, her eyes reddening again.

At the end of the day... she still worried about him. Still couldn't let go.

It seemed they were destined to be tangled up in each other forever.

She made it to the lobby and was about to hail a ride to the hospital when it hit her—she didn't even know which hospital Ellington was at.

Instinctively, she moved to redial the number. But Flynn would never pick up.

Was she really going to have to contact Sloane?

Cordelia stood alone outside the entrance, a solitary, lost figure.

That was exactly the scene Griffin saw when he stepped out of the elevator.

He'd already pieced things together when Avery called him.

The Carnegie Group and the Neville Group's joint project had its launch today, but both leads failed to show up this morning. Griffin had someone look into it and learned there'd been some kind of incident at the Carnegie Villa earlier.

An engaged couple under the same roof having an 'incident'—what else could it be?

Though from what he heard, Sloane was fine. The one who got hurt was Ellington's cousin, Liliana.

"Come on, I'll take you." Griffin appeared behind her and rested a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry. It's not that serious."

After a flicker of surprise, Cordelia's face remained etched with worry. "I don't know what happened. Flynn said I caused this. If something's really wrong with Ellington, I..."

"Don't psych yourself out." Griffin scoffed. "You actually believe what that man says?"

Cordelia was silent for a few seconds, but the anxiety wouldn't settle. "I'm just worried about Ellington."

She didn't want him hurt because of her.

"He's not in any life-threatening danger. He's not unconscious either. But apparently the wound is pretty deep—he's in a treatment room getting stitched up. Minor surgery, if you can call it that."

Cordelia's lips parted, but no words came out.

Flynn had said he was in surgery. She'd thought—

"Stop overthinking. You'll see for yourself soon enough."

Griffin drove her straight to the hospital and led her toward the ward.

But before they could get close, Flynn spotted them from down the corridor. He charged over immediately, blocking their path.

"You have the nerve to show up here! I've never met a woman as shameless as you!"

Cordelia was used to Flynn's venom by now. If he weren't Ellington's father, she wouldn't have held back at all.

On the drive over, Griffin had shared what his people had dug up.

Ellington and Liliana were both hurt at home. And Flynn was blaming her.

"Why wouldn't I dare come?" Cordelia met his glare head-on. "Liliana didn't show up to work today. No one could reach her. I called Ellington to ask about her—what's wrong with that?"

That caught Flynn off guard.

Liliana had been back in the country for nearly a month, and he had no idea she was working at Vogue Vortex?

He recovered quickly, his lip curling with contempt. "So what if she skipped work? She never needed that job! She won't be going back!"

Cordelia's fists clenched at her sides. She kept telling herself—don't lose it.

Even if she couldn't see Ellington today, she at least needed to know his condition.

"Mr. Carnegie, let me confirm—Ms. Stewart won't be returning to the company going forward. Is that correct?" Griffin slipped into professional mode seamlessly. "Resignation requires proper paperwork, of course. But given Ms. Stewart's special circumstances, if you confirm it, I'll handle the process on our end."

"She's done!" Flynn's expression was pure disdain. "Perfectly good family legacy to inherit, and instead she wants to play designer like her aunt. No future in it! Good riddance!"

It sounded like he was talking about Liliana, but the barb was aimed squarely at Cordelia and Raina too.

Design had no future. At least not in Flynn's eyes.

Cordelia dropped that thread and cut to what mattered. "How is Ellington? I want to see him. Just one look—I'll confirm he's alright and leave."

With Flynn hovering, she and Ellington wouldn't be able to talk anyway.

How he'd gotten hurt didn't matter anymore. She just needed to see that he was safe.

Even knowing he wasn't in mortal danger, she needed to see it with her own eyes.

A large wound... could still be life-threatening.

"Stay out of his sight and he'll be fine." Flynn didn't budge. "Ms. Sinclair, are you going to leave on your own, or do I need to call security to escort you out?"

"Mr. Carnegie, they were husband and wife." Griffin stepped forward, his voice cool and measured. "If you're going to claim Ellington got hurt because of Cordelia, then at the very least, let her see the patient. You can't throw that kind of blame around and then just shut the door."

"Cordelia wasn't there when it happened. She hadn't even contacted him. As her friend, I won't stand by and watch her carry guilt that doesn't belong to her."

Griffin didn't care about Ellington's condition. But he refused to let Cordelia torture herself over this.

Blaming her for what happened... Cordelia was too kind-hearted. Of course she'd feel guilty.

Ellington was the one who'd wronged her. She had nothing to feel guilty about.

"You're saying I'm making false accusations?" Flynn's eyes narrowed. "Griffin, this has nothing to do with you. If you don't know what you're talking about, stay out of it!" He shot a glance at Cordelia, who stood with her head bowed. "Fine. I'll tell you. This morning, Liliana and Sloane got into a physical fight over you. Ellington tried to break it up and aggravated an old injury. If it doesn't heal properly, he'll be permanently disabled."

"The root cause of that fight is you. If you don't want him ending up crippled, get the hell out of here. Now."

Cordelia almost laughed.

The last shred of restraint in her was wearing dangerously thin.

Being reasonable only made people think you were easy to push around. Sometimes a little madness served you better.

"You're being—"

Griffin's brow furrowed and he started to speak, but Cordelia held up a hand to stop him. She looked Flynn dead in the eye.

"By that logic, I'd say the real reason Ellington's old injury flared up... is you."