Chapter 265: Chapter 265
Chapter 265
Nurse Sarah entered the low-security recovery wing shortly after one in the morning, carrying a tray with fresh linen and a glass of water for Ethan’s routine night check. She unlocked the heavy door to his room, pushing it open with her shoulder, expecting to find the patient fast asleep under his blanket as usual. Instead, her eyes landed on the tangled bedsheets pushed onto the floor and the empty, cold mattress.
She set the tray down on the small table with a quick clatter, stepping further into the room to check the adjoining private bathroom, but the small space was completely empty. Her breath caught in her throat as she noticed the small metal strip missing from the bed frame and the scraped edges of the door lock mechanism. Without wasting another second, she rushed out into the hallway and hit the red emergency call button on the wall, bringing the night shift orderlies running down the corridor.
Within twenty minutes, the entire facility was in total chaos. Dr. Anny Wales hurried through the front double doors in her rain-drenched coat, her hair slightly messy as Dr. Liu met her right near the central nurse station.
Security officers were already pacing back and forth, radios buzzing with static as they coordinated a perimeter sweep of the building grounds. Maria arrived less than ten minutes later, having sped back from her apartment the moment Dr. Wales called her phone. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying earlier that evening, but her hands shook with pure panic as she pushed past the orderlies stationed at the main archway.
“Where is my son?” Maria demanded, her voice rising in desperation as she grabbed Dr. Liu by his lab coat sleeve. “You told me he was sedated! You sworn to me that he was locked in a secure room and couldn't leave! How could an injured boy with broken ribs just walk out of a private medical clinic?”
Dr. Liu held his hands up defensively, his face pale as he tried to calm her down. “Mrs. Castellan, please try to stay calm. We signed off on his sedation order ourselves around ten o'clock. Nurse Sarah confirmed he took his medication, or at least we believed he swallowed it. He must have kept the pill under his tongue and disposed of it after the staff left his room. He somehow pried a piece of metal off his bed frame and picked the lock from the inside.”
“He tricked us, Maria,” Dr. Anny Wales added, her voice tight with stress as she leaned over the nurse counter to look at the security logbook. “Ethan was far more lucid and observant than any of us realized. He waited until the night guard stepped away for a scheduled break before making his move. We are reviewing the facility feeds right now to track his exit path.”
Maria covered her mouth with both hands, letting out a ragged sob as she looked toward the dark glass doors leading to the rainy parking structure. “He is hurt, Anny! He has internal bruising and fractured ribs that haven't healed properly! He has no money, no shoes, no jacket, and nowhere to go! If he falls or collapses out there in this storm, he could bleed out in the street!”
“We have our internal security team checking the entire perimeter,” Dr. Liu said, turning toward the chief security guard who had just walked up to the counter holding a black tablet. “What do the cameras show, Marcus? Did he leave through the front gates?”
Marcus swiped his finger across the tablet screen, pulling up grainy, black-and-white footage recorded from the building's internal security feed. “He didn't go near the front entrance, doctor. He slipped into the staff locker room near the service hall at twelve forty-two. He stole a rain jacket from one of the lockers and grabbed a master keycard left in an open drawer by the janitorial staff. From there, he used the emergency stairwell to reach the basement parking lot.”
Maria leaned over the counter, staring at the screen with wide, horrified eyes as the video showed a hooded figure moving through the shadows of the concrete pillars. “Look at him... he's limping. He can barely stand straight! Where did he go after the parking lot?”
“He dodged the direct line of sight for camera four and camera six,” Marcus explained, pointing to the edge of the monitor. “He knew exactly where the blind spots were. He climbed over the low retaining wall on the east side of the property and dropped down to the muddy slope leading to the public access road. Our men found blood traces on the wet grass near the wall. His wounds definitely reopened when he made that jump.”
“Oh God,” Maria cried out, sinking into one of the waiting room chairs as tears poured down her face. “My sweet boy... what has he done? He thinks he has to fix everything alone. He thinks nobody is on his side!”
Dr. Anny Wales pulled out her personal mobile phone and dialed a direct number, holding the receiver tightly against her ear as she paced in front of the counter. “I am calling the local precinct chief right now, Maria. We need a search party covering a five-mile radius around the estate district immediately. If he reaches the main highway on foot in his condition, he won't last long.”
“Do not call Richard,” Maria said sharply, snapping her head up as her grief instantly turned into bitter rage. “If my husband finds out Ethan escaped, he will send his own corporate thugs to track him down and drag him back like a criminal just to protect his company stocks! Richard doesn't care if Ethan lives or dies, Anny!”
Dr. Anny Wales paused, lowering her phone slightly as she looked at Maria with a mixture of sympathy and concern. “Maria, Ethan is a flight risk now, and he is a danger to his own physical health. The police need to know so they can monitor the local bus stations and taxi companies. He has no private transport.”
“Ethan is not a criminal!” Maria yelled back, standing up from the chair with her fists clenched tight at her sides. “He is a victim of his father's cruelty ! He escaped because you locked him up like an animal when he needed help! If you put out a warrant for his arrest, you will destroy whatever chance he has left to rebuild his life!”
Dr. Liu stepped between the two women, trying to maintain order as the security guards continued to whisper among themselves in the background. “Mrs. Castellan, we have a legal obligation to report a missing patient from a court-ordered evaluation hold. If he collapses on public property, this clinic will be held liable for gross negligence.”
“I don't give a damn about your clinic's liability!” Maria spat, taking a step directly into Dr. Liu's face. “My son is out there bleeding in the rain because your staff failed to monitor him properly! You will check every camera on the surrounding streets, you will call every private hospital in Monterey to see if he checks in under a fake name, and you will give me the master footage right now so my private investigator can start searching!”
Dr. Anny Wales sighed deeply, placing a hand on Maria's trembling shoulder to quiet her down. “Fine. We will give your private security team full access to our perimeter logs first before making a formal police filing. But Maria, you need to think logically about where he would head. A man doesn't break out of a medical facility at midnight without a specific destination in mind. Does he have any safe houses or hidden apartments in the city that we don't know about?”
Maria wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand, her mind racing through every property, every friend, and every old haunt Ethan used to visit when he was overwhelmed. “He doesn't have anyone left... Richard stripped his bank accounts, his friends abandoned him after the university scandal, and his car was impounded after the crash.”
She stopped talking suddenly, her eyes widening as a realization hit her mind. She thought about the way Ethan had begged her about Isabelle earlier, the desperate way he kept repeating Celine's real name over and over while lying in his hospital bed.