On the way to the hospital, Jasmine clung desperately to Ethan's shirt, as if grasping for threads of safety.
Her attempt in fleeing from that the room had been akin to a drowning person clinging to a lifeline.
Ethan's frown deepened as he looked at Jasmine. Her delicate face was as pale as paper.
The first time he saw her at the Douglas family gathering, she was like a blooming gardenia.
"Mr. Douglas... maybe, maybe I could take her, so you can go home and change?" Suggested his assistant nervously upon arriving at the hospital, reaching to take Jasmine.
Ethan shot his assistant a cold glance and strode past him, carrying Jasmine towards the ER.
The assistant inhaled sharply; Mr. Douglas was acting really out of character today.
"Don't... don't touch me..."
In her semi-conscious state, Jasmine's struggle was becoming increasingly desperate, her face growing paler by the second.
Anyone could see she had been through a harrowing ordeal.
"Don't touch me! Don't... you all stay away from me..."
The nurse tried to examine Jasmine, but her frantic struggles were too intense.
"Dr. Ryan, the patient is uncooperative."
In the ER, William was on duty. Once he stepped into the examination room with his stethoscope, he caught sight of the stern-faced man by the side. He stared in disbelief for a moment. "Ethan?"
Ethan glanced at William; a frown still carved on his face.
He remembered him, the youngest son of the Ryan family.
The Douglas family was San Francisco's elite, followed by the Wilsons, the Ryans, the Browns, and the Taylors families. In a bid to align with the Douglas', the Wilsons had their daughter, Jasmine, engaged to Daniel Douglas, elevating the Wilsons standing in the city.
However, sadly, Jasmine turned out to be a farce. Scandalous rumors of her indiscretions surfaced after the engagement party, and the birth of an illegitimate child had tarnished the reputations of both the Wilsons and the Douglases in San Francisco's high society.
William stood out to Ethan precisely because of his uniqueness. As the heir to the Ryan Family, William had defied expectations. Rather than showing interest in the family business, he faced opposition head-on and chose to pursue a career in medicine.
The Ryans’ name had become somewhat of a joke in business circles for a time because of this.
"A mild concussion, a forehead laceration in need of stitches, tetanus risks, malnutrition, and now, she’s on the brink of starvation—quite the oddity," William remarked with a sardonic chuckle as he reviewed Jasmine's medical report.
Jasmine, a counterfeit heiress, had managed to cross the Douglas family, leaving her with little chance of survival.
Daniel was the obvious suspect for mistreating Jasmine, but was Ethan involved as well?
"Starving?" Ethan's eyes darkened with concern.
Had Daniel taken her home only to withhold food?
"Administer a nutritional IV," William instructed a nearby doctor before nodding in acknowledgment. Turning back to Ethan, he said, "Maybe it's none of my business, but as a doctor, I must remind you, Mr. Douglas, that five years behind bars should suffice for atonement. There’s no need to push someone to the brink."
The most ridiculous part of the elite circles was their obsession with their name and status.
Torture a woman over pride lost in the past? William despised such people.
Ethan remained silent; the air heavy with tension around him.
"By the way, just a reminder, she was once engaged to your brother," William added, glancing at Jasmine's neck, and misunderstanding the situation.
In San Francisco, everyone feared Ethan, everyone sought to curry favor with him, but William harbored only disdain.
If Ethan was supposedly indifferent to women, where did Jasmine's injuries come from?
Usually tight-lipped, Ethan couldn’t be bothered to correct William’s misunderstanding.
"Mr. Douglas, did you call the police?" An officer entered the hospital room. "Sorry to intrude, but we need to confirm a few details. The hotel staff denies any wrongdoing, claiming she inflicted the injuries on herself..."
Ethan's gaze was icy. "She did this to herself, and ended up critically injured?"
The cop flinched under Ethan's formidable presence. "Apologies, Mr. Douglas, but we require evidence and the victim’s statement."
"The surveillance footage from the hotel corridor, I'll have my assistant send it over," Ethan said, glancing at his watch. With the police here, he had no reason to stay.
William paused, rethinking the situation.
"Don't touch me, no!" Jasmine awoke from a nightmare in a state of panic; her eyes wide open and her body trembling.
Where was she? Where was this place?
As Jasmine made a move to pull at her IV, William quickly stepped forward to stop her. "Don't move."
Startled, Jasmine looked up at William with fear and instinctively shrank back.
She was terrified of men coming too close.
"Miss Jasmine, please cooperate and answer a few questions. What happened in the Bellagio Hotel suite? Was there an altercation?" A police officer stepped forward to inquire.
Jasmine, still visibly shaken, glanced toward Ethan, who had paused at the doorway.
Taking a deep breath, she was gripped by fear.
Ethan was Daniel's brother. If she were to accuse Daniel of deceiving her, it could tarnish the image of the Douglas family.
Her fingers tightened into a fist, and with her head bowed, Jasmine whispered, "No...no, I did it to myself...hit myself..."
At the doorway, Ethan frowned as he turned and left.
He despised women who were weak, servile, and lacked the will to fight back.