Chapter 224
Chapter 224
"Mrs. Elizabeth Carter was taking her afternoon nap at the time, and Mrs. Amelia Carter said she wasn't feeling well, so I went to look after her. As for the butler, he should have been outside arranging for the servants to tidy up the yard. That's what he usually does when Mrs. Elizabeth Carter takes her afternoon nap."
"So, Grandmother really did have sudden heart failure in her sleep?" Ethan narrowed his eyes slightly.
"That's correct, Mr. Carter." The family doctor nodded.
"I'm sorry, it's my fault for not taking better care of Mrs. Carter." The butler looked full of self-blame.
Ethan didn't offer a platitude. He merely turned his gaze back to the emergency room, where the rhythmic flashing of the red light felt like a ticking clock.
"Ethan..." Alice whispered, her voice trembling with uncertainty.
"She’s still in surgery," Ethan said, his voice dropping an octave as he tried to anchor her. "All we can do is wait for the doctors to finish their work."
As he spoke, his eyes drifted across the room, catching Rachel’s gaze for a split second.
She flinched, instinctively looking away, but before he could process her reaction, his phone vibrated in his pocket. It was Christina.
"Stay here and wait," he instructed the group. "We don't know how long this will take."
He retreated to a quiet corner of the waiting area and pressed the phone to his ear. "Christina."
"How is she?" Her voice was thin, laced with a worry that mirrored his own.
Ethan glanced back at the heavy double doors. "Still being resuscitated. We don’t have a clear picture yet."
A heavy silence stretched between them for a moment. Ethan broke it first, his tone softening.
"Have you eaten anything?"
"Just a bit," she admitted dejectedly.
The tension was palpable even through the line.
Ethan forced himself to sound steady; he couldn't let his own spiraling anxiety infect her. "Christina, listen to me. James and Andrew are here. My grandmother is in good hands. You need to focus on your own strength and get ready for your surgery. I’ll be back to your side as soon as I can."
"Okay," she whispered. "Henry wants to say hi."
Right after, Henry's soft voice came through. "Daddy, did you see Great-grandmother? Is she okay?"
"I saw her. She's fine, just resting right now. When she wakes up, I'll have her call you, okay?" Ethan patiently coaxed.
"Okay." Henry answered.
"While I'm not there, Henry, help me take good care of your mommy, okay?"
"I know, Daddy."
Henry's repeated "Daddy" slightly eased Ethan's heavy mood.
In Christina's hospital room, after hanging up the phone, Uma walked in.
Outside the window, the sun was already setting, and the clear sky was filled with evening clouds.
"Ms. Cooper, shall I take you down to the garden for a walk?" Uma asked.
"Sure. My brother should be arriving soon. Maybe we'll run into him downstairs." Christina nodded.
At that moment, they didn't notice that not far behind them, a pair of hidden eyes was following them closely.
The rehabilitation garden downstairs was quite large. Christina and the others found a quiet bench to sit on, where they could see the maple trees and enjoy the sunset.
Uma draped a thick fleece shawl over Christina's shoulders. When Henry came downstairs, he was already wearing a thin down jacket, making him look round and adorable.
"Mommy, are you bored? I'll sing you a song I just learned, okay?" Henry sat on the bench next to Christina.
Christina smiled, leaning her head back. As Henry’s sweet, high-pitched voice filled the air, she watched the sunset. At that moment, her will to survive didn't just flicker—it roared to life.
The world was too vibrant, her son too precious, to leave behind.
Suddenly, a ball rolled across the grass, bumping gently against Christina’s foot. She looked up to see a small boy in a striped hospital gown standing a few yards away, watching them with a timid expression.
"It’s his ball," Henry pointed out.
Christina picked it up, but the boy seemed too shy to approach.
"Uma, could you take this back to him?"
Uma took the ball and walked toward the child.
Just as she reached him, a caregiver joined the boy, offering a grateful smile.
"Thank you so much. The little one struggles with some mental health issues—I hope he didn't startle the lady?"
"Not at all," Uma replied politely.
They exchanged a few words of small talk, but when Uma turned back toward the bench, her heart stopped. The bench was empty. Christina and Henry were gone.
She opened her mouth to call out, but before she could make a sound, the world tilted and went pitch black.
Meanwhile, after a full three hours of resuscitation, Elizabeth was finally brought back by the doctors and temporarily out of danger.
The operating room door opened, and the doctor came out.
"How is she?" Everyone rushed forward.
"The patient's heartbeat has been restored for now, but her condition is still unstable. She hasn't completely escaped life-threatening danger yet. She needs to go to the ICU for observation first. She's already been taken there through the back." The doctor said.
"Can we see the patient now?" James asked.
"You can only see her through the corridor window."
James and Ethan went to the corridor together. In the ICU, Elizabeth lay unconscious on the hospital bed, tubes all over her body, her face deathly pale.
As they returned to the waiting area, Ethan's phone suddenly buzzed with a message: [Mr. Carter, no anomalies found in the Carter Manor surveillance.] A video link was attached.
Ethan's eyes darkened slightly. Before he could click on the link, Brice's call suddenly came through.
"Ethan, where are you?" Brice’s voice was frantic, bordering on hysterical. "Where’s Christina? She’s not in her room, her phone is dead—what the hell is going on?"
The floor seemed to drop out from under Ethan’s feet. One crisis had ended only to be replaced by a nightmare.
"What do you mean she’s not there?" Ethan’s voice was a low growl of pure panic.
"Uncle James, Grandmother is stable. Stay here. Call me if anything changes." Ethan didn't wait for an answer. He turned on his heel and sprinted toward the exit.
"Ethan! What is it?" James called after him.
"Christina and Henry are missing," Ethan thrown back over his shoulder as he disappeared into the night.
Before he finished speaking, he pulled away from James's hand, took one last deep look at Elizabeth in the ICU, and hurried out of the hospital.
Night had fallen, and the lights were just coming on.
The black Bentley became a blur of shadow as it tore across the elevated highway.
Ethan’s knuckles were white, his grip on the wheel so tight the leather groaned. He redialed Christina’s number over and over, only to be met by the cold, mechanical voice of the operator: The number you have dialed is not in service.
He was frantic with worry. His grip on the steering wheel grew tighter and tighter, veins bulging on the back of his hands.
Uma's phone wasn't going through either. There was no news at all.
When he arrived at Christina's hospital, just as he got out of the car, his phone rang again. It was an unknown number.
Ethan glanced at it and immediately answered. "Hello."
"Ethan." The voice on the other end had been processed through a voice changer, making it impossible to identify.
Ethan stopped in his tracks as he was entering the hospital building and asked in a deep voice, "You know where Christina and Henry are?"
"Worthy of being Mr. Carter—so smart." The other person chuckled, with a hint of provocation.
Ethan's expression darkened. "Who are you exactly?"