Chapter 169
Chapter 169
Serenity Health Center VIP Critical Care Unit
The words "In Surgery" had been lit for an entire day and night.
Scarlett sat slumped on the hallway floor, her wounds already bandaged, but her clothes covered in large swaths of dried, dark red bloodstains—a horrifying sight.
That was Thaddeus's blood.
The brutal scene from last night replayed uncontrollably in her mind, over and over.
The SUV's blinding headlights...
Lavinia's twisted, vicious face...
And that broad figure who didn't hesitate to shield her...
Scarlett closed her eyes as tears silently fell.
She hated him!
Hated his cold-bloodedness, his selfishness. Hated that he'd believed lies, that he'd caused her father's death, that he'd nearly killed her and their unborn children.
That heart, repeatedly tempered by hatred through countless sleepless nights, she'd thought would never waver for him again in this lifetime.
But.
When he actually collapsed before her, his body temperature slowly draining away in her arms...
The impenetrable defense finally cracked.
Inside was a panic she refused to acknowledge yet couldn't ignore.
"Thaddeus..." Scarlett buried her head in her knees. "You bastard... Do you think doing this will make me forgive you?"
"I won't forgive... I absolutely won't forgive..."
Suppressed sobs echoed through the hallway, filled with heart-wrenching despair.
Footsteps came from the end of the corridor.
Sawyer arrived with Orla and Arthur, who'd just been examined.
"Mommy!" Orla's eyes were red—she'd clearly been crying. Seeing Scarlett collapsed on the floor, she immediately broke free from Sawyer's hand and ran to Scarlett's side, hugging her neck tightly.
"Don't cry, Mommy... I'll stay with Mommy..." Orla reached out her small hand, tenderly wiping the tears from Scarlett's face.
Scarlett pulled her daughter into her embrace. Only this way could she draw a trace of faint warmth and strength.
Sawyer looked at her devastated state, pain flashing in his eyes.
He knew that in the moment Thaddeus had unhesitatingly used his life to protect her and their children...
Thaddeus's place in Scarlett's heart had become completely irreplaceable.
For five years, he'd carefully cherished her, accompanied her, tried to heal her wounds with warmth.
He'd thought that given enough time, he could eventually reach her heart.
But he'd lost.
Lost to a madman who didn't even care about his own life.
Sawyer's lips twisted bitterly. Forcing down the sourness in his heart, he gently patted Scarlett's shoulder. "Scarlett, don't be afraid. Silverlight City's best neurosurgeon and thoracic surgeon are both here. He... he's tough. He'll definitely pull through."
Scarlett looked at Sawyer. Her lips moved, but she couldn't form a complete sentence. She could only nod desperately.
The operating room doors opened. The doctor emerged.
Scarlett stumbled forward, grabbing the lead specialist's white coat, her voice breaking. "Doctor! How is he? He..."
The specialist removed his mask and sighed heavily. "Mrs. Getty, please calm down first. Mr. Getty's injuries... are extremely severe."
"Multiple comminuted rib fractures pierced his lung, causing severe internal bleeding. His liver and spleen both ruptured to varying degrees. Most critically, his head suffered violent impact, resulting in severe cranial trauma with extensive intracranial hematoma..."
"We've done everything we could—removed portions of ruptured organs, cleared the intracranial hematoma. His life is temporarily saved."
As soon as the doctor finished speaking, Scarlett's body swayed. If Sawyer hadn't caught her quickly, she would have collapsed.
"However." The doctor's tone shifted. "Mr. Getty's vital signs remain extremely weak, and he's fallen into a deep coma."
"Whether he'll wake up, when he'll wake up... depends entirely on his own fate. Perhaps tomorrow, perhaps next month, perhaps... never."
A vegetative state?
That once-invincible man, proud as an emperor, might lie in a hospital bed for the rest of his life, like a living corpse, never to wake again?
Scarlett's vision went black, her ears ringing.
Soon.
The operating room doors opened again.
A gurney was carefully wheeled out.
On it lay a man.
His body bristled with tubes of various sizes. His face was covered by a heavy ventilator mask maintaining weak breaths.
His once-handsome, stern features were now pale as paper, even carrying an air of death. Only the occasional blip on the heart monitor proved he was still alive.
"Thaddeus..." Scarlett stared at the man on the gurney, tears streaming down wildly.
She wanted to rush over but found her legs heavy as lead, unable to take a step.
Arthur, who'd been silent all along, suddenly broke free from Sawyer's hand.
He walked somewhat unsteadily to the gurney.
The five-year-old boy was still short and could only stand on tiptoes to press his hand against the heart monitor's glass screen.
In the five years imprisoned in that castle, he'd never felt paternal love. Even the word "father" was filled with fear and strangeness for him.
But last night.
On that stormy night.
That man who descended like a war god used his broad back to shield him and his mother from all danger.
That was the first time he'd felt what a father's protection meant.
Arthur stared fixedly at Thaddeus lying on the bed.
His eyes somehow filled with tears.
"Da... Daddy..."
The awkward word emerged with difficulty.
Scarlett looked at Arthur in disbelief, the tears she'd barely stopped falling again.
"Arthur..." She pulled Arthur tightly into her arms, sobbing uncontrollably.
Sawyer watched the scene quietly.
He knew.
He'd lost.
Sawyer took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the pain in his eyes. He handed Scarlett a document.
It was that "Asset Transfer Agreement" for the Getty Group.
"Scarlett."
Scarlett looked up at him through her tears, confusion flickering in her eyes.
"Scarlett, Thaddeus has fallen. Ulysses will launch his final attack any moment. The Getty Group is in grave danger." Sawyer pointed to the document in her hands. "Right now."
"Only you can preserve his life's work."