chapter122-swear

Vincent's POV

After digesting the information she provided, I carefully scrutinized her expression, ensuring that she hadn't fabricated false intelligence.

"How long have you known about this?" I slowly interlocked my fingers, leaning back in the chair, exuding a sense of urgency.

"I've known since before the trip," Lucca said, her hand clutching her chest, her breath becoming labored.

"Something must have happened to her, and I knew it. I should have insisted you look for her yesterday... Why did you just brush me off?"

Her voice was urgent, laced with anxiety.

I gently pulled her into my embrace, patting her back in an attempt to soothe her emotions. "It's alright, don't worry. We've already initiated a search for her."

Despite my efforts to comfort her, Lucca remained highly agitated, and I could sense the fear emanating from her.

I contemplated the situation, trying to provide some explanation.

"If they truly intended to harm her, they would have acted already. She was able to call you yesterday, which suggests those individuals have reasons to keep her alive. Perhaps because the imposter posing as Dr. Herlof isn't knowledgeable in medicine, they may need Gloria's consultation to avoid exposure."

My analysis seemed to somewhat calm her down.

Suddenly, Lucca lifted her head from my embrace.

"You didn't kill the assassin, did you?"

"No," I replied, gently stroking her hair, speaking softly.

"I understand what needs to be done next. Just promise me you'll rest properly."

But she wasn't willing to give up so easily.

"No, I have to see Gloria. Only when I see her can I rest assured."

I fell silent, simply gazing at her. Her eyes were dark and determined, as if she wanted to etch her determination into my heart.

I knew I had no room to refuse because, no matter what I said, as long as I saw those eyes, I would agree. In the end, I relented.

"I will keep you informed of any developments, but you must stay at the research facility and rest." She left no room for doubt.

"You can't withhold any information from me."

"I will never hide anything," I promised solemnly.

"You have to swear," she insisted.

I reached into my front pocket, took out the wolf head pendant, kissed it, and then hung it around Lucca's neck as my pledge.

"Now you have my oath," I told Lucca.

She clutched the wolf head pendant tightly, feeling the contours of the wolf in her palm.

The medical staff escorted her back to the ward, and as promised, I remained ready to report any developments to her.

The imposter posing as Dr. Herlof belonged to a radical organization. He had already revealed the identities of his accomplices.

Just as I suspected, he had only a superficial understanding of medicine and couldn't match the expertise of Gloria or the real Dr. Herlof.

Therefore, his associates didn't kill Gloria; instead, they kept her to solve some complex medical issues to avoid exposing the imposter. However, I had sensed the problem the first time I saw him, and his disguises were ineffective.

We successfully rescued Gloria, and although her mental state wasn't great, she was physically unharmed. She had suffered a major psychological blow over a month ago, which had taken a toll on her body. When the extremists kidnapped her, she appeared already weakened.

They dared not torture her for fear she might die accidentally.

They merely used her husband's life as leverage, forcing her to disclose the current treatment details and assist in the deception.

Gloria realized that these criminals believed that Luna Nataly was receiving treatment at the research facility.

Therefore, she managed to use false information to expose the imposter Herlof's flaws. But the imposter Herlof was cautious and insisted on seeing the patient.

Fortunately, driven by some twisted possessiveness and jealousy, I didn't allow him to see Lucca, or else they would have discovered that Gloria was lying.

After Gloria was rescued, her first words were, "How's my husband?"

Then, her second question was directed at Lucca.

The rescue team immediately transported her back to the research facility.

Lucca's POV

I saw her in the hospital room and was relieved to find that Gloria had no obvious injuries. She could even walk freely, which eased my worries.

"I heard you calling me on the phone, your voice sounded so frail, I thought..."

I suddenly choked up and covered my face with a pillow.

Gloria walked over to my bed, gently brushed aside my bangs, and said, "It's okay, I've come back in one piece."

I was still crying, and Gloria comforted me for a while before explaining what had happened.

"They would allow me to use the phone to give some important details to that fake Herlov. That day, when they weren't paying attention, I called your number right after hanging up. But they reacted quickly, and I couldn't say anything, so I immediately hung up and hastily deleted the call record..."

She suddenly paused, her eyes locked onto my face, filled with disbelief and relief.

"You were able to distinguish a less than two-second breath on the phone, I feel so incredibly lucky," she marveled.

I smiled and tears rolled down my cheeks again.

"I have a good memory and I'm sensitive to sounds," I explained, silently adding in my heart, because you're my mother. Gloria still found it hard to believe.

"And another thing! After I hung up, you didn't immediately call back! It's truly miraculous. If you had called back and asked if it was me who made the call, those thugs would definitely have killed me."

"I just vaguely realized that I shouldn't do that," I smiled, peeking at her from under the covers. Gloria shook her head in bewilderment.

"It's just amazing."

"Later, I sent you a text message."

"Yes, I know. They asked me how to reply."

"I felt that wasn't you replying to the messages," Gloria marveled, "You really do have exceptionally keen intuition."

"Yes," I replied.

This kind of intuition tends to emerge with certain close relationships. We chatted slowly by the bedside, with both tears and laughter.

Late into the night, the lights in the hallway went out, but we still whispered to each other, as if there were endless words to say.

Finally, I gradually fell asleep.

Gloria turned off the lights for me and was about to return to her room when she saw my fragile, curled-up form.

She came back to the bedside and held my hand. The next day, I woke up and saw Gloria right away.

"Sorry, did I fall asleep while talking?" I vaguely remembered what happened last night.

Gloria said gently, "It's okay, we both accidentally fell asleep." I realized I was still holding her hand tightly.

"Let's get up and have something to eat," Gloria said, pushing her sore body up and smiling at me.

"Rest well for a few days. Once Dr. Herlov has fully recovered, we can proceed with the surgery."

My mood finally settled.

I followed Gloria's advice, rested well for a few days, and got my physical and mental condition back to its best.

During these days, Dr. Herlov, who was recovering from his injuries, came to visit me.

He had a kind and gentle demeanor. Even though the imposter resembled him physically, their eyes were completely different.

Vincent seemed busy investigating the organization behind this, as he hadn't appeared these past few days.

I tried my best to avoid thinking about him.

After a week of rest, the preparations for the surgery finally resumed.