Chapter 162

Chapter 162

Adrian stood in the empty hallway of the law firm.

Phone pressed to his ear.

"The cancer center?" Adrian's voice was low and heavy, each word forced out with effort.

On the other end of the line, Christopher sounded shaken.

"Mr. Stewart, I went through all of Ms. Turner's medical records from the past year. Her files in every hospital system across Astoria had been encrypted. I had someone pull the backup records, and with help from the deputy director of Harbor City Medical Center, we managed to locate a scanned copy in the physical archive room. I've sent it to your WhatsApp."

Adrian pulled the phone away from his ear and opened WhatsApp.

A slightly blurry medical diagnosis form appeared on the screen.

[Patient Name: Elodie. Age: 25. Clinical Diagnosis: Advanced malignant gastric tumor with multiple lymph node metastases.]

The words hit him like a knife to the eyes.

His gaze dropped to the date at the bottom of the form.

March 15th.

Adrian's mind went completely blank.

What had happened that day?

March 15th was their fifth wedding anniversary.

Elodie had started preparing two weeks in advance. She personally booked the restaurant, chose the menu, and even had a gown custom-made just for that dinner.

But that afternoon, Chloe had called him. She was in tears, saying that Jack and Olivia were forcing her to go on a blind date and that she was falling apart.

Adrian hung up and sent Elodie a message canceling the dinner.

He took Chloe to Sotheby's Auction instead, spending a hundred million dollars on a pink diamond necklace called "Starlight," all to lift her mood.

And at that very same moment, Elodie had been sitting alone in a cold hospital hallway, holding this death sentence in her hands.

Adrian's breathing turned ragged.

Guilt and panic twisted together and squeezed his heart in a vice.

He thought back to that night, coming home to find Elodie on the sofa, her face drained of color, not saying a word. He had assumed she was sulking over nothing, and went straight to the guest room.

She hadn't been throwing a tantrum.

She had been standing at the edge of life and death.

"Mr. Stewart…" Christopher's voice came carefully through the phone after a long silence.

"Get the plane ready." Adrian's voice came out rough.

"Sorry?"

"I said get the plane ready!" Adrian suddenly roared, a vein standing out on his forehead. "Clear my entire schedule! Contact the aviation authority and file for a direct route to Eldoria right now!"

He turned and walked in long strides toward the elevator.

Eldoria. St. Gallen Sanatorium.

A cold wind swept down from the Silvercrest Range across the lawn.

The sun was out.

Elodie sat in a wheelchair, wearing an oversized blue-and-white striped hospital gown.

She had lost a lot of weight. Her jawline was sharp, and her wrists looked thin enough to snap. But her eyes were bright.

Gone was the lifeless stillness of Garden Vista Estates. Gone was the quiet exhaustion she carried around the Stewarts.

Here, she could relax and just be herself.

"Ms. Turner, this is the latest targeted medication for the first phase of treatment," a nurse said, stopping a medical cart beside her wheelchair.

Elodie nodded and rolled up her left sleeve.

Her arm was covered in bruises and dotted with needle marks.

The nurse cleaned the skin with practiced ease and inserted the needle.

Pale yellow liquid moved slowly through the clear tubing and into Elodie's vein.

Ten minutes later.

The side effects arrived right on schedule.

A violent wave of nausea surged through her stomach. Elodie lurched forward, grabbed the vomit bag hanging from the side of her wheelchair, and retched hard.

There was nothing in her stomach. Only bitter bile and acid came up.

Then came the pain — sharp and piercing, shooting through every joint in her body.

She clenched her jaw and gripped the armrests of the wheelchair with both hands.

The nurse quickly handed her warm water and a clean towel.

"Ms. Turner, this new targeted drug has very intense side effects. If it becomes too much, we can administer a dose of pain relief," the nurse said, eyeing Elodie's pale face with concern.

Elodie took the towel, wiped the corners of her mouth, and took a small sip of water.

"No need." Her voice was weak but clear. "Pain medication would interfere with the neurological response data. I need to keep the treatment as effective as possible."

The pain was real. Brutal, even.

But she welcomed it.

This was the price of a second chance at life. She had paid ten billion for top-tier medical care, and she wasn't going to waste a single bit of it.

The tablet on her lap buzzed.

A video call from Lucas.

Elodie accepted it.

On screen, Lucas was wearing a loud printed shirt, oversized sunglasses perched on his nose, holding a coconut drink with a little umbrella sticking out of it.

"Counsel Turner, is the air of Eldoria sweet?" Lucas pulled off his sunglasses and raised an eyebrow at the camera.

Elodie leaned back in her chair and managed a small smile.

"Lucas, if you showed up to the firm dressed like that, security would throw you out for soliciting."

Lucas laughed and took a sip of his drink, then dropped the act and lowered his voice.

"Serious talk." He adjusted his glasses. "Adrian has lost it."

Elodie watched the screen without any change in expression.

"He found the departure records for the medical transport flight. Now he's searching everywhere for you. He's put out a private bounty — a hundred million dollars for your exact location."

Lucas paused, then continued.

"Things are a mess back in Harbor City. He's got Chloe locked down at Westside Villa. The Turners have shown up to make a scene a few times, but his security team has thrown them out every time. The Stewart Group is in chaos internally — he even canceled a cross-border acquisition meeting today that was worth tens of billions."

Elodie lowered her gaze.

Adrian's reaction was exactly what she had expected.

A man like him — someone who always had to be in control — would never accept anyone slipping out of his reach. And on top of that, she had walked away with ten billion of his money. To Adrian, that was an unforgivable humiliation.

"Lucas." Elodie looked up, her eyes cold and flat.

"Make sure everyone who knows anything understands this." Her voice was calm. "Anyone who gives up my location for that bounty is my enemy for life."

She held his gaze through the screen.

"As far as the world is concerned, I died in the ocean under that cruise ship three months ago. The person I am now has nothing to do with Adrian. Nothing at all."

Lucas gave a firm nod.

"Don't worry. I've run the money trail and your hospital records through a second round of top-level encryption. He won't be able to find your ward or the coordinates of the sanatorium anytime soon."

The call ended.

Elodie set the tablet aside and picked up her copy of The Little Prince.

"Ma'am."

A small voice came from beside her.

Elodie turned.

A little girl wearing a yellow knit hat stood next to the wheelchair.

She was in the same oversized hospital gown, thin as a bird, her skin an unhealthy white. She stared at the book in Elodie's hands with wide, curious eyes.

"What are you reading?" she asked softly.

Elodie opened the book and held it out for her to see.

"A book."

The little girl's eyes lit up and she stepped closer.

"My name is Grace." She pointed to herself. "I'm from Harbor City too. I got sick — really sick. My mom and dad brought me here. They said the doctors here can make me better."

Elodie looked at her. Along the edge of Grace's yellow knit hat, there was not a single strand of hair.

Grace was in the late stages too.