Chapter 260 Stanley, Surgery
"Want to know?" Samuel asked with a smile.
Amelia rolled her eyes at him impatiently.
"Obviously!"
Samuel smiled. "Then get me a New Year's gift."
Amelia thought he was going to say something embarrassing like "give me a kiss," but to her surprise, he only asked for a New Year's gift.
Though buying him a gift would be difficult.
He already had everything.
But a New Year’s gift should be given anyway.
Amelia nodded. "Okay."
Samuel stopped teasing her and asked, "Do you know someone named Tyrell?"
Amelia nodded. "Yes, he’s one of Leonard's most trusted men. He's even more loyal than Billy is. What? Did you buy him off?"
Samuel shook his head.
"Not bought off. He's very loyal. Even though I tried to pressure him through Billy, he still sided with the Hays family in the end."
"Then why?"
"He's loyal and couldn't stand seeing Leonard continue to waste away over Leo's death, so I had someone suggest an idea to him."
"What idea?"
"Leonard lost his son, so naturally he would want another son to fill that void. But his wife can't have children anymore. When she gave birth to Leo, she hemorrhaged badly and lost her ability to conceive. So, following the suggestion of someone I had bought off, Tyrell found another woman for Leonard."
Amelia had already guessed what happened.
Probably Leonard's wife, Giselle Montague, found out and flew into a rage.
Though she didn't want to admit it, many women were easily swayed by their emotions.
Once emotions took over, reason often disappeared.
However, the actual situation differed slightly from what Amelia imagined.
Over the years, Leonard had many other women on the side.
Giselle had long gotten used to it.
What really made her angry wasn't that Leonard had another woman or that the woman got pregnant with a boy.
"What truly angered her was that Leonard had purchased an insurance policy."
The policy specifically stated that even illegitimate children could inherit his estate.
In other words, once the illegitimate child was born, if anything happened to Leonard, the child would inherit all his assets.
Giselle would receive nothing.
Amelia immediately understood.
"No wonder Giselle threw caution to the wind and reported Leonard to the authorities."
Since she wouldn't get anything anyway, she might as well bring Leonard down before that child was born.
Once Leonard was arrested, whether the woman's unborn child would be born or not would be entirely up to Giselle.
Everything Leonard owned would now go to Giselle.
Though some would be seized, many of his assets were overseas, so Giselle could still receive a considerable amount.
"Why did you keep all this from me?" Amelia asked.
Samuel said, "I didn't hide it on purpose. I wanted to save you some worry. You've been very happy lately, and I didn't want you to stress out. I wanted you to stay happy a little longer."
Amelia hated when Samuel kept things from her, but this time was an exception.
He did it for her sake.
"Here, eat some vegetables. They’re very tender." Samuel put food on her plate.
Amelia usually didn’t have much of an appetite, but her taste had been spoiled by the chef at All Seasons Table.
Yosef arrived halfway through their meal.
Amelia hadn't seen him for three months.
This time, he appeared wearing a suit instead of the flashy clothes from before, which made his whole presence seem completely different.
He looked very composed and serious.
Perhaps this was Yosef’s true self.
But the moment he opened his mouth, the image he'd maintained completely crumbled.
"How mean—you started eating before I even got here. I'm hurt."
Amelia explained, "I didn't know you were coming."
Yosef laughed. "I'm joking. Waiter, bring me two more dishes so the table isn’t filled with nothing but their lovey-dovey atmosphere."
Samuel lifted his gaze and gave him a cool look, but didn't show any displeasure.
From Yosef, Amelia learned that he had already secured his inheritance rights in the Dobbins family.
His position was now stable.
The Dobbins family was both shocked and delighted.
Only now did they realize that Yosef was a valuable asset.
He briefly explained what had happened.
Amelia nodded and asked him, "How is your sister-in-law doing now?"
Yosef's expression shifted slightly, but quickly returned to normal.
He said, "Stella isn't my sister-in-law anymore. They're divorced."
Philip didn't love Stella and didn’t even like women—he liked men.
But even so, he refused to divorce.
If he divorced Stella, he'd lose the last of the benefits the Dobbins family had given him.
He didn't treat Stella as a person, only as something he owned.
In the end, Stella filed for divorce with the court, and with Yosef's pressure, they finally divorced.
"That's good," Amelia said. "Now she can pursue her own happiness."
Yosef's eyes flickered for a moment, but he said nothing and simply nodded.
Amelia noticed but didn't press further.
She knew that if the two of them truly planned to be together, they would face public resistance.
But as long as they were determined to be together, they could overcome any difficulties.
But this was their own business and had nothing to do with Amelia. She had neither the right nor the need to bring it up herself.
Just as the three of them were nearly finished eating, Samuel’s phone rang.
His expression changed instantly, his brows knitting together.
He said, "Got it, I'll be right there."
Then he contacted Jeremy and told him to prepare the private jet—he needed to fly to Goldenvale immediately.
After hanging up, he faced their shocked looks, took a deep breath, and explained, "Stanley's having surgery today."
Both of them were startled.
"When did the surgery start?"
Samuel said, "Ten minutes ago. They've already started the anesthesia."
Amelia asked, "Is that fake Miracle Physician from last time performing the surgery?"
Samuel said, "It's her, but she ran away. Right before surgery, she suddenly disappeared."
"Ran away?"
"Yes. They kept trying to hide it from me, afraid I'd interfere. Now Stanley's lying on the operating table with no surgeon to be found, so they finally told me."
Yosef asked, puzzled, "What Miracle Physician?"
Amelia knew the situation in greater detail. She knew about the impersonation.
But she didn't have time to explain everything to Yosef right now.
Jeremy had already arrived outside.
He had come to take Samuel to the airport.
"I'm going with you." Amelia grabbed his sleeve.
Samuel looked at her, hesitating slightly.
She said, "Maybe I can help?"
Samuel thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement.
"Okay, let's go together."
"Wait," Yosef looked at the two of them. "I just flew from Thornfield to find you, and now you're going back? What about me?"
"Figure it out yourself."
With that, Samuel pulled Amelia toward the exit.
Yosef quickly ran after them.
"Take me! Take me! I can help too."
Samuel didn't refuse. "Get in the car."
Yosef let out a sigh of relief.
But when he thought about it, wasn't he basically begging to help?
Samuel really was a shrewd businessman!
He actually had to beg just to help!
Grumbling inwardly, he still got into the car.
On the way, Amelia carefully explained the whole situation to the confused Yosef.
After hearing it, even the usually unserious Yosef frowned deeply.
"For something so important, he'd rather trust some Miracle Physician who appeared out of nowhere than trust you. If you ask me, just let him deal with it himself."
Amelia was more rational.
"Setting aside personal feelings, if we don't help and something really happens to Stanley, public opinion will turn against us. Especially since we don't know where the real one is right now."
"So we have to help even if we don't want to?"
Amelia nodded.
Her words reminded Samuel of something.
He instructed Jeremy, "Find out where Zachary is right now."
"Yes."
Before boarding the plane, Jeremy got the news.
"He’s still abroad, but he has bought a ticket and will arrive the day after tomorrow. Should we stop him from coming back?"
Samuel looked at Amelia.
"What do you think?"
"Wait until I get to Thornfield and see the situation first."
"Okay." Samuel didn't question her decision.
Two hours later, the private jet landed directly on the rooftop helipad of Pinnacle Health Institute in Thornfield.
The rooftop had a landing pad.
As soon as the three got off the plane, they each went to carry out their tasks.
Yosef went to find Evelyn and the fake "Miracle Physician."
Jeremy had learned that after the Miracle Physician disappeared, Evelyn had also gone missing.
Yosef was more familiar with Thornfield than with Goldenvale. Finding those two people wouldn't be difficult for him.
Amelia and Samuel headed straight to the operating room.
When they arrived, only one person stood at the operating room door—Nash.
He was specifically waiting there.
Nash stepped forward, his smile somewhat forced.
"Mr. Crawford, you're here."
"How is he now?"
"He's already woken up from anesthesia. When he found out the Miracle Physician was gone, he immediately had the anesthetist stop. He just woke up not long ago. Should I take you to him?"
"Not in the operating room?"
"After waking up, he went to the patient ward."
"Let's go."
"Yes." Nash responded but didn't move, his eyes fixed on Amelia.
Samuel took Amelia's hand and interlaced their fingers.
"She's my fiancée. She can't go?"
"Of course she can."
"Then lead the way!"
"Yes."
Nash walked ahead. Samuel called Jeremy over and whispered a few words in his ear.
Jeremy responded and quickly left.
Amelia looked at Samuel with a questioning gaze. Samuel mouthed something, and Amelia roughly guessed what Jeremy was going to do.
She squeezed Samuel's hand back and followed Nash to see Stanley.
She had never seen Stanley before.
She had always thought he was heartless and cold, even wary of his own son, so her impression of him wasn't good.
But she had assumed Stanley would look harsh, yet after meeting him, she found that wasn’t the case at all.
Though Stanley was ill, he didn't look haggard. Only the gray at his temples showed any sign of aging.
Other than that, he was like a tree that had weathered many storms yet still stood tall.