Chapter 188
Liliana went to get her car from the street. As the Maybach pulled into traffic, her eyelid began to twitch uncontrollably.
She couldn’t imagine what kind of difficult demands Sylvia would make today. Her body was already having an unusual reaction, as if anticipating the worst. The meeting location Sylvia had chosen was a challenge in itself.
It was a club in the East End, at least an hour and a half drive from Cyan.
Just as she parked at the club’s entrance, her phone rang.
It was the caregiver.
She answered the phone with one hand while holding the car door open with the other.
“Miss Preston, something’s happened! You need to get to the hospital right away p>
Liliana’s eyelid twitched even more violently. “What’s wrong p>
Without hesitation, she got back into the car, shut the door, and restarted the engine.
“Some crazy woman showed up out of nowhere, screaming that your brother had to pay for her daughter’s life. He got agitated, and… he just tried to kill himself p>
As the caregiver’s words hit her, the phone slipped from Liliana’s grasp and fell into the gap between the seats.
But she could still hear the caregiver’s voice. “The doctors are working on him now. How soon can you get here p>
“I Liliana’s throat felt like it was stuffed with cotton, making it hard to speak. “Contact my parents first! I’m on my way now p>
It would take her at least an hour to get to the hospital from here.
Ignoring the phone wedged under her seat, she floored the gas pedal.
The car was silent, but her ears were ringing, and her hands and feet moved mechanically, controlling the vehicle.
From under the seat, her phone rang over and over, but she seemed not to hear it.
After what felt like an eternity, the ringing stopped, and the only sound was the roar of the engine as she sped down the road.
An hour later, outside the operating room.
Liliana had run all the way there, and by the time she arrived, her legs gave out, and she nearly collapsed.
A strong arm wrapped around her waist, catching her just before she hit the floor. It was Cedric.
His brow was furrowed, his eyes dark and deep as he lifted her and set her down on a chair.
Her breathing was ragged, and her hand instinctively gripped his arm as she managed to gasp, “Hale p>
“He’s still in surgery,” Cedric said, ̧ pointing to the red light above the operating room door. “They found him in time. It’s not life-threatening.
Theyre gi chim a blood”
transfusion.”
Hale had tried to kill himself by cutting his wrists in the bathroom.
The door had been unlocked, but from the moment he cut himself until he lost consciousness, he hadn’t made a sound.
The caregiver was right outside the door and only realized what had happened when blood started seeping out from under it.
The surgery was taking a long time because of the transfusion and because the patient’s will to live was low.
Leroy had come out once before Liliana arrived to explain the
situation. Chuck and Vida had gone in for a moment and had been huddled in a corner, crying, ever since they came out.
“Can I see him?” Liliana clutched Cedric’s little finger, her head tilted up. The tears
she had held back the entire drive were now welling in her eyes.
Cedric took out his phone and called Leroy. “Get ready for another visitor p>
With his other hand, he pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and gently wiped
away the tear that had just escaped the corner of her eye.
The call ended quickly, and the operating room doors opened.
Leroy only had one set of sterile scrubs, so Liliana had to go in alone.
She quickly put on the scrubs and followed Leroy into the room.
The hard operating table was surrounded by various machines emitting cold, mechanical sounds.
The person on the table, though still warm, seemed even colder than the machines,
the rise and fall of his chest barely perceptible.
“Talk to him. Say things that will give
him a reason to live. The last two
people who came in talked for ages,
but he did at all Leroy respond
nstructed, his
down as he
monitored the data on the
machines.
Liliana braced her hands on the bed, leaned down, and whispered in Hale’s ear,
“Hale, if you go, what will I do? There will be no one left to love me p>