Chapter 186
He forced his eyes open, only to see Ingrid’s face looming above him.
That’s not Mom!
“Aunt Ingrid, let me carry Healy,” she offered.
“He really looks like he needs a doctor.”
Loraine nodded, but before Ingrid’s hand could touch Healy, he slapped it away.
“You’re a bad lady too!”
“Don’t touch me!”
Healy was furious, his chest aching with both anger and pain. Clutching his grandmother’s shirt, he wailed, “I want my mom!”
that year 6
Healy was seven old enough to know right from wrong.
Ingrid’s hand froze in midair, her frustration blazing even hotter.
Blanche was already out of the picture, and now she still had to compete for their affection?
What did that woman have that made both father and son so hopelessly loyal?
The Marshalls had been ruined by her own son, and yet in times like these, Ingrid couldn’t bring herself to hate them. Instead, she’d come to check on father and
son.
Loraine was grateful, but she couldn’t let Ingrid near Healy or Eddy. Her son was already clinging to life in the ICU; she couldn’t risk anything happening to her grandson, too.
She politely declined Ingrid’s help and had the bodyguards take them straight to the hospital.
Ingrid went to visit Lara instead, as she usually did, leaning in with a soft, coaxing. voice. “You’re your father’s daughter. He’ll never abandon you. Once he wakes up and misses you, he’ll bring you back home.”
“And when that happens…”
“When that happens, I’ll tell Dad I want Miss Ingrid to be my mom,” Lara replied, always quick to read a room. Ingrid was the only one treating her kindly now. Ever since her father separated her from her mother two years ago, she hadn’t seen her
mom again.
“Miss Ingrid, do you know where my mom is?” Lara couldn’t help asking.
Ingrid wanted to know too. Where had Eddy hidden Jeannette?
She’d been searching all this time. “Your mom will come see you soon, I promise.”
Healy went in for tests, and when the results came back, Loraine felt faint.
Her worst fear had come true.
Healy had inherited Laney’s heart condition.
Through the glass, she watched her son Eddy lying in the ICU, deathly pale and deeply comatose. Terror and helplessness overwhelmed her.
Suddenly, the heart monitor in the room began shrieking.
Doctors and nurses rushed in, grabbing every piece of emergency equipment and working frantically over Eddy.
He lay there, completely unresponsive, sunlight spilling across his handsome face.
Right then, regret gnawed at Loraine–why had she pushed so hard for a grandchild, why had she drugged her own son, why…
All she wanted now was for their family to be whole again, for her son to live, for Laney to be by his side. Even if her grandson wasn’t healthy, with all their resources, if they could give Laney more years, why couldn’t they keep Healy safe for a lifetime?
Tears streamed down Loraine’s face as she watched the surgeon’s cold scalpel slice open Eddy’s throat, watched the blood surge out, watched the heart monitor emit a single beep before the line went flat. She collapsed in agony.
A year later. Capitol City.
Airport.
“Minister, it’s for you. Not sure why the call came to my phone,” Caleb said as he handed the vibrating cell to the poised, elegant woman ahead of him. “A few hours apart and someone’s already missing you.”
She only smiled at his teasing, answered the phone, and said, “I’ve landed.”
A man’s calm voice came through the line. “Good.”
21:54
“Mr. Jordan sent someone to pick you up. Their contact info’s with Caleb. If you can’t find them, just give them a call,” he instructed, as cool and detached as
always.
