Chapter 186

"My brother?" Liliana's heart sank.

A terrible feeling washed over her, and her gaze grew heavy. "What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing. Cedric is waiting for me. Goodbye."

Sylvia brushed a strand of hair from her forehead, gave Liliana a meaningful look, and turned to leave.

As she walked toward the street corner, she pulled a flash drive from her bag.

When she saw Cedric's car around the corner, she broke into a light jog.

Liliana watched her disappear around the corner, then turned and threw the insulated container into a nearby trash can before driving straight to the hospital.

A sense of unease gnawed at her, and she wouldn't be able to rest until she saw Hale with her own eyes.

The worry for Hale had completely overshadowed the pain Cedric had caused her.

At ten o'clock, she arrived at Riverbend Hospital and parked her car, rushing straight to Hale's ward.

The doctors had all gone home, and the night nurse was dozing at her station. Liliana tiptoed down the empty hallway and stood at the door to Hale's room.

The door faced the caregiver's cot, where the caregiver was already asleep.

She stood on her toes to look to the left but could only see half of the hospital bed, where Hale's legs lay flat and slightly apart.

Everything seemed calm and peaceful.

Liliana let out a sigh of relief. Her hand hovered over the doorknob for a few seconds before she finally let it drop and turned to leave.

Perhaps Sylvia was just trying to scare her.

Even though she hadn't eaten dinner, the whole ordeal had completely killed her appetite.

And she felt wide awake.

She went home, showered, and sat down with her laptop to start preparing for the second round of the competition.

She eventually fell asleep, slumped over on the window seat.

She woke up aching all over from the awkward position and glanced at the clock to see it was already 7:10 AM.

She must have been so exhausted that even her internal clock had failed her.

With no time for breakfast, she quickly changed and drove straight to Cyan.

She made it to her desk ten minutes before her shift started.

As she pulled her phone from her pocket, a message from Douglas came through.

[Liliana, Dr. Sterling has agreed to take over Hale's case. He just messaged me to say he's officially requested the handover from Dr. Brooks When you have time, we should go to the hospital together to discuss things with him.]

Douglas hadn't messaged her last night.

He knew she was with Cedric and didn't want to cause any trouble.

He had waited until he saw her arrive at the office before eagerly sharing the good

news.

Liliana's gloomy mood instantly lifted.

But she didn't want to keep bothering Douglas.

[Could you send me Dr. Sterling's contact info? I can go by myself this weekend.

You should focus on your work.]

Douglas sent her a contact card.

Liliana sent a friend request to an account named 'Golden Years'.

The name was a world away from the handsome young man she had met yesterday, sounding more something from her parents'o generation.

So, after he accepted her request, she first verified his identity.

[Is this Dr. Sterling?]

[Just call me Leroy. I've looked your brother's case file. It's

challenging, but not entirely

hopeless. You came to the rel.ne

person content

Leroy was a talker. A long stream of messages came through, making Liliana frown as she read them.

As she was pondering how to reply, a file was slapped down on her desk.

"Liliana, when did you learn to lie? When did Miss Woods ever say you could drop the Expo Manor project?"

Nina rolled up her shirtsleeves and stood with her hands on her hips, looking at her with a mix of sternness and fury.