Just as he was about to leave, he heard a loud thud coming from outside the office. Shannon’s voice rang out almost immediately, “Director Bethan!
Director Bethan has fainted! “
When Bethan finally came to, she discovered she was in a hospital. Anne sat next to her bedside, her face etched with worry and concern.
“What are you doing here?”
Bethan rubbed her brows and tried to prop herself up.
Anne immediately helped her up and gently laid Bethan down against the headboard. “John and I just came back from our trip today. I received a call from Brettley saying you fainted and rushed over immediately. I didn’t even have time to go home yet! “
With that, Anne glanced at Bethan with a somewhat displeased look. “I thought it was just a business trip to Sea City. What happened? Why did you faint?”
Bethan gave her a wry smile. “It has nothing to do with the trip.”
Anne sighed. “I know.”
She glanced at the door to make sure no one was eavesdropping, then lowered her voice and said, “The doctor told me that you didn’t get much sleep last night and didn’t eat breakfast this morning. That’s why you fainted.
What happened? Was it Brettley?”
Bethan paused for a moment, then slowly nodded.
“D*mn! “
Anne rolled her eyes at that. “How could he let you come into work this morning?”
Bethan rubbed her eyebrows again. “He was drunk last night, so he had no recollection at all of what happened. He blamed me for not getting enough sleep last night. I was so angry that I… “
“You were so angry at him that you decided to get back at him at your own expense?”
Anne shot her a somewhat exasperated glance, then reached out to hold Bethan’s hand. “Bethan, no matter what, your health should be a priority. Don’t forget what made you return to Banyan City in the first place.”
Bethan nodded; she did not forget. The only reason she had returned to Banyan City was so she could get pregnant with Brettley’s child…and save Nigel.
Therefore, it was important that she took care of her health so that the baby would be born healthy as well.
Bethan let out a sigh. “Alright , I promise I won’t do this again.”
She was so agitated by how Brettley and Alice acted that morning that she could not think straight, which resulted in her rash behavior.
Anne sighed again. After a moment, she seemed to recall something and immediately took out her phone to show Bethan a picture. “Do you remember what I told you about someone coining to our hospital and asking for Hailey’s whereabouts? Guess what? When I was on my trip, I ran into one of my colleagues who had resigned. We happened to bring up Hailey Walter, and she told me that Hailey underwent plastic surgery at our hospital two years ago!”
Anne passed the phone over to Bethan and continued, “
The surgery Hailey underwent was a small one, but it was successful. My colleague even took a photo of her! “
Bethan frowned and was about to tell Anne about Hailey’s death when she caught sight of the photo on the screen. Her eyes widened.
Bethan picked up the phone and asked in disbelief, “
Are you…sure this is Hailey?”
Anne rolled her eyes. “Yes, I’m sure. My ex- colleague remembered everything. She said that when Hailey underwent surgery, she kept talking about her family, the Walters… It’s definitely her! “
Anne glanced at the photo again and remarked, “
Although I must say, Hailey does look a little like Alice in this photo.”
Then, after a moment, she changed her mind. “No, no. I mean, she looks a little like what you used to look like.”
Bethan gripped the phone tightly and was speechless for a moment. The woman in the photo resembled the Hailey Walter that Bethan remembered from six years ago, but it was obvious that her facial features had been altered. She resembled Hailey yet, at the same time, looked a lot like Alice, too.
One thing was certain: she looked nothing like the Hailey Walter who had supposedly passed away.
Bethan bit down on her lip, and her hand started to tremble.
Bethan knew that plastic surgery could drastically change a person’s appearance. However, the photo she had at hand looked absolutely nothing like the Hailey Walter she had seen a few days ago.
Bethan had undergone plastic surgery before, so she knew that it took a lot of time and effort to change one’s appearance into a totally different person, which meant that…
If the person in that photo was indeed Hailey Walter, then the woman who had died was an imposter.
Bethan bit down on her lip and suddenly recalled what Brettley had said to her in the car.
“This might not be the real Hailey Walter.”
“The person who died was just an imposter. The real Hailey Walter is still out there somewhere.”
“This woman is totally different from the Hailey I knew, so much so that she seems like an entirely different person altogether.”
Bethan broke out in cold sweats as soon as she thought of that.
If the woman who died was not the real Hailey, then she could not have ended herself simply because she did not want to leave Sea City. If that was the case, what then was the cause of her death?
This brought up another question: Why did the Walters get someone to impersonate Hailey? And where did the real Hailey go?
Bethan tried to remember everything she knew about Hailey.
If the Hailey she had met was fake, that meant the hatred Old Mr. Walter harbored for her was fake as well.
Bethan recalled the night she was kidnapped by Liam and what happened with Gwen, and could not stop herself from feeling terrified.
Terror, panic, and confusion filled her entire mind. The color drained from Bethan’s face.
“Are you okay, Bethan?” asked the frowning Anne when she noticed the change in Bethan’s face.
Bethan bit down on her lip and stared at Anne. “Let me ask you something. Suppose a person finds someone to impersonate herself and manages to convince her entire family to play along with her act, and finally kill the impersonator. What do you think is her reason for doing all this?”
Anne shrugged in response. “I ‘d say it’s probably because she already has a new identity. Why are you asking this?”
Bethan closed her eyes and let out a sigh. She wanted to tell Anne what she was thinking but finally decided against it.
Some things just were not meant to be shared.
Bethan did not want to drag her friend into all this. She returned the phone to Anne and sighed. “Delete this photo, and pretend none of this ever happened.”
Anne frowned and was about to say something when someone pushed the door open.
Brettley stood at the door to the ward and towered over them.
“I see you’re awake now.”
He glanced at Bethan and strode into the room. He set down a bag of fruits, as well as a nutritional meal packed in a lunchbox on the table and turned to glance at Anne. “What did the doctor say?”
Anne paused for a moment, then smiled at him. “
The doctor said she’s too tired. She didn’t get much sleep last night and didn’t eat breakfast this morning. Plus, she overexerted herself this morning at work, so she fainted due to exhaustion.”
Brettley snickered. “Too tired?”
Anne snorted in indignation. “Of course! Mr. Morrison, do I need to remind you what you did that caused her to be exhausted?”
Brettley was amused by that. He did not recall anything that Bethan did which required her to exert herself, whether in Sea City or Banyan City.
However, he did not feel like arguing with Anne, so he sat down and opened the lunchbox instead. He handed the lunchbox over to Anne and said, “Feed her.”
Anne furrowed her brows. “Mr. Morrison, don’t you think you should feed her instead?”
Brettley and Bethan immediately froze as soon as they heard that. Bethan frowned and was about to say something when Brettley scoffed, “Why should I feed her?”
Anne rolled her eyes at him. “Do you have short- term memory loss, Mr. Morrison? Why can’t you remember what you did? You– “
“Anne, “
Bethan interrupted her before she could finish. She leaned against the headboard and gave Anne a feeble smile. “Didn’t you say you came here as soon as you could and didn’t even have time to go home? Well, I ‘m fine now, so you should go home.”
Anne pursed her lips. She knew that Bethan did not want her to bring up what Brettley had done. She sighed and glanced at Bethan dejectedly. “Alright, take care, then.”
With that, she shot Brettley a glare before she turned and left the room, slamming the door behind her.
Brettley and Bethan were left alone in the ward.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.