Instead of Laura, an unfamiliar voice, urgent and slightly panicked, responded, “Is this a family member of Mrs. Stewart? She has suffered a sudden heart attack and is now in critical condition at the hospital. You need to come immediately!”
Sadie’s mind turned to white noise. The phone fell to the floor, landing with a soft thud.
Her grandma had a heart attack? How was that possible?
Moments later, Sadie snapped back to reality. She quickly picked up her phone, slipped into her shoes, and rushed out of her apartment.
On the way to the hospital, the doctor’s urgent message replayed incessantly in her head, constricting her heart like a vice, making it hard to catch her breath.
Laura was everything to her, her only family, her pillar in life. Nothing could happen to her, nothing at all!
Sadie’s high heels echoed sharply against the hospital’s polished floors as she raced through the corridors, her heartbeat thundering just as wildly.
“Grandma! Grandma!”
She surged forward, gasping for air but not slowing down, and headed towards the nurse’s station. Grasping a nurse’s arm with shaking hands, her voice thick with tears, she pleaded, “Excuse me, my grandmother, Laura Stewart, was just brought in by ambulance. Where is she? I’m her granddaughter!”
The nurse, skilled in handling such crises, maintained a stoic expression, her voice even and professional as she responded with a slight furrow of her brow, “Please try to remain calm. Your grandmother is in critical care, and things aren’t looking great right now.”
As the nurse’s words sank in, Sadie’s vision blurred, each syllable like a hammer blow shattering the fragile hope she clung to.
Just then, the resuscitation room doors burst open, and a grave-looking doctor clad in a white coat stepped out, clutching a document. Sadie instantly knew what it was-a Critical Condition Notice. Darkness clouded her vision, and she nearly collapsed, but the alert nurse at her side caught her in time.
The doctor, his face somber as he lowered his mask, spoke with deep regret. “Your grandmother’s pre-existing health conditions compounded the severity of this attack. We’ve exhausted all our options…”
“Doctor, please, there must be something you can do to save her,” Sadie pleaded desperately, her hands clasping the doctor’s arm as if it were her last strand of hope. “I’ll cover any cost. Just please, save her!”
The doctor’s eyes softened with sympathy for a moment before he shook his head. “It’s not a question of money. She’s in a precarious state unless…”
He hesitated, searching for the right words. “If we could bring in a top specialist to attempt the surgery, there might still be hope.”
A top specialist.
Noah immediately sprang to mind.
With his extensive connections as CEO of Wall Group, securing a top surgeon should be feasible.
Sadie’s heart clenched painfully as panic set in.
She fumbled for her phone and dialed Noah’s number, her fingers shaking.
Each ring echoed like a tolling bell in her ears, every tick of the clock magnified.
At last, the call connected.
“Noah, be gentle…”
The voice that floated through the phone was sultry, infused with a lazy allure that sank Sadie’s heart into despair.
It wasn’t Noah on the line-it was Kyla!
Sadie’s mind went completely blank.
After a while, Kyla spoke into the phone. “Sadie, calling at this hour? Is there something you needed to discuss?”
Sadie inhaled sharply, fighting to stabilize the emotional storm brewing inside her. “I need to speak with Noah. Could you please hand him the phone?”
“Oh?” Kyla chuckled, her voice dripping with taunting. “Noah, your phone.”
But all Sadie heard was silence.
Kyla’s voice turned playful and teasing. “Noah-” Yet again, there was no reply.
“My apologies, Sadie,” Kyla said, her tone superficially regretful yet tinged with evident delight. “Noah’s currently in the shower. We’ve just finished… Well, he’s exhausted now. If there’s something urgent, you can tell me, and I’ll make sure he gets the message.”
Sadie felt a crushing wave of despair wash over her. She grasped the subtext in Kyla’s remarks instantly.
Shower? Exhausted?
Kyla’s comments were a clear display of her closeness with Noah, meant to emphasize that Sadie was someone insignificant.
Yet, with her grandmother’s critical condition looming in her mind, Sadie couldn’t afford to lose any hope.
“Miss Wade, it’s really important. Could you please let Noah come to the phone?” Sadie pleaded, mustering every bit of her resolve to speak. Her voice was tinged with desperation, a far cry from her typically assertive demeanor.
Kyla’s sense of triumph intensified when she heard Sadie’s earnest request, her smile widening. “Sadie, haven’t you realized yet? Noah isn’t coming to the phone because he doesn’t want to speak with you. Why continue bothering him?”
“Um…” Sadie began, but was cut off by the call ending abruptly with a beep.
Kyla swiftly erased the call log and set the phone down before heading downstairs.
She had merely used Noah’s bathroom and coincidentally picked up the call.
It seemed destiny had played its hand perfectly!
“Miss Hudson, please ensure the Critical Condition Notice is signed promptly,” said the nurse, her voice laden with urgency.
Yet Sadie barely registered the nurse’s words, her eyes fixed on the resuscitation room’s sealed doors, lost in memories of Laura’s warm, reassuring smile.
As Sadie signed the Critical Condition Notice, her hands shook visibly.
The cold feeling started at her fingertips and spread through her entire body, as if a cold winter wind had swept through her. Laura represented her last remaining family connection.
Without Laura, isolation would envelop Sadie completely.
She felt as though she had reached a dead end.
Just as despair started to take over, Alex’s words suddenly rang in her mind. “If you ever need help, just let me know.”
With this last sliver of hope, Sadie hurriedly dialed Alex’s number.
“Alex, are you familiar with any specialists in cardiac surgery?”
The conversation ended, and Sadie found herself curled up on a hospital bench, her tears blurring her view until everything melded into indistinct shapes.
She barely noticed when someone gently placed a warm suit jacket over her. Looking up, she found Alex standing there, concern furrowing his brow.
“You came,” Sadie said, her voice breaking with emotion. “It’s my grandma. She’s…”
A shadow of sorrow passed over Alex’s face as he softly patted her head, comforting her as one would a distressed child.
“Everything will be fine,” he assured her with a deep, soothing voice. “I’ve brought along a doctor.”
He shifted slightly to present the individual next to him to Sadie. “Here is Jim Archer, a renowned cardiologist and a leading expert in Helva.
He’s well-equipped to ensure your grandmother’s well-being.”
Startled, Sadie turned her attention to the man Alex indicated.
At that moment, Jim also glanced her way.
Simultaneously, they both exclaimed, “It’s you?”
Seeing their surprise, Alex was confused. “You two have met before?”
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.
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