She suddenly turned her head, her heart nearly leaping out of her chest.
Only to see her mother, Isla Sutton, standing beside the coffee table, looking lost, with shards of glass scattered by her feet and a quickly spreading water stain.
Her face was ashen, her eyes vacant, it was clear she had knocked over the glass while in a daze.
"Mom!" Stella Sterling exclaid, rushing over in a few steps.
Isla seed to awaken from the sound, instinctively bending over to pick up the sharp fragnts.
"Don’t use your hands!" Stella hurriedly grabbed her arm.
But it was too late.
Isla’s fingertips had already touched a sharp piece of glass, and bright red blood instantly oozed out.
"Ah..." Isla winced in pain, looking down at her bleeding finger.
Stella felt a tug at her heart, quickly pulling out a few tissues, carefully wrapping her mother’s injured finger and pressing down hard.
The tissues quickly beca soaked with blood, spreading a small, glaring red stain.
"I’m okay, I’m okay..." Isla muttered, using her uninjured hand to hold Stella’s wrist tightly, "Stella, Shane... what did Shane say?"
Stella felt the force on her wrist and the chill of her mother’s fingertips, which seed to spread through her blood to the very depths of her heart.
She tightened her throat, evading her mother’s expectant gaze, "He... he didn’t answer the phone. Maybe he’s in a eting and didn’t have his phone..."
The flicker of light that had just ignited in Isla’s eyes instantly extinguished, and her grip on Stella’s hand weakened.
Stella dared not think deeply, forcing herself to remain calm.
She helped her mother sit back on the sofa, picked up the phone from the floor, and dialed Secretary Wright’s number again.
This ti, the phone was answered almost imdiately.
"Secretary Wright, have you found my dad?!" Stella asked urgently.
"Not yet..."
"Does no one know where he went?"
"Director Sterling... he seed to have arranged a eting with soone in the morning. He left the office early and didn’t say where, nor did he let follow... I asked the receptionist and the security guards; they haven’t seen him leave the company, and the car is still in the underground parking lot..."
eting soone?
Stella’s heart sank.
Her father always acted prudently, especially at such a critical mont, he would never go missing without reason, nor would he et soone alone amid such a turmoil.
Unless... the situation was far more severe than she had imagined, severe enough that her father had to avoid everyone...
A chill climbed up her spine.
Stella furrowed her brows tightly, "Then he should still be in the company. Please send more people out to look for him..."
"Yes, yes! I’ll arrange it right away!" the secretary replied repeatedly.
The waiting ti felt like an eternity, every minute and second dragged on.
The living room was eerily silent, only the ticking of the wall clock’s second hand echoed like a hamr striking the hearts of the mother and daughter.
Isla leaned onto the sofa, holding her hand over her mouth, tears silently streaming down, her body slightly trembling from suppressed sobs.
Stella sat beside her, clasping her mother’s other cold hand tightly, trying to convey so warmth, but her own palms were clammy with cold sweat.
She kept checking her phone, but the screen remained blank.
Shane Donovan hadn’t called back.
Her father was nowhere to be found.
She didn’t know how much ti passed when Stella’s phone suddenly vibrated!
The na on the screen was - Shane Donovan!
Stella practically leaped to her feet as if she’d been electrified, knocking over the cushion behind her in the process.
She swiftly swiped the answer button, pressing the phone to her ear, her urgency cracking her voice, "Shane Donovan! Why didn’t you answer the phone earlier?!"
There was a mont of silence on the other end, "I didn’t have my phone earlier, my assistant probably hung up by accident."
He paused, not waiting for Stella to ask more, and continued, "I know about The Sterling Group’s situation."
His tone was calm, carrying a reassuring strength, "Don’t worry, it’s not a major issue, I’ll handle it."
She opened her mouth, wanting to inquire further, like where he was, how he planned to handle it, whether there was news of her father...
But just then—
"Stella... Stella!"
Sitting on the sofa, Isla suddenly let out a quivering scream, a sound filled with extre terror, as though soone had gripped her throat.
Stella’s heart dropped sharply, instinctively turning to look.
She saw Isla staring fixedly at her phone screen, her face rendered paper-white in the screen’s eerie glow, devoid of any color.
"Mom! What’s wrong?!" Stella forgot about Shane Donovan on the other end and rushed over in a few steps.
On the phone screen was a recently pushed local breaking news headline, bold and blood-red like a poison-dipped dagger, stabbing into one’s eyes—
[Breaking! Soone fell from the top floor of The Sterling Group! Suspected group president Theodore Sterling succumbed to bankruptcy pressure, jumped to his death!!!]
The accompanying picture was a distant, blurry shot, only showing the silhouette of a human figure beneath the high-rise and the raised police tape.
"No... impossible... fake... it must be fake..."
Isla shook her head violently, her voice shattered, her gaze dispersed, seemingly unable to comprehend the aning of the words on the screen, "Your dad... he’d never... he said he’d co ho for dinner tonight..."
She repeated it over and over, trying to convince herself, but her body shook uncontrollably.
Stella felt a chill shoot from the soles of her feet to her crown, her whole body instantly freezing, her blood feeling almost solidified.
Suicide...
Leap...
The combination of these words packed enough impact to destroy anyone’s reason.
She bit down on her lower lip so hard that a tallic tang filled her mouth, only barely managing to suppress the panic threatening to burst from her heart.
She snatched her mother’s phone, forcefully turned off the screen, then hugged her mother’s trembling body tightly, "It’s fake! Mom, news nowadays will say anything just for attention! Dad wouldn’t do that! He’d never do sothing so foolish! Soone must be spreading rumors!"
She repeated it over and over, unsure if she was comforting her mother or convincing herself.
Isla clung to her like she had grasped the fragnt of hope, tight around Stella’s dress, her tears pouring out, soaking her chest.
Just then, Isla’s phone on the sofa rang sharply again.
They both jolted.
Isla seed to be greatly startled, shrinking away, not daring to answer.
Stella took a deep breath, picked up the phone, seeing that the display showed a local unfamiliar number.
She steadied herself, swiped to answer, trying to keep her voice stable, "Hello?"
An almost indifferent female voice spoke from the other end, her tone steady, "Hello, are you related to Theodore Sterling? This is the city central hospital ergency center. The injured person fell from a height and is undergoing ergency treatnt at our hospital. The condition is extrely critical. Please co over imdiately..."
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