It was a phone call between mother and son, but Charlotte Rhodes didn’t waste a single word, not even offering a simple greeting.
"I’m busy."
Sean Harrison’s refusal was just as direct.
Although he and Charlotte Rhodes were mother and son, their relationship was very different from that of a typical mother and son.
"Then drop what you’re doing and co over here now!"
Charlotte Rhodes’s tone was a clear command, utterly devoid of any emotion.
"Mother, you were the one who told to always put the company first. You said I should value my work, the company, and its market capitalization more than life itself, and that everything else should take a backseat. What’s changed now? What could possibly be more important than my work?"
As Sean Harrison spoke, his gaze lowered to the short ssage on the sticky note.
His gaze softened slightly.
Regarding what happened last night, the police hadn’t co looking for her yet. That ant Nadia Willow hadn’t reported it.
It also ant she had other motives.
"But Nadia is in trouble now. I heard the last person she saw yesterday was you. This has sothing to do with you, so you have to handle it!"
Charlotte Rhodes’s tone remained forceful.
All these years, she’d always seen Sean Harrison as her puppet.
Whatever she told him to do, he did.
Even if the process was difficult, he always t her expectations in the end.
In her eyes, the man’s success over the years was simply a result of him obeying her.
"Handle her? Since when was she my responsibility?"
Sean Harrison’s tone was indifferent.
’Whether Nadia Willow lived or died had nothing to do with him.’
"Alright, regardless, you grew up with Nadia abroad. Get over here, solve this problem, and then go back to work."
Charlotte Rhodes’s tone softened slightly.
She was well aware that her son was grown up. He was no longer the little boy she could mold to her will.
Sean Harrison did, in fact, plan on going to the hospital to see Nadia Willow.
Not because he was concerned about her.
But to see what ga she was playing.
He simply said, "I’ll go when I’m done."
When he was "done" with his work and arrived at Elysian Hospital, it was already after three in the afternoon.
Charlotte Rhodes and Nadia Willow’s mother, Daniella Sullivan, were good friends.
When they were studying abroad back in the day, the two families lived very close to each other.
Nadia Willow was two years older than Sean Harrison.
So, for as long as Sean Harrison could rember, he had known Nadia Willow.
During this ti, Charlotte Rhodes hadn’t left the hospital.
When Sean Harrison arrived, Daniella Sullivan explained Nadia Willow’s condition to him.
In short, not only was Nadia Willow missing her mories of the last few years, but so of her other mories were also jumbled.
Her mory had stopped shortly after she started college.
She believed that her boyfriend was Sean Harrison.
When Nadia Willow found out her real age, her first reaction was to ask if she was married and if her husband was Sean Harrison.
Hearing this, Sean Harrison said bluntly, "Then you should just tell her the truth."
He knew very well that Nadia Willow was lying.
Not only that, but Daniella Sullivan was very likely helping her lie.
"Alright, you should go in first," Charlotte Rhodes said.
Just as Sean Harrison was about to step toward the hospital room...
"Wait a mont."
Charlotte Rhodes stopped him. She straightened his tie and smoothed his suit, only letting him enter after she had confird he looked perfect.
Sean Harrison entered the room.
As a private hospital, every room in Elysian Hospital was spacious.
Nadia Willow was lying on the hospital bed playing with her phone, her expression one of fascination, as if she were curious about its modern features.
Hearing a sound, she looked toward the door and froze for a mont when she saw Sean Harrison.
After recognizing him, she imdiately sat up excitedly. "Sean, it’s really you!"
She looked him up and down, her expression a mix of a young girl’s coyness and excitent. "You... I never thought you’d beco so handso!"
So far, Nadia Willow’s act was convincing.
Even so, Sean Harrison was certain it was all an act.
But there was no good way to test for sothing like amnesia; it relied entirely on the patient’s own description.
She said she had amnesia, and the doctors had no way to confirm if it was true.
The man didn’t speak, but Nadia Willow didn’t seem to mind.
She beckoned to him. "Can you co over here? Let get a good look at you."
Sean Harrison walked over.
He, too, wanted a closer look at her performance.
Nadia Willow looked at him, pouting her lips. "Sean, my mom said... we didn’t get married, is that right? Why didn’t you marry ?"
At this point, the woman’s purpose was already obvious.
Sean Harrison and Nadia Willow had known each other for many years.
He knew her personality all too well.
This act was completely unconvincing.
"Because I’m in love with soone else. I have a girlfriend, and I’m preparing to propose to her. We’ll invite you to the wedding." Sean Harrison paused before continuing, "It would be best if you rembered everything. Don’t cause trouble for others."
The man’s face was expressionless as he spoke.
There was even an unconcealable disgust in his eyes.
Nadia Willow froze for a second, then suddenly clutched her head with both hands. "I... I... We... My head hurts so much..."
Daniella Sullivan and Charlotte Rhodes rushed in.
Daniella Sullivan sat on the edge of the bed and hugged Nadia, angrily demanding of Sean Harrison, "What did you say to Nadia?!"
"I simply told the truth," Sean Harrison replied.
"Mom, Mom..." Nadia seed to be fine again, grabbing Daniella Sullivan’s arm. "Don’t bla him. It’s not his fault... It’s not his fault..."
"Nadia..."
"You can’t force these things anyway..."
Nadia’s eyes were red-rimd, as if she had suffered the greatest injustice in the world.
Daniella Sullivan didn’t dare speak harshly to Sean Harrison, but she couldn’t hide the anger on her face.
Charlotte Rhodes had no choice but to call Sean Harrison out of the room.
Soon, Daniella Sullivan followed them out.
"Sean! I’ve seen that girlfriend of yours. Doesn’t she look a lot like Nadia? You only got with her because you like Nadia, didn’t you?"
Daniella Sullivan stated her assumption as if it were fact.
"Auntie Sullivan, I really don’t see any resemblance between my girlfriend and Miss Willow."
Sean Harrison explained calmly.
As for Nadia Willow, it was true they had grown up together. However, ever since she joined the students who bullied him at school, he had felt no friendship for her whatsoever.
It was just that back then, after he t Rory Linden, he suddenly had the desire to live a proper life and had Nadia Willow help him with a small matter.
The debt for that small favor had been repaid long ago.
Charlotte Rhodes couldn’t hold back any longer. "I’ll just tell you directly right now. Rory Linden’s mother is a shaless howrecker! She seduced your father back in the day!"
To make her son give up, she said bluntly, "As long as I’m alive, I will never let you marry her!"
Sean Harrison listened to her words, perfectly calm.
Then, in an even calr voice, he asked, "So, when do you plan on dying?"
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