Rory Linden had just opened the door to Evan Hollis’s hospital room when she saw soone was already inside.
Even though she could only see the person’s back, she recognized Charlotte Rhodes imdiately.
The family’s housekeeper was there too, ladling soup from a thermal container.
"Dr. Linden?"
Evan Hollis spotted Rory Linden at once and scrambled to sit up in bed.
"Don’t move."
Charlotte Rhodes quickly pressed down on Evan’s shoulder before turning to look at Rory.
Rory’s gaze fell on Evan’s immobilized left leg. Her first concern was for him. "Dr. Hollis, is your leg serious?"
"It’s fine, it’s fine. I’m out of surgery. The orthopedic surgeon said I should be able to walk normally again after six months of recovery, at most."
Evan Hollis still had a smile on his face as he spoke, the small dimples on his cheeks showing clearly.
"Well... if you need help with anything, you can let know anyti."
Rory considered herself Sean Harrison’s girlfriend.
Since Sean was the one who had hit him, she felt she should do sothing.
"No need. You go about your business; I can take care of myself," Evan Hollis said with a smile. "Dr. Linden, are you worried I’ll press charges? I won’t. I know Mr. Harrison certainly didn’t do it on purpose."
"I..."
Rory wanted to say that she hadn’t actually been able to contact Sean Harrison yet.
Before she could speak, Charlotte Rhodes cut in, "You’re just too kind. For what he did, he should be in jail by rights!"
Rory looked at Charlotte Rhodes in disbelief. "Have you even checked on Sean Harrison? Do you know what happened?"
She asked this partly to fish for information. She didn’t want them to know Sean hadn’t contacted her, and she hoped she could get them to recount what had happened.
"He hit soone with his car, and I’m supposed to be concerned about *him*?! The road is so wide, yet he had to drive right into soone?" Charlotte Rhodes stared out the window, then added grudgingly, "If I could choose, I would rather have never given birth to that son!"
"And did you get his consent before you gave birth to him? If he could choose, he wouldn’t have picked a woman like you for a mother either!"
Over this ti, while Rory couldn’t know the full picture of Sean Harrison’s youth, she had caught glimpses of it.
The old and new scars on the man’s back.
Finding an orphan, ready to bring him back to replace her son at any mont.
Never celebrating her own son’s birthday, yet insisting on celebrating Evan Hollis’s and giving him catch-up birthday gifts.
No matter the reason, what Charlotte Rhodes had done was unforgivable!
In her eyes—
it was as if Charlotte Rhodes had vented all her negative emotions on Sean Harrison.
And then given all her love and care to Evan Hollis.
That was why, in the eyes of these two n, she was a completely different mother.
Rory just didn’t understand.
How could soone not love their own flesh and blood?
"Dr. Linden, Dr. Linden."
Evan Hollis tried to get up agitatedly.
Charlotte Rhodes quickly turned to support him. "I told you not to move. It’s a fact that Sean Harrison hit you. What is there to discuss?"
"He’s your son, and he’s Dr. Linden’s boyfriend. Although I don’t know him well, I trust you all. This must have been an accident. It was my own carelessness."
Unable to move, Evan could only try to placate them with his words.
Rory seized the opportunity to follow up on his words. "Then can you tell what the situation was at the ti...?"
"Well... I’m not sure either."
"What’s not to be sure about? The surveillance footage caught it crystal clear. You were walking along just fine, and he drove right into you without slowing down at all. Wasn’t he just trying to kill you?!"
Charlotte Rhodes’s voice rose as she spoke of Sean Harrison’s actions.
A hint of disbelief showed on Rory’s face as well.
’Is that what really happened?’
’How could that be possible?’
Evan Hollis imdiately said, "No, it was just an accident."
Charlotte Rhodes said bluntly, "Just file a lawsuit. I’ll pay for it. Just pretend I never gave birth to that son."
Rory was truly stunned.
It’s said that a doting mother spoils the child.
The difference in Charlotte Rhodes’s attitude toward Evan Hollis versus Sean Harrison was just too vast.
She hadn’t considered for a mont that there might be more to this story.
Rory looked at Charlotte Rhodes. "Auntie Rhodes, have you gone to see Sean Harrison at all? Or even given him a single phone call?"
"The police have already made the situation clear. I don’t need to ask him again." Charlotte Rhodes paused, then added, "Besides, he’s the kind of person who would do sothing like this anyway."
"He..."
"Back when he was in school, he locked up a few classmates and nearly tortured them to death. If Old Harrison hadn’t personally stepped in to resolve it, he would have ended up in juvenile detention! Those kids..."
Charlotte Rhodes paused before saying, "Forget it. Let’s not talk about it. Just pretend I never had this child."
Rory guessed in an instant. It must have been the people from the video.
She asked her, "Then can you tell why Sean Harrison did that back then?"
"Why should I care about that?"
Charlotte Rhodes’s tone was irritated.
Rory found it laughable. "Because you’re his mother. Even I’ve heard about how he was brutally bullied in school. Are you telling you didn’t know?"
Charlotte Rhodes looked at Evan Hollis’s face and said only, "He wasn’t the only person of East Asian descent in that school. Why didn’t they bully anyone else? Why him? It must have been his own fault."
Every single word.
Colder than the winter air.
Rory was certain that Charlotte Rhodes must have said this to Sean Harrison countless tis.
Driving him step by step to extres.
Perhaps causing him to do so terrible things.
"I really have nothing more to say to you. If you want to disown him, feel free. It doesn’t matter if you don’t love him." Rory said very seriously, "Sean Harrison deserves to be loved by soone better."
She then turned to Evan Hollis. "Dr. Hollis, whatever the reason, I apologize to you on Sean’s behalf. You can call if you have any requests. I won’t disturb your rest any longer."
She turned and walked out.
When Rory Linden left the room, Keith Hawthorne was still standing by the nurses’ station.
"Director Hawthorne." Rory hurried over to him. "You haven’t left yet."
"Yeah, I was worried the hospital administrators might show up, so I’m waiting here for a bit." After answering her question, Keith Hawthorne asked, "All done talking?"
Rory nodded, then hesitated for a mont before saying, "Um... could you help find President Lancaster in the database... never mind."
She cut herself off halfway, dismissing the thought.
Although Henry Lancaster was a VIP mber of Elysian, and all his information was recorded in the system, it would be a violation for hospital staff to look it up and disclose it to others.
"I don’t have Henry Lancaster’s phone number, but I have a patient whose family lives in the sa residential community as the Lancaster family. I can give you Henry Lancaster’s ho address."
Keith Hawthorne had thought of another way to help her.
Rory successfully got Henry Lancaster’s ho address.
Standing in the first-floor lobby of the inpatient departnt, she once again tried calling Sean Harrison.
Just like every other ti, the man’s phone remained unanswered.
As Rory listened to the cold, automated voice on the other end say, "The number you have dialed is temporarily unavailable," she was suddenly reminded of sothing she had said before.
Given the difference in status between her and Sean Harrison,
if he didn’t want to see her,
it would be impossible for her to see him.
Just like now...
’I’m sure Sean Harrison isn’t being held in custody right now,’ she thought.
’He just... simply doesn’t want to see ...’
Rory had a ride-hailing app open on her phone screen.
She stared blankly at the [Destination] field for a long ti before finally deciding to just go ho for now.
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