As night fell, Avery returned to her apartnt. Freya sent her a ssage:
[The pharmacist and neurologist have successfully seen the patient. They will conduct a comprehensive examination tonight and send you the first report tomorrow.]
Avery replied simply:
[Okay. According to the plan.]
Dr. Annie’s team was set to arrive in the capital this afternoon and would then be secretly transported to Lucy’s retreat by Louis. Thinking of Lucy reminded Avery of Alexander. His ticulously sculpted face, flawless from every angle, lingered in her mind.
What could Alexander be doing right now? she wondered.
Curious, she logged onto the internet and searched for updates on Alexander. Despite his reputation for being low-key and avoiding the spotlight, she quickly found a recent video of him.
"This afternoon, actress Luna Carter held a yacht party at Moon Bay. Nurous high-profile guests arrived at the dock. Among the invited were..."
The most surprising guest was the usually reclusive Alexander Moran, CEO of the Moran Group. Alexander arrived at Moon Bay in an SUV, got out alone, and boarded the luxurious yacht with a bikini-clad beauty. The SUV then drove away. After Alexander boarded, the yacht left the dock.
It was said that these parties require signing confidentiality agreents, with all phones collected, so that no one is able to take photos or videos. Therefore, what happens on the yacht remains unknown.
Avery quickly understood. Alexander must have deliberately leaked his whereabouts to draw public and family attention, allowing Louis to secretly take Dr. Annie’s team to see Lucy. This showed just how deeply Alexander cared for his sister.
Avery couldn’t quite explain why, but she didn’t want to see sadness, pain, or disappointnt on Alexander’s handso face. She found herself silently praying. Praying for Lucy’s surgery to go smoothly and for her to recover soon...
anwhile, at Harmony Hospital, the old lady opened her eyes and kept calling out, "Avery, where is Avery..."
The nurse, who had secretly accepted a six-figure bribe from the Murphy family, hesitated. Instead of calling Avery, she inford Micah, who was out having a late-night snack. Micah rushed back to the hospital, calling Isaac on the way. Isaac, upon receiving the news, went to fetch his children, urging them to co to the hospital.
Andrew, applying a face mask, complained, "Staying up late ruins my skin! It’s too late. I’m not going."
Gia, engrossed in her design work, didn’t even look up. "I’m busy with my designs. I can’t go."
Isaac and Regina didn’t dare to force them, so they headed to the hospital alone.
In the VIP room, after sending the nurse to rest, Micah discreetly dissolved a stimulant pill in warm water and gave it to the old lady. He had obtained the pill from a doctor, claiming he needed it to stay awake during night shifts. While it was generally safe for occasional use, it had severe side effects for soone in the old lady’s condition.
After drinking the water, the old lady beca more alert and managed to speak a full sentence: "Avery, I want to see Avery. Please, call Avery..."
"Grandma, please listen to ," Micah seized the opportunity to explain the Murphy family’s situation. "Avery is not your biological granddaughter. You have a pair of biological twin grandchildren, a grandson nad Andrew and a granddaughter nad Gia."
Unexpectedly, the old lady beca furious, her voice hoarse with anger. "You’re lying!"
Micah sighed. "I’m not lying."
He produced a DNA test report showing that Avery was not Isaac and Regina’s biological child. He then showed photos of Andrew and Gia on his phone.
"These are your biological grandchildren. They look just like Isaac and Regina..."
The old lady closed her eyes and turned her head away. "They don’t look like them at all! I want Avery. Call Avery now..."
Micah, frustrated, continued, "Grandma, the Murphy family is in trouble. We need your help."
Ignoring whether she was listening or not, he explained the situation with V Group. "Only you can persuade Avery to spare the Murphy family."
The old lady remained stubborn, like a child demanding candy. "I want to see Avery. I want to see Avery..."
Micah was at his wit’s end. "This is so troubleso. I don’t even know if she understands..."
Just then, his phone rang. It was Isaac. Isaac’s voice was filled with frustration.
"We’re at the hospital, but visiting hours are over. We can’t get into the inpatient ward."
He rarely visited hospitals. Even when he did, there were always people to handle things for him. He only needed to wait for the results. Avery had always taken care of his mother’s hospitalization and treatnt, so he had no idea that visiting hours ended at 10 PM.
Micah was dumbfounded. "What do we do now?"
"Then what else can we do?" Isaac snapped. "You just have to convince my mom to plead with Avery on our behalf."
Micah, looking pained, replied, "I’ve said everything I could, but she won’t listen. She keeps repeating that she wants to see Avery and insists Avery is her real granddaughter."
Hearing this, Regina grabbed the phone from her husband and yelled into it, "Just keep talking! Keep brainwashing her until she rembers that Andrew and Gia are her real grandchildren and that Avery is an imposter who deceived us for eighteen years. Got it?"
Micah, resigned, said, "Got it."
He hung up the phone and returned to the bedside, ready to continue his attempts at persuasion. But he found that the old lady had already fallen asleep, drooling at the corner of her mouth.
This brainwashing session was over before it even started.
At the break of dawn, the sky was still a muted gray. Avery was sleeping soundly when her phone chid with a special notification:
[ssage from the hospital. Please address urgently.]
This was a custom notification she had set specifically for updates from the hospital. The sound ant only one thing—sothing was wrong with her grandmother. Avery imdiately opened her eyes, sat up, and reached for her phone on the bedside table.
The ssage from the nurse read:
[Help Grandma, don’t co back.]
Help Grandma? Don’t co back?
Just as she pieced together the aning, the ssage was retracted. What was going on with the nurse? Even if there was an issue with Grandma, why wouldn’t the nurse be straightforward about it?
No, sothing felt off. The ssage was likely sent by her grandmother, using the nurse’s phone in secret to avoid detection.
With this realization, Avery switched on the light, quickly dressed, grabbed her phone and bag, and dashed out.
The streets were eerily quiet in the dim morning light. Avery arrived at Harmony Hospital in under twenty minutes. Though the inpatient ward wasn’t officially open at this hour, a quick call to the hospital’s higher-ups ensured soone was there to let her in. She hurried into her grandmother’s room, finding her peacefully asleep in bed while the nurse sat on the couch, eating breakfast.
The nurse looked up, surprised to see her. "Miss Carter, what brings you here so early?"
Avery composed herself. "I had a nightmare that sothing happened to my grandmother, so I rushed over to check on her."
The nurse smiled. "You’re so caring, Miss Carter. The old lady is fine, sleeping soundly."
Avery paused, then said to the nurse, "You can go rest now. I’ll stay with Grandma. I’ll call you when I leave."
The nurse was more than willing to comply. "Thank you, Miss Carter. If you need anything, just let know."
Once the nurse left, Avery closed the door and carefully examined her grandmother’s eyes, mouth, and pulse. She also reviewed the latest dical readings, her expression growing serious. Recently, her grandmother’s health indicators had been stable and improving. But today, her blood pressure and heart rate were off, her complexion had worsened, and her eyes appeared cloudy.
What on earth had happened?
Avery opened her laptop and accessed the surveillance footage from her grandmother’s hospital room. A surge of shock and fury coursed through her as she watched the playback.
An hour earlier, the nurse had briefly left her phone unattended. In that mont, her grandmother’s eyes flickered open. With deliberate movents, the frail woman reached for the phone, tapped out a ssage, and then carefully placed it back down.
The timing of this action coincided precisely with the mont Avery had received the mysterious text from the nurse. A chilling realization dawned on her: her grandmother didn’t trust the nurse. Sothing was definitely wrong.
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