NovelEnglishChapter 374 **Hospital** The doors of the operating room finally swung open, and Sean was wheeled out on a gurney.
The surgeon removed his mask and turned to Jeffry, who had been anxiously waiting outside. "The patient's leg bone has been set. The surgery was a complete success," he said. "From now on, proper rest is essential-he absolutely can't get out of bed for at least a month." Jeffry nodded and carefully pushed Sean toward his private room.
Sean had no idea how much tpassed before he finally woke up.
The first thing he did, the moment his eyes flickered open, was ask about Claire.
"How's Claire?" he murmured, his voice raspy and weak.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtJeffry smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, sir. Ms. Linwood's transplant surgery went perfectly. Since the kidney was already hers to begin with, there's no risk of rejection. As long as she takes it easy, she'll recover soon-probably even faster than your leg will heal." A faint smile broke through the pallor on Sean's face.
"That's good," he breathed. "With a healthy kidney, Claire's bound to get stronger day by day." As long as she grew healthier, maybe she'd stop blaming herself for dragging him down. Maybe, just maybe, she'd stop wanting to leave him.
Still, her injured leg and hearing loss needed the world's best doctors. No matter the cost, he'd see her healed.
He shifted on the bed and asked quietly, "What about Vanessa?" Jeffry's lips curled in a cold, dismissive sneer. "She's dead." "Dead?" Sean blinked, taken aback. "It was just a kidney removal-how could she die so easily?" Jeffry shook his head. Vanessa's death was far more complicated than a simple organ loss.
During the landslide, she'd been crushed by falling rocks-her lower body pinned under a massive boulder. Perhaps the pain had snapped her back to a fleeting moment of clarity. Desperation took over, and she'd clawed at the dirt, begging for help.
"Please... help me, I don't want to die, please..." she'd pleaded, her voice raw with terror.
But at that moment, Jeffry's only thought was to get Claire and Sean to safety. He hadn't spared Vanessa a second glance.
Vanessa had scraped at the ground until all ten of her nails broke and her fingers bled-leaving a gruesscene behind. Yet, no matter how hard she struggled, she couldn't free herself from the weight of the stone. In the end, she'd died slowly, drained by pain and despair.
Later, both she and Claire were rushed into surgery at the stime, but Vanessa was barely alive. Once her kidney was removed, she died there on the operating table.
Sean listened to the story, his expression barely changing.
Vanessa had brought this fate on herself.
"You don't have to stay here with me," he said quietly. "Go check on Claire for me." Jeffry nodded and hurried out, heading straight for Claire's room.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmBut when he arrived, the room was empty, the night air chilling in the silence. For a moment, Jeffry's mind went blank with panic.
Claire had just undergone major surgery-she was far too weak to leave her bed. How could she possibly have vanished? He rushed to find a doctor.
When the hospital staff saw the empty room, they panicked too. They immediately pulled up the security el footage and watched in shock as a heavyset woman, dressed in a nurse's uniform, wheeled Claire away. **Elsewhere** Claire drifted into consciousness, pulled awake by a wave of excruciating pain.
The anesthesia had worn off. An agonizing, stabbing sensation radiated from her side-like a thousand needles driving in at once. Cold sweat broke out over her entire body.
She opened her eyes, but everything was pitch black.
Had night fallen already? Just as the thought crossed her mind, she heard the sudden rustle of fabric. With a tic flourish, a heavy black sheet was yanked away.
Scarlet stood before her, a mocking smile on her face. She looked Claire up and down, her voice dripping with down malicious amusement. "Well, Claire... how does it feel to be living in a dog cage?"
She circled the cage, slow and deliberate. "Who would've thought the fiancée of Foster & Co.'s CEO, locked up like a stray mutt? Isn't that e something?" Scarlet laughed, the sound echoing cruelly in the darkness.
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