Chapter 59: I Know The Patient You’re Looking For
"You’re miserable too, sister," Reyna whispered, as a toxic smirk touched her lips. "Hiding your real husband after I exposed him on live stream the other day? I’ll expose you. I’ll pull the curtain back on this little fairy tale."
She shifted the car into gear, and entered the traffic. Luckily, she hadn’t spent much time with her thoughts. Her eyes locked on the taillights of the Maybach and she trailed them like a predator, keeping just enough distance until they pulled into the private, indoor garage of the city’s best hospital.
Reyna parked in a dark corner, killing the engine. She watched from behind her tinted windshield as the "actor" and Brianna stepped out.
She watched the way Thomas held the door. And she watched them disappear into the private elevator reserved for the VIP wing.
Shoving her children into the back of the car, Reyna had been jerky and full of suppressed rage.
Her face contorted into a mask that made the children shift away from her, "Stay in this car. If you so much as touch the car handle or crack a window, I’m dropping you both at an orphanage and never looking back. Do you understand?"
She didn’t wait for their whimpering nods. She slammed the door, locked it from the outside, and marched toward the hospital’s private elevator bank.
Ding.
The moment Reyna stepped out of the elevator, the sterile scent of disinfectant mixed in the AC hit her first. Looking around, she peered around the corner.
She wasn’t even sure where she was going or doing, but she pulled out her phone, already hitting record as she walked down the hallway.
But when she saw the silhouette of a tall, broad-shouldered man and a lawyerly figure in a suit, she ducked back into a recessed corner; pressing her back against the cold wall.
"Madam Colburn is truly a strong woman," the voice drifted toward her.
"What is taking so long?"
"Pardon?"
"If it’s cancer, isn’t there a program somewhere that treats it? Why does she think she doesn’t have much time left?"
Reyna pressed her phone on her stomach, catching her breath. She didn’t know who was speaking so she dared to peek, holding up her phone as she recorded them.
"No, Mr. Colburn. It’s Cortalis Degeneration," the lawyer replied. "And programs you say? We’re in the best hospital, using the best surgeons."
Cortalis Degeneration.
Reyna tilted her head as a cold shiver ran down her spine. The name sounded very familiar... almost like she had heard it before, years ago.
But where?
Had it been at Mike’s family’s house?
When she had been at Mike’s family’s house. She had accidentally overheard his mother discussing it in hushed tones.
But before then, Mike told her his father had surgery so he couldn’t come for "his children’s" first birthday party.
She had been angry and went to see the so-called man who had surgery, and accidentally stumbled upon a lifetime of hatred from the woman for "eavesdropping".
In her defense, she thought it was a lie.
But wait. If this lawyer was saying it couldn’t be cured... why did Mike’s mother talk about it like it was a hurdle they had already jumped?
"The only surgeon capable of this is Dr. Briony Ashcroft. He is the only one who can perform the procedure, as he was part of the original team that cured the very first patient with Cortalis Degeneration. But he is nowhere to be found."
"Someone survived, right? Then find them. If the doctor is alive, the survivor is the only blueprint we have to trace him. Use their records."
Mr. Sterling shook his head. "We can’t, President Lucian. The records were proprietary—they went down with the plane. And the patient’s identity was sealed under a high-level NDA. It was an unauthorized, illegal operation. Even I don’t have a name."
Reyna gasped, clamping a hand over her mouth. Illegal?
No wonder Mike’s mother had looked like she wanted to kill her for eavesdropping that day.
"Which is why Madam Colburn wants to take this public," Sterling continued. "She’s offering a three-hundred-million-dollar reward to anyone who can identify that patient. I need your consent before we announce it."
’Three-hundred-million dollars? Reyna whispered, clicking her phone shut as she pressed her head against the wall.
Imagine what she could do with three hundred million... She could have all the silk and the life she always wanted. Unlike her sister, she would spend her money on herself alone!
She knew who the patient was, all she needed to do was out him and the money would be hers!
Reyna’s eyes turned a predatory shade of green.
"If it’s the only way to find them, then you have my consent–"
Making her way towards the center of the hallway, she stopped a few feet away, wearing a devilish smirk.
"No need for a public announcement. I know exactly who the first patient is."
Both men turned toward the source of the interruption. Narrowing their eyes as they landed on the woman who looked exactly like Mrs. Colburn!
For a split second, Lucian was stunned.
Reyna looked him dead in the eye and smiled.
Lucian’s first instinct wasn’t to ask about the patient. It was the sight of her face. His pupils dilated, and his hand instinctively tightened into a fist. Wife...?
No. Wife was inside the room with his grandmother. He had just felt her hand in his.
He stared at this woman—the same eyes, the same nose, the same elegant curve of the jaw—but the expression was wrong.
This woman’s smile was hungry, filled with a desperate greed that Brianna’s "I-hate-your-soul" face never held.
A double? A trap? Or the sister Marcus Thorne mentioned?
No. His wife didn’t have a sister. If she did, he would know–one way or another.
Lucian’s voice dropped into a lethal, low register. He didn’t care about the thirty million or the patient yet. In his world, a security breach this personal was a declaration of war.
"Who are you? Why do you have my wife’s face?"
Up close, Reyna recognized the face better. She wanted to gasp, run, scream or something. Because–the man she called an "actor" was actually President Lucian.
She had finally made the Great President Lucian look at her. She was in his fucking presence!
Reyna was on the verge of losing her mind!
Still, she maintained composure.
But wait... What was President Lucian doing with her sister? Calling her honey?
Her palm balled into a fist at her sides.
’No, no, no! It can’t be.’
"Do you mind explaining yourself or do you need me calling security?" Mr. Sterling’s patient snapped Reyna out of her bitter thoughts.
Her eyes darted from the lawyers, to Lucian’s dead eyes. He looked more intimidating in real life. Her eyes scanned his finger for signs of a ring.
Nothing.
President Lucian wasn’t married. Meaning, the thing with Brianna earlier was just a game. He looked like those professional men who just want to have fun, not getting tied down.
So Brianna was one of his toys!
She had always known her sister was a slut. Her nature had even made that company hire her in the first place.
"Should I call security, President Lucian?"
"If I were you, I wouldn’t do that." Reyna said, holding the lawyer’s gaze.
With his phone already halfway to his ear, Mr. Sterling looked at Lucian. "Sir, she’s clearly a delusional fan or a stalker. Look at the face... she surgically altered herself to look like Mrs. Colburn. It’s a security breach of the highest order."
Lucian’s dead gaze was a sub-zero vacuum, stripping Reyna of her confidence until her skin felt raw. He saw her as another of Brianna’s crazy fans who had stalked them here.
He wondered why this wing didn’t have enough security in the first place to prevent people like this from harassing his wife.
"Get her out of my sight. And call the director. I want the security team on this floor fired this instant."
Turning his broad back on her, Reyna felt his dismissal so absolute it was more than a slap.
"President Lucian will also be filing for harassment and identity theft. Hope you have a good lawyer."
As Sterling reached out to drag her away, Reyna dodged him and grabbed Lucian’s wrist.
Mr. Sterling’s eyes widened and his body froze from shock.
Lucian stopped dead. His whole body stiffened with irritation and his head slowly turned to look at her hand on his sleeve as if a rat had crawled onto his suit.
"President Lucian," Reyna whispered, her voice trembling not with fear, but with the sheer high of the gamble. "You can have me arrested. You can file for harassment and identity theft, but while you’re filing the paperwork, your grandmother is dying."
"The patient you’re looking for? I know him. I’ve known him for years. And I’m the only one who can give you a name."
"Is the three hundred million still on the table? Or would you rather let the lawyer drag me out and lose your only lead?"
