The staff hesitated, terrified, but he roared louder. “GO!”
Within minutes, nurses scattered, calling other hospitals, searching files. Adrian pulled out his phone, his hands shaking, dialing Vivienne over and over. Each time, the same response — the number you have dialed cannot be reached.
He slammed his phone against the wall. “Damn it!”
When Seraphine regained consciousness hours later, her face was pale and streaked with tears. “She did this,” she whispered weakly. “She took him from us. She killed him.”
Adrian clenched his fists, his eyes dark. “I know. And she’s going to pay for it.”
He left the hospital immediately, storming through the parking lot, his heart pounding. The rain had started to fall — heavy, relentless — but he barely noticed.
There was only one place left to go.
Vivienne’s father’s office.
He didn’t even wait for the secretary to announce him. He burst through the doors, slamming them shut behind him. “Where is she?” he demanded, dripping water across the marble floor. “Where the hell is your daughter?”
Mr. Howard looked up slowly from behind his desk, calm — too calm. “Mr. Calder.”