"Earlier at the nurses' station, I picked up his clothes to sort them out and take them home. Who knew that in his wallet, there was a photo—the photo of that mistress and her daughter! That girl... the daughter of that woman... that little girl... she is actually our daughter!" Victoria finished these words with great difficulty, feeling so dizzy that she leaned her head against the wall, gasping for breath.
"What? What exactly are you saying? The child Jonathan had with his mistress—isn't that Sophie? How could she possibly be—" Charles's eyes widened, and he sucked in a sharp breath. "Speak slowly. Try to make it clear!"
"Yes, it's Sophie. It's truly fate playing tricks on us. Oh God, why are you tormenting me like this?" Victoria's face turned almost deathly pale. She took a deep breath and continued, "That 'illegitimate daughter'—she and that mistress are actually mother and daughter! It's too terrifying... really too terrifying..."
Victoria took several deep breaths. "I've been thinking for a long time, and finally I remembered where I had seen that woman before... She... she was the very woman who swapped her son for my daughter all those years ago! Back then, in the photo Eugenie showed me, that woman had a large 'birthmark' on her face, which is why I didn't recognize her as Jonathan's mistress."
"Take it slow. So how did you now recognize that the person from back then was her?" Charles said in a low, steady voice, trying to calm Victoria down.
"Because in the photo from the wallet, her 'birthmark' was still in the same place, but it had faded a lot. So it wasn't a birthmark at all—it was a scar. She deceived me so cruelly. How can there be such a vicious woman in this world? My daughter has suffered so much following her, while her son has lived as someone superior, and in the future, he will even inherit a huge fortune..."
The more Victoria spoke, the angrier she became. "I will never let him get away with it. No one can take what belongs to my daughter!"
Her words were clear enough, and Charles finally understood.
He understood—and because of the extreme shock, he was momentarily unable to react...
"How could she do this? How could she steal my husband, take my daughter, make my daughter live her whole life being pointed at and scolded as an illegitimate child, yet scheme to have me raise her own illegitimate son?! That woman... how could she be so malicious? So shameless?!" On the phone, Victoria's anguished roars continued.
On the other end of the line, Charles's face was also ashen.
He had fully understood every word Victoria said.
Yet every subsequent sentence Victoria uttered, and every one of her roars, could not penetrate the numbness in his hearing caused by overwhelming shock and disbelief...
It turned out that the daughter he had always felt guilty about, the one he had deeply missed for so many years, was actually Sophie—the very girl he had once schemed against and forced to be expelled from school...
From behind the greenery around the corner, Ned had listened to the entire conversation and understood everything completely.
In the conference room of the university hospital's cardiovascular department, Ned and Victoria were meeting with the doctor for the second time to discuss the surgical outcome. The first time had been four years ago, when Sarah jumped from a building and Jonathan suffered a sudden myocardial infarction. After a six-hour operation, his life was finally saved.
This time, the surgery lasted even longer. Due to the intense confrontation between Jonathan and Victoria, Jonathan—who had already needed hospitalization for rehabilitation—suffered a second heart attack. This episode was far more aggressive; critical condition notices were issued three times, and the surgery stretched to twenty hours. Thanks to the attending physician's relentless efforts, his life was pulled back from the brink. At that moment, the doctor and nurses were explaining the surgical results to the family.
"How is my father doing now?" Ned asked directly, rushing into the conference room.
"Mr. Harrington Sr.'s surgery was very successful. The thrombosis in the coronary arteries has been completely dissolved and cleared, and the remaining small atherosclerotic plaques have been significantly reduced. However, it will still depend on the patient's postoperative recovery," the attending physician announced.
Victoria's expression was extremely strange. She looked at her "son" with a deeply complicated gaze. "When my husband recovers, what percentage of his previous physical condition can he regain?" she asked, her voice trembling.
"Mrs. Harrington, I cannot answer that question at this time. I just checked on Mr. Harrington Sr. a moment ago, and his condition is relatively stable for now. In the future, I will do everything in my power to care for him and aim for the best possible recovery outcome." The attending physician's words were as optimistic as possible. Though he had no full confidence in the future prognosis, at least Mr. Harrington Sr.'s life had been saved.
After leaving the conference room, Ned appeared very calm. "Tomorrow, I'm taking a flight out of London," he said, stopping in the hallway of the hospital's VIP ward and turning to the woman beside him—his mother.
Victoria stopped as well. After a long stunned pause, she reluctantly turned to look at her "son" and said expressionlessly, "Your father has just undergone such major heart surgery. He was only just pulled back from the edge of death and hasn't fully regained consciousness even now. Where do you think you're going at a time like this?"
"There's a very important meeting I absolutely cannot miss," Ned insisted.
"A meeting? Is a meeting more important than your father's life?" Victoria glared at him coldly... this shameless son born to that mistress!
Looking at him, Victoria's heart was filled with conflict and pain—like a thousand needles stabbing her chest, excruciating yet already numb. She could no longer sort out whether the heaviness in her heart when she looked at her "son" was love, hatred, or simply agony!
The day after Mr. Harrington Sr.'s surgery was completed, news media immediately reported that the former chairman of Harrington & Co. International had suffered a sudden recurrence of heart disease, been rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery, and was in critical condition. That very evening, Ned received a phone call from Matthew.
"Young Master, how is Mr. Harrington Sr. doing? I saw the report on the TV news—I'm really worried. After our last meeting, didn't he go to the hospital for a follow-up check?"
"Yesterday, Father's condition suddenly worsened, but fortunately he was brought to the hospital in time. After emergency surgery, the attending physician successfully dissolved and cleared the thrombosis in his coronary arteries. He's now been transferred to the intensive care unit for observation, and the situation has been temporarily stabilized with no further deterioration. You can rest assured!"
"In that case, may I visit Mr. Harrington Sr. at the hospital?" Matthew's voice choked with emotion; he genuinely sounded deeply concerned about Jonathan's condition.
"Alright!" Ned was silent for a few seconds. "As it happens, there's something I'd like to ask you about as well," he continued.
That same evening, they met at the hospital—of course, in the hospital café.
"Last time, because I had a meeting, our conversation was rushed. So I'll get straight to the point. I hope you don't mind," Ned said, unusually patient in seeking someone's opinion.
Matthew felt flattered and quickly nodded. "Not at all, not at all. Feel free to ask anything. As long as I know the answer, I'll tell you the truth."
"The way you phrased it last time made me feel that four years ago, when Sophie left New York, that decision came as a surprise to you too?" Ned's question was direct and piercing.
Hearing this, Matthew was momentarily taken aback. "It's been four years already. Is the young master still dwelling on this?" He somewhat regretted saying one extra sentence during their last talk at C&C. After thinking for a moment, he looked up, frowning at Ned, who was sitting across from him and staring intently. When their eyes met, Matthew felt an overwhelming pressure from the other side that made it hard for him to breathe.
Just then, the waiter arrived with steaming hot coffee, instantly easing his nervousness. He rubbed his hands together awkwardly.
Ned didn't press him; he simply pushed the coffee a little closer to Matthew. "Yes, before I knew it, Sophie had been gone for four years. And to this day, I still don't know the real reason she left. Last time you mentioned a 'suicide note.' What was that about? I want to know."
Ned's rare display of kindness left Matthew somewhat disoriented. Four years ago, Sarah had suddenly jumped to her death without leaving him a single word or note—just a suicide note for Sophie. After handling the funeral, Sophie had left New York to study in the United States and had never returned. He himself had always wondered why. Why had the girl left so ruthlessly and completely...