Chapter 691 The Hospital Encounter

Elsie swore under her breath, then climbed out of the car. She tried flagging down another ride, but no one would take her. Her eyes shifted toward the hospital in front of her. Owen was supposed to be here.

Keeping her head low to avoid stares, she slipped inside and ducked into the medical waste storage room. There, she snatched a white lab coat and threw it over her shoulders. Without hesitation, she barged into an empty patient room, rushed into its bathroom, and locked the door from the inside.

Pounding and angry voices came from outside, but she ignored them. She scrubbed herself head to toe with the shampoo she found in the shower. The stench eased a little, but the grotesque swelling and deformation below her waist made normal relief impossible. She couldn’t remove the object inside her on her own, and in the end she had no choice but to emerge still burdened by her massive stomach.

The moment she stepped out, someone outside recoiled with a yell. “What the hell–this place stinks! And look at this bathroom, it’s filthy. What, you haven’t bathed in a year?”

Elsie said nothing, draping the lab coat over herself and walking into the hallway. She began scanning for Owen’s room.

Then a familiar voice reached her ears.

“Carl, I’m begging you. I’m dying here–please, please help me find Elsie. Just thinking of her, a young girl suffering out there, my heart feels like it’s being cut to pieces…”

Elsie froze, her breath catching. Her nose stung, and she covered her mouth with her hand. “Mom…”

Her mother was still looking for her. The realization nearly overwhelmed her with emotion.

Lily hadn’t seen her. She kept her head bent over the phone, her voice cracking as she tried to win Carl’s sympathy. But after she poured her heart out, the reply was a sharp, mocking laugh.

“Oh? You’re in agony thinking about Elsie suffering? What about when Yunice–far more delicate than Elsie–was thrown into a mental hospital at eighteen and tortured? Didn’t see you writhing in pain over that.”

Lily faltered. “…You–Freya?”

She glanced at the number again. She hadn’t misdialed. “I called Carl’s number. Why do you have his phone?”

Freya’s scoff was ice-cold. “That’s not Mr. Carl’s number at all.”

“Impossible. He gave me this number himself. Freya, don’t play games with me.”

“He got sick of you and handed you a random number,” Freya said lightly. “And he told us not to bother him with your problems–said to handle you however we liked.”

Lily’s jaw dropped.

Freya’s tone sharpened. “Lily, are you still pretending you don’t understand? Can’t you see Mr. Carl despises you and your illegitimate daughter? Your selfishness made him fight with his own brother, destroyed Will’s family, left his children as orphans. You abused Will’s surviving child, turned the siblings against each other, and you think Carl hasn’t seen all of it? You still dream he’d rescue your… Even if I answered for him, he’d never help you. Elsie’s misery is her own doing, her punishment nothing more than karma. Anyone who helps her will share her fate. You and Owen are already paying for yours. May the two of you rot in bed together for the rest of your lives.”

Then the line went dead.

Lily stared at her phone, blank. There was no one left to turn to.

For years she had relied on her ties to the Powell family, holding her head high among the wealthy women she took tea with. They had either envied her or fawned over her. Now, with the Powells in ruin, those same “friends” gave her nothing but rejection and scorn.

She had tried her own family, but Terrance had refused to help and even cursed her. She had given the Moore family so much money over the years, and now not one of them would stand by her.

Wiping her tears, she muttered bitterly, “Elsie’s still my child. What was I supposed to do, strangle her at birth? Easy for hypocrites to judge from the sidelines.”

“Mom…” Elsie’s voice wavered as she stepped forward–only for a nurse to brush past her.

“Lily, I told you not to wander! You just had liver surgery. Do you have a death wish?”

“Liver surgery?” Elsie murmured in confusion.

The nurse wheeled Lily back into her room, and Elsie hurried after them–only to find Owen there as well. Both wore hospital gowns, their conditions unclear.

“There she is, security!” Owen barked. “She made our room reek, filthy and disgusting–what if she’s spreading an infectious disease? Get her out of here and into the police station!”

“She’s wearing a lab coat. Is she even staff here?”

“Impersonating hospital staff? She’s definitely in trouble!”