Chapter 111
“So it was he who helped me,” Zinnia murmured, her emotions in turmoil. When Anne got into trouble, she was worried something might happen to her too, but nothing did. She never expected Yannis would go so far for her behind the scenes.
Looking at Zinnia’s innocent face, so utterly oblivious to everything, Hugo felt a pang of resentment. She thought, ‘Some people are just born lucky. She doesn’t even realize it, yet someone’s already taken care of everything for her.’
Hugo said, “Ms. Shawn, you’ve seen enough. Just go.”
Zinnia hadn’t planned to stay any longer. She repeated, “She’ll be fine.” With that, she turned to leave. As she checked her phone, she saw a message from Charlie informing her that they could go home now.
After Zinnia left, Hugo quietly pushed open the hospital room door. He pulled up a chair to the bedside and gazed at Anne, exhaustion shadowing his usually cold, handsome features.
He muttered, “I told you, you have terrible judgment when it comes to people, but you just wouldn’t listen. You had to be stubborn. Now look at you, see what your stubbornness has gotten you into.
“I never said your face was ugly. But how could you use Betty’s stuff without worrying it might ruin your skin? That woman only does things for her benefit. She’s got the whole Shaw family wrapped around her finger. So what chance do you have?
“If you’d made friends with Zinnia, I wouldn’t have said a word. After all, she’s just simple-minded. But no, you had to pick someone as scheming as Betty, and even argued with me that Betty was truly sincere to you.
“All she gave you was a bottle of cream, and you were ready to give her everything. Who even knows where that cream came from?”
Hugo stared at the right side of Anne’s face, now perfectly healed, without a trace of scars, and let out a soft sigh.
He said, “You were always afraid I’d take the Carson family from you, weren’t you? If you never wake up, it’ll be mine by default. Would you be okay with that?”
Anne remained perfectly still, giving no response.
Hugo had no idea how long he’d been talking; in the end, he kept vigil by her bedside the entire night.
Meanwhile, Zinnia met up with Charlie, and the two headed home together.
In the car, Charlie looked at Zinnia with concern and said, “Zinnia, I already know about what happened at school. Why didn’t you come to me?”
Zinnia replied, “I know you’re all busy. I just didn’t want to worry you.”
Zinnia had already brushed off similar concerns over the phone a couple of days ago. Now, face-to-face with Charlie, especially after recently dealing with Sofia, she found herself responding more naturally.
She remembered Sofia mentioning how swamped Charlie had been lately, and Zinnia didn’t want to burden him.
Charlie said, “I may be busy, Zinnia, but I’ll always make time for you. We’re family. Don’t ever hesitate to come to me, promise me okay?”
Charlie gazed at Zinnia with tender warmth and gently ruffled her hair.
“Okay,” Zinnia replied softly.
Zinnia had been struggling over who to turn to for help when the accident happened. But then, somehow, she ended up calling Yannis by accident. To her surprise, Yannis picked up on the first ring.
Noticing the troubled expression Charlie had been wearing since leaving the hospital, Zinnia asked, “Charlie, is something bothering you?”
Charlie said, “I’ve been thinking about Anne’s condition. One of her blood vessels is blocked by a blood clot in a critical location. The surgery is extremely delicate. I only have a fifty-fifty chance of success.
“I’m trying to figure out if there’s anything to improve those odds, even just a little. The Carsons invited someone from the Moore family, but the person was no help at all.
“We still have to find another solution. She is so young; it would be such a shame if she never wakes up."
Charlie didn’t hide anything. His desire to help Anne came purely from a doctor’s duty. He just wanted to save his patient, nothing more.
As Anne’s attending physician, Charlie felt that a fifty percent chance was already significant, but to Daniel and his family, the risk still seemed too high to accept.
Hoping for the highest possible success rate, the Carsons called in someone from the Moore family. They figured that even if the collateral branch of the Moore family hadn’t inherited most of the main family’s medical expertise, it would still be better than nothing.
But to their disappointment, the person who showed up turned out to be just a good-for-nothing heir.
Charlie thought, ‘No wonder the Moore family has been on a downward spiral for twenty years. Once the main branch died out, the whole family became a disorganized mess, just living off their past glory.’
The Moore family, once mentioned in the same breath as the Perkins and Lynn families, had become almost unheard of. The Stark family only rose to prominence later. Back then, it was the Moore family that truly dominated the pharmaceutical industry, with a global presence.
Zinnia said, “Charlie, maybe you should run another brain scan for Anne tomorrow. Neurological conditions can change from day to day. Who knows, her situation might be different by then.”
Charlie smiled and said, “Yes, daily check-ups are routine for all patients.”
Hearing Charlie bring up the Moore family again, Zinnia hesitated and asked, “Charlie, who exactly are the Moores?”
Though Zinnia wasn’t sure if her Master had any connection to the Moore family, she couldn’t suppress her curiosity.
She obediently refrained from seeking her Master out, as he had forbidden, but whenever something possibly related to her Master came up, she couldn’t help but pay close attention.
Charlie explained, “The Moore family used to be one of Jinston’s most prominent families, standing shoulder to shoulder with ours. But about twenty years ago, for reasons no one understood, they suddenly packed up and left the city for good.
“But just three years after moving abroad, the main branch of the Moore family was wiped out in an explosion, with all three members perishing in that tragedy. Now, the collateral branch has taken the reins of the family.
“The collateral branch of the Moore family has been riding on the coattails of their former patriarch’s legacy. They’ve learned nothing useful, just squandering their days away.
“The person they sent to help is nothing but a good-for-nothing heir. Not a shred of the Moore family’s true medical expertise has been passed down to him.”
Charlie’s voice was tinged with regret, and when he thought of the current situation of the Moore family, deep disappointment made his words reflect this sentiment.
He thought, ‘Without the main branch of the Moore family, the family can’t last much longer. If they keep letting the collateral relatives squander their legacy like this, they’ll fade into complete obscurity before long.’
Zinnia blurted out, “Why did the Moore family move abroad twenty years ago? And how did that explosion happen just three years later?”
Charlie said, “I’m not entirely sure about what happened twenty years ago. I was just a kid back then. All I know is what the family elders told me.
“As for the explosion, I heard they might have been sabotaged. When our family found out, they sent people to help at the time.”
Charlie himself wasn’t very clear about what had happened twenty years ago. He just remembered the adults in his family lamenting the fact that the Moore family patriarch, such a brilliant and extraordinary man, had perished in that explosion.
The entire family of three was lost in the blast, none survived, which left Charlie’s elders deeply grieved.