Chapter 57: Chapter 51: Flesh Wound

Because Shane Sterling stepped in, Director King returned to the country the very next day. He retrieved Susan Dudley’s medical records and began to study a surgical plan.

Although Director King was a leading expert on brain tumors, he was only human, not a god. Faced with such a difficult operation, even he couldn’t guarantee it would be one hundred percent successful.

He specifically summoned the sisters, Isla Prescott and Sienna Prescott, to his office to inform them of the worst-case possibilities for the surgery.

As Isla Prescott and Sienna Prescott left the director’s office and walked back to the inpatient ward, they were silent, each lost in their heavy thoughts.

“Isabelle,” Sienna said, suddenly grabbing Isla Prescott’s hand as they reached the entrance of the inpatient building. “I’m scared.”

Large teardrops rolled from Sienna’s eyes, and each one felt like a blow to Isabelle’s heart.

“Isabelle, I’m scared. I’m so, so scared…”

She didn’t say what she was afraid of, but Isabelle understood completely. She was experiencing the same terror, but as the older sister, she couldn’t bring herself to voice her fears so openly.

“Don’t be afraid.” Isabelle wiped away Sienna’s tears with her sleeve. “Mom is the one who’s most afraid right now. We have to act optimistic and positive to give her confidence. Don’t cry. Have faith that Mom will get through this.”

Sienna nodded. “Okay.”

To her, Isabelle was always a pillar of strength.

The two sisters composed themselves before heading back to the hospital room.

Jude Dudley was at the hospital again, sitting by the hospital bed and chatting with Susan Dudley.

Susan Dudley wasn’t doing well. Jude Dudley had peeled an apple for her, but she only managed a few bites before saying she couldn’t eat any more.

“Mom, are you feeling uncomfortable anywhere?”

“No.”

“Then you should get some rest. The doctor said you have a few more tests this afternoon,” Isabelle said to Susan Dudley.

“More tests?” Susan Dudley looked at Isabelle. “Do I have to?”

“These are pre-operative tests. They’re mandatory.”

“One test after another… how much is all this going to cost?”

“Getting these tests is for your own good. That’s just how it is at a hospital,” Jude Dudley soothed her. “Don’t worry about the money, and don’t dwell on anything else. Just relax and leave everything to the doctors.”

“That’s right.” Isabelle went over and took her mother’s hand. “Don’t you worry about a thing. Just focus on relaxing. We’re all here, and we’ll be right here with you.”

That afternoon, Sienna Prescott went with their mother, Susan Dudley, to her tests. Isabelle tried to get a little sleep. In truth, she couldn’t really drift off, but she hadn’t slept at all the previous night and had to at least close her eyes for a bit. She needed to be rested enough to trade shifts with Sienna and watch over their mother that night.

Shane Sterling had stayed until the early hours of the morning before leaving, and now he was texting her again, asking about her mother’s condition.

Before Isla Prescott could reply to Shane Sterling’s message, her sister, Sienna Prescott, suddenly burst into the room.

“Isabelle! Is Mom back?”

Isla Prescott sat up. “No, isn’t she still getting her tests done?”

“Yes, her tests were all done. On our way back, she suddenly said she was craving pumpkin congee and asked me to go to the small cafeteria to buy some. I told her to wait for me on a bench in the hallway, but when I came back out with the congee, she was gone. I thought she might have come back on her own…”

“Maybe she went to the restroom?”

“I checked all the restrooms on this floor and the floors above and below.”

Isla Prescott was suddenly struck by a terrible premonition.

“Quick, let’s go look again!”

“Okay.”

The sisters informed a nurse, then rushed back to the hallway where Susan Dudley had disappeared. They searched every nearby restroom and stairwell but still couldn’t find her.

The terrible feeling in Isla Prescott’s heart grew stronger.

She immediately went back to ask the nurses for help.

At first, the nurse didn’t think much of it and told them to just search more carefully. That is, until Isla Prescott said, “My mom… she might be trying to kill herself!”

As soon as she said that, the nurse grew anxious as well.

The nurse immediately reported to the head nurse and the doctor on duty. The doctor notified the security department, which began checking the surveillance footage and organizing guards to search all areas of the hospital.

While everyone was frantic with worry, Sienna Prescott suddenly slapped her forehead. “Isabelle, I just remembered! On the way to her tests earlier, Mom asked me where the hospital usually keeps the… bodies.”

Isla Prescott’s heart went cold.

’Did Mom really go to the morgue?’

—

And Susan Dudley had indeed gone to the hospital morgue.

She had wanted to end her life, but she was afraid of causing trouble for the doctors, nurses, and other patients by dying elsewhere in the hospital. So, she had quietly slipped away to the morgue alone. ’They’re all dead in there anyway,’ she thought. ’What’s one more?’

When Isabelle and the others found her, Susan Dudley was sitting alone by the entrance to the morgue, clutching a fruit knife.

She had brought the fruit knife with her.

She was truly resolved to die, but she also truly couldn’t bear to leave her two daughters.

“Mom!” Isla Prescott’s heart twisted in agony when she saw the knife in Susan Dudley’s hand. “Put the knife down, I’m begging you! Look at me and Sienna! Are you going to leave us?”

Susan Dudley’s eyes filled with tears. “Isabelle, Sienna, it’s Mom who has let you down. You ended up with me as a mother, but I’ve never been able to give you anything. Now I have this horrible disease… it’s a bottomless pit. Where are we going to find the money for this surgery? I can’t be a burden to you. I’m going to die sooner or later anyway. If I go now, you’ll suffer a little less!”

For someone with no money to be struck by a serious illness and consider suicide—this wasn’t a sign of weakness. It was a choice born of helplessness, forced upon them by the crushing weight of reality.

Isabelle was overcome with a grief she couldn’t suppress. She didn’t understand why misfortune always seemed to single out those who were already suffering.

“Mom! You don’t have to worry about the money! I’m starting to earn money now, my studio is doing really well! I have the money to pay for your treatment! Just put the knife down!”

“Isabelle, you don’t have to lie to me. Mom knows starting a business isn’t that easy. If you really had the money, then… then after I’m dead, just use it to take care of your sister…”

As Susan Dudley finished speaking, she pressed the edge of the blade against her carotid artery.

“Mom!”

“Mom!”

Isabelle and Sienna Prescott screamed in terror.

In that moment, no words could possibly describe their terror.

They had thought their battle with death would be in the operating room tomorrow. No one ever imagined that a final, heart-wrenching farewell would come so suddenly, catching them completely off guard.

In the nick of time, Isabelle suddenly saw Shane Sterling and Ivan Fulton arrive.

The two men appeared from a nearby doorway. They moved quickly into Susan Dudley’s blind spot, circling behind her before lunging forward from either side. Ivan Fulton restrained Susan Dudley, while Shane Sterling grabbed the fruit knife with his bare hand.

It all happened so fast that before Susan Dudley could even react, she was held tightly by Ivan Fulton.

“Ma’am, you need to calm down! Calm down!”

“Mom…”

Isabelle and Sienna Prescott rushed over at once.

“Sean!” Seeing the blood gushing from Shane Sterling’s hand, Susan Dudley snapped out of her trance as if waking from a nightmare. “Sean’s hand is bleeding! His hand…”

Only then did Isabelle see that in order to stop Susan Dudley’s suicide attempt, Shane Sterling’s hand had been sliced open by the blade, leaving a long, deep gash.

For a moment, she didn’t know who to turn to first—her mother, or Shane Sterling.

Shane Sterling turned his head to reassure her. “I’m fine. It’s just a flesh wound. You should take your mother back to her room first.”

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