Chapter 14
Brandon rushed into the hospital.
A nurse wheeled a gurney past him, and Mrs. Caldwell strapped atop it, her hair soaked with blood.
“What happened?” he barked, grabbing Vanessa’s wrist, brows furrowed. “How did my mom fall down the stairs?”
Vanessa’s eyes immediately welled up, tears spilling down her cheeks one after another.
“It’s all my fault, Brandon. She said she needed to practice going down the stairs, and I was holding her, but… she slipped.”
She dug her nails into her palm and forced out two more tears.
Earlier, in the ambulance, the doctor had told her Olivia had sustained a severe head injury—one that might leave her in a coma, permanently.
That old witch might finally be gone… Vanessa nearly laughed out loud at the thought.
Brandon’s eyes locked on her tear–stained face–then suddenly narrowed.
There. Just for a second, the corners of her lips twitched upward.
“You’re… smiling?” His tone was low, but too calm to be safe.
Vanessa’s heart skipped a beat. She snapped her head up, eyes wide with feigned hurt.
“Of course not! I’m just scared… I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.” She choked back a sob and leaned into his shoulder. “Brandon, you don’t… blame me, do you?”
He didn’t push her away. Instead, he gently patted her back.
Sitting outside the emergency room, Brandon couldn’t stop thinking about how he had spent the whole morning searching the city for Evelyn. Claire wasn’t home, and the baristas at Evelyn’s favorite coffee shop said she hadn’t shown up in days.
She had disappeared without a trace.
If Evelyn were here…
The thought stabbed through his chest.
If Evelyn were here, she would’ve sensed something was off with his mom. She would’ve laid down anti–slip pads on the stairs. She would’ve-
“Mr. Caldwell!”
Chapter 14
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A doctor came hurrying over.
“Your mother’s condition is critical. We need to operate immediately.”
Vanessa sobbed quietly beside him, but Brandon wasn’t listening. A detail suddenly returned to him. The stairwell had a security camera. Evelyn had insisted on installing one at the stairwell landing last month, just in case anything happened during rehab. At the time, he’d told her she was being overly cautious.
Now, thinking of that split–second smile on Vanessa’s face… he felt a chill run down his spine.
“I need to make a call,” he muttered, pulling away from Vanessa and stepping around the corner.
She watched him go, quickly wiping her tears and letting her lips curve upward again.
Perfect. With Olivia unconscious and Evelyn gone, she was finally the only woman left in Brandon’s life.
Brandon called his assistant, his voice low. “Pull the surveillance footage from the stairwell. I need
everything between 3 and 4 p.m. today.”
After hanging up, he leaned against the wall, suddenly exhausted.
When he’d been searching for Evelyn earlier, a flower shop owner had told him she’d seen her leaving with a
suitcase and a small cardboard box in her arms.
“Looked like… a wedding dress or something,” the florist recalled. “She held it like it was the most precious
thing in the world. Even though it was all torn up.”
Brandon stood frozen. That dress… It was the one Evelyn’s late mother had designed. The one Vanessa had
accidentally stepped on and ruined.
“Brandon?” Vanessa had returned at some point. She gently tugged his sleeve. “They need your signature
for the surgery.”
He looked down at her delicate, tear–streaked face–and for the first time, she felt like a stranger.
That gentle, soft–spoken girl who had always clung to him with affection… had just smiled as his mother lay bleeding.
Or maybe… I’m just seeing what I want to see. He signed the consent form and handed it back, then gave her
a reassuring pat.
“It’s okay. I’m not blaming you.‘
Vanessa sniffled. “Did you… find Evelyn this afternoon?”
Before he could answer, the surgeon came out of the operating room.
“She’s stable for now. You brought her in just in time. She’ll need close monitoring moving forward.”
Chapter 14
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Brandon nodded, reaching for his phone to arrange for a private nurse.
But Vanessa quickly interjected, her voice soft and full of remorse.
“Brandon, let me make it up to you. Let me take care of her. I’ll do better. I swear.”
Brandon looked at her earnest expression and hesitated.
Vanessa had always been thoughtful. Maybe he was imagining things.
He gave a small nod and turned to head home, planning to grab some fresh clothes for his mother.
