Chapter 276: Chapter 276: "What Did You Inject Me With?

Rory Linden had no idea how much time had passed. She slowly regained consciousness, her head groggy and her eyelids feeling incredibly heavy.

The surroundings were pitch-black; she could barely see a sliver of light anywhere.

Only a faint glimmer of moonlight seeped through the tightly drawn curtains.

The air was a mixture of some unidentifiable stench and the raw scent of earth.

’Where am I? How did I get here?’

Rory Linden tried to move just a little...

"Ugh..."

Her entire body ached as if it had been brutally beaten, and her bones felt ready to fall apart at any moment.

She seemed to be lying on an old sofa. The foam cushions were hard and smelled of dirt.

Rory’s mind was still in a fog, her thoughts not yet organized, when she heard the sound of someone moving.

It was the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs.

Rory quickly shut her eyes, pretending she hadn’t woken up.

She sensed the person reach the top of the stairs and walk toward her.

The footsteps stopped right beside the sofa.

The person was now standing right next to her, their breathing very quiet.

Rory didn’t dare to move or open her eyes.

The entire room was unnervingly silent.

She couldn’t even hear the person’s breathing anymore.

Until...

"Are you awake, Dr. Linden?"

A familiar voice suddenly sounded right next to her ear!

"Ah!"

Rory gasped in fright.

She snapped her eyes open.

In the faint light, she saw Evan Hollis standing right beside her, leaning over, his face almost touching hers!

After confirming she was awake, Evan Hollis slowly straightened up and sat down on a wooden stool nearby.

"You had a tough night shift yesterday, Dr. Linden. I saw you were sleeping so soundly, I didn’t dare disturb you. I also took care of bandaging your wounds."

Evan Hollis’s tone was the same as always.

As if their current situation were nothing out of the ordinary, as if they were still just colleagues at the hospital.

Hearing the man’s words, Rory’s blank memory slowly started to return.

She began to realize what had happened.

She had been in a car on her way home from her night shift, and it seemed there had been an accident.

And when she woke up, she was here...

"What are you trying to do?"

Rory anxiously tried to sit up.

She had just managed to prop herself up with her hands.

A second later, she fell heavily back onto the sofa.

Despite having just woken up, her body was completely devoid of strength, though her mind was exceptionally clear.

"Easy there, Dr. Linden. Don’t fall."

Evan Hollis spoke, his tone no different from usual.

But fear rose uncontrollably within Rory. "What did you inject me with?"

"Just a mild sedative," Evan Hollis said, slowly fiddling with something in his hands. "Oh, right. Can you tell me about you and Sean Harrison? Why did you two suddenly break up? How have you been getting by abroad all these years? It must have been hard, raising a child on your own."

"..."

"You’re a really good mother. Even though you were going through such a hard time yourself, you still gave birth to him and raised him so well."

Evan Hollis pulled the stool into Rory’s line of sight.

His tone was full of sincerity.

Rory tried to clench her fists but found she couldn’t even muster the strength in her fingers.

She didn’t know what the current situation was.

But one thing was certain.

’Sean Harrison must know what’s happened to me. He’ll definitely find a way to get to me.’

’Evan’s goal is probably to avoid getting caught. He kidnapped me to negotiate terms.’

’There’s still a chance. I won’t die.’

’I can’t die.’

’If I die, what will happen to Leo...?’

’I can’t let Leo lose his mother at just four years old.’

Lying on the sofa, Rory spoke weakly, "The child did nothing wrong. Since I am his mother, of course I must do everything in my power to be good to him."

"He’s so lucky to have a mother like you," Evan Hollis murmured. "I’ve never even met my parents. I don’t know what they look like."

"I used to fantasize countless times that they might come to the orphanage to find me one day. Even if they just took one look at me, I was confident I could make them want to take me home..."

Evan’s tone was very calm, with no hint of complaint or resentment.

Perhaps at his age, and after everything that had happened recently, he was no longer fixated on such things.

As the man’s voice faded, the room fell silent once more.

Making the night seem even colder and more sinister.

Soon, Evan continued, "But I was still pretty lucky. I met Auntie Rhodes. From then on, someone remembered my birthday, I’d get presents on holidays, and someone would care if I’d eaten or give me clothes when it got cold."

Rory listened quietly.

She found it hard to reconcile the Charlotte Rhodes Evan was describing with the Charlotte Rhodes she had met.

’It seems Charlotte Rhodes isn’t incapable of motherly love.’

’She just never gave that love to Sean Harrison.’

Rory then said cautiously, "Evan, Auntie Rhodes cares for you deeply, too. She’s been very worried since you disappeared..."

"How is Auntie Rhodes’s health? How’s her recovery going?"

When Evan asked this, there was a nervous edge to his voice.

"She’s been very worried since you disappeared, so..."

"So you want me to let you go, and then you’ll go back to her, is that right?"

Evan finished her sentence for her.

Rory nodded. "Yes, you..."

"Dr. Linden, do you think I would do this if I wasn’t at a dead end?" Evan’s voice held the sound of laughter, but there was no happiness in it. "More than anyone, I wish everything could have stayed the same, that it would never change. But I was never given a choice..."

"What do you mean, a dead end?"

"Dr. Linden, do you know what I truly want?"

The night was dark, and the room was quiet.

Perhaps from being in it for so long, Rory had gradually grown used to the strange smell in the room.

Evan murmured, "Some of you seek wealth, others seek love. All I wanted was the life I’ve had recently—where Auntie Rhodes needs my care for her daily life, where she can’t be without me. I can do for her what her real son can’t."

"If that’s the case, why did you give her stimulants?"

Completely unable to resist, Rory decided she might as well ask the questions that puzzled her.

"I’m an anesthesiologist. I’m more sensitive to dosages than anyone. How could I let her die? At most, her health would just decline a bit, making her dependent on others, needing someone to constantly look after her."

Evan’s tone was placid.

But it sent a chill down Rory’s spine!

She instantly understood all of his intentions!

Everything Evan had done was never about killing Charlotte Rhodes to get her fortune.

It was about making her health a little worse, and then a little worse still.

Ideally, until she couldn’t take care of herself at all and required 24-hour care!

Evan continued, "The biggest risk I ever took was letting you perform the heart transplant surgery on her."

Rory understood.

An artificial heart transplant was an incredibly difficult procedure. You could probably count the number of surgeons in the entire country who could perform it on two hands.

Rory had just returned from abroad, was so young, and had never performed such a surgery in the country before.

Most patients’ families wouldn’t risk their loved one’s life like that.

Rory asked him, "If you knew it was a risk, why did you insist on recommending me to operate on Auntie Rhodes? Did you want her to live, or did you want her to die?"

Evan slowly rose from the stool, walked to the window, and pulled the curtain open just a crack.

More moonlight spilled into the room.

Just as Rory was using the light to try and find her bag...

Evan said, word by word, "If I hadn’t transferred to your hospital, I wouldn’t have been able to learn your department’s shift schedule."