Chapter 2

Avery's POV

After signing, I rushed like a madwoman to Thorne's private hospital.

Pushing open the familiar VIP ward door, I found it empty. My mind went blank. I grabbed a passing nurse and demanded sharply, "Where's my mom?!"

The nurse dared not look me in the eye. "Your mother... was transferred to a general ward."

I stumbled toward the general ward section. In the most crowded, noisiest eight-person ward at the end of the corridor, I saw my mother.

Gone were the premium private nursing and expensive life support system, replaced by only the faint beeping of a basic ventilator. My mother's already pale face now looked even more gaunt, as if she could stop breathing at any moment.

"Who allowed you to transfer her?!" I burst into the doctor's office, my eyes red, and confronted the doctor.

The doctor said, "Mrs. Thorne, this was Mr. Thorne's personal order. He said... the Miller family's current financial situation isn't suitable for occupying VIP medical resources."

I was stunned.

Just then, a pair of high heels clicked down the hallway. Ethan, with his arm around Celeste's shoulders, approached, surrounded by a group of bodyguards.

Celeste wore a pristine white designer trench coat, her face looking even more delicate than a patient in a hospital bed. She walked up to me and said, "Avery, don't blame Ethan. It's my fault. I've been suffering from insomnia recently because of online rumors, and my mental state is very poor. Ethan just wanted me to rest quietly, so he cleared out the best VIP ward for me."

To allow Celeste to rest, he kicked my mother, who was in a vegetative state, into a noisy general ward?

I was so angry I laughed, and violently raised my hand, but Ethan caught my wrist in mid-air, holding it tightly.

"Avery, just try to lay a hand on her!" Ethan's voice was as sharp as a knife, the force in his grip almost crushing my bones.

Despite the intense pain, I stubbornly didn't make a sound. I stared fixedly at Ethan. "Ethan, I've signed the papers as you demanded, why are you still doing this to my mom?!"

Ethan forcefully flung my hand away, pulling Celeste into his arms, and looked at me coldly. "Signing was what you should have done to save your brother. But you yelled at Celeste in the office just now, and you scared her. Avery, that arrogant temper of yours really needs to be reined in."

"I'm arrogant?" I found it utterly absurd. "She put my mom in this state, and I can't even raise my voice?"

"No one wants a surgical accident to happen!" Ethan impatiently cut me off. "Celeste is already very remorseful, what more do you want?"

He pointed to the ward door, his tone brooking no argument. "Now, apologize to Celeste. If she forgives you, I'll immediately have your mom transferred back to the VIP ward and restore all her specialized medication."

I froze.

Patients and doctors came and went in the hallway, all looking at us. I, once the proudest heir of the Miller family, Ethan's wife, was now being asked to publicly apologize to the culprit who had ruined my family.

Celeste, hiding behind Ethan, showed a barely perceptible smirk.

"If you don't apologize, your mom will be discharged from the hospital today," Ethan said coldly.

I turned my head and, through the glass window, looked at my mother in the hospital bed. I closed my eyes, swallowing all my tears and dignity.

With a soft thud, I knelt straight down before Celeste.

A murmur of discussion rose around us.

I looked up, my eyes, once full of starlight, now held only despair.

"I'm sorry, Celeste," my voice was flat, like a body drained of its soul. "Please, forgive me. Please save my mom."