Chapter 374
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Chapter 374:
The sterile white walls of the cubicle began to spin. A high-pitched, deafening ringing exploded in her ears, drowning out the ambient noise of the ER. Her vision tunneled. Her knees went completely weak. If she hadn’t already been sitting in the chair, she would have collapsed onto the linoleum floor.
Twenty-seven years of her life. Her entire identity. Her family. All of it — a fabricated, biological lie.
Carmen ripped the tourniquet off her arm and stumbled out of the cubicle, her face as pale as a corpse.
She walked back into the waiting room like a ghost and stopped directly in front of Mrs. Golden, who was still weeping into a tissue.
“Who am I?” Carmen asked. Her voice was a hollow, trembling rasp.
Mrs. Golden stopped crying. She looked up. The moment she saw the absolute devastation in Carmen’s eyes, a flash of pure, terrified guilt crossed her face.
She immediately looked away, stammering. “C-Carmen, not now. Your father is dying p>
“The hospital says I am AB-positive!” Carmen roared. The sheer volume of her voice silenced the entire waiting room. Tears of rage and betrayal streamed down her face. “You lied to me my entire life! Whose daughter am I p>
Mrs. Golden buried her face in her hands and wailed, completely refusing to answer.
𝖲𝗍𝗈𝗋𝗂𝖾𝗌 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗐𝗈𝗇’𝗍 𝗉𝗎𝗍 𝖽𝗈𝗐𝗇 𝗈𝗇
Just as Carmen felt her legs giving out beneath the crushing weight of the betrayal, the main doors of the ER were violently shoved open.
Two massive Secret Service agents in black suits stormed into the room, physically pushing civilians aside.
Senator Justin Collins walked through the gap.
He wore a razor-sharp navy suit. His presence commanded the room like a dark gravitational force. His eyes swept the chaos and locked instantly onto Carmen’s trembling, broken figure.
Justin ignored the doctors. He ignored the staring nurses.
He crossed the distance in three massive strides, reached out, and wrapped his powerful arms around Carmen, pulling her against his solid chest.
He turned his head slightly, locking eyes with his Chief of Staff, Leo, who was sprinting in behind him.
“Call the Mayor,” Justin ordered, his voice resonating with terrifying, absolute authority. “I want every unit of O-negative blood in the tri-state area airlifted to this roof in ten minutes. Move p>
Leo nodded and sprinted away, shouting into a satellite phone.
Justin looked down at Carmen. She was shaking uncontrollably against him.
“I’ve got you,” Justin murmured, his deep voice vibrating against her ear. “Your father is not going to die today p>
The familiar, intoxicating scent of cedarwood and expensive wool wrapped around her. In the middle of her entire world collapsing, his chest was the only solid thing left on earth.
Carmen’s fingers dug into the lapels of his suit. She buried her face in his neck and finally broke down, sobbing with the absolute vulnerability of a lost child.
Justin’s arms tightened around her like a steel cage. He rested his chin on the top of her head.
Then he slowly lifted his gaze and stared directly at Mrs. Golden over Carmen’s shoulder.
His eyes were dead — holding a silent, lethal promise of absolute destruction. Mrs. Golden saw that look, and the color drained completely from her face. She clamped a hand over her mouth, terrified into silence.