Chapter 630
Over at Zephyr Manor, Laurel, Rex, and Jesse sensed something was incredibly wrong the second they walked through the front doors.
Rex grabbed a passing staff member. “Where’s my mother?”
“Mr. Rex,” the panicked staff member quickly replied. “Madam collapsed suddenly. Sir went with her in the ambulance to the hospital.”
“Which hospital?” Rex and Jesse demanded simultaneously.
Laurel frowned deeply. “Did they have a fight?”
Suzanne Jensen’s health had improved significantly recently; there was no medical reason for her to suddenly collapse. The most likely trigger was that Tristan had argued with her again over Maya, infuriating her to the point of passing out.
The staff member didn’t know who to answer first, fumbling for a second before explaining, “They didn’t fight! Everything was perfectly fine during dinner. Madam was doing her post-dinner physical therapy in the backyard when she collapsed.”
She then looked at Jesse and Rex. “They went to Sacred Heart Hospital.”
It was the Murphy Group’s premier hospital, staffed with the absolute best specialists in the world.
“Call Dad immediately and find out what’s going on,” Laurel ordered Jesse, her face freezing into a mask of pure ice. She snatched her coat right back off the rack and was halfway out the door when she paused and looked back at the staff member. “Where was Marcia Carson when my mother collapsed?”
“Her…?” The worker thought for a moment before answering hesitantly, “Since she came back with Sir tonight, he didn’t give orders to lock her up again. Right around the time Madam collapsed, I think she had just walked out to the backyard.”
“Understood.”
Laurel pushed the door open and strode out. Just as she reached her car, Jesse finished his phone call and ran over. “Mom is awake, and her blood pressure is stabilized. But she keeps frantically asking about Vera.”
Hardly anyone at Zephyr Manor knew about Elissa’s kidnapping. Although Tristan had an inexcusable blind spot when it came to Maya, he had always been deeply protective of Suzanne. He never would have let the news slip and risk her health.
Laurel’s eyes narrowed dangerously. She slid into the driver’s seat and blocked Rex from getting in. “Jesse and I will go to the hospital. You stay here.”
Rex frowned. “Why the hell am I staying here?”
“Throw Marcia Carson out of this house and send her to the Crest family tonight.”
Laurel didn’t wait to see if Rex fully grasped the command. The car tore out of the driveway, vanishing into the night.
Rex wasn’t as calculating as his older sister, but it took him only a fraction of a second to realize what she was doing. Laurel had never intended to let Marcia marry back into the Atwater family. The trap waiting for Marcia had always beeri the Crest family specifically, the predatory Wyatt Crest.
Upstairs, Marcia had been pacing nervously ever since she heard the three siblings return. She fully admitted she had acted impulsively. She shouldn’t have let her petty desire for revenge push her to tell about Elissa’s kidnapping.
Suzanned kill Suzanne
the shock
outright, then it was nothing but an unmitigated disaster for Marcia. With Laurel’s terrifying intellect, she would trace the cause of the collapse back to Marcia in a heartbeat. If that happened, she might not even survive long enough for the Atwater family to propose marriage…
*Bang! Bang!*
Her heart leaped into her throat as someone pounded violently on her door. A lazy, freezing voice drifted through the wood. She recognized it instantly.
She had crossed paths with Rex Wilkinson before, and she knew perfectly well that this golden boy of high society despised her to her very core.
“Hurry up.” His patience with her was practically nonexistent.
Even though she had never seen him act particularly warm toward Elissa before, the way he looked at Elissa was fundamentally different from the utter disgust he reserved for her.
Marcia shuddered involuntarily. “C-Coming.”
Suzanne was in the hospital, yet Rex hadn’t gone with them. He had come specifically for her. Marcia forced down her terror, opened the door, and tried to look as innocent as possible. “Mr. Rex… do you need something?”
Rex’s eyes were their usual dead, indifferent slate. “Someone is extremely eager for you to marry their son. I’m having my men drop you off there now.”
Marcia was completely dumbfounded.
Whether it was an engagement or a wedding, these things were supposed to be formal, daylight affairs. What kind of family demanded a bride in the middle of the night? Carmela Atwater must have found out she wasn’t a real Wilkinson and was intentionally humiliating her!
But then, a wave of profound relief washed over Marcia. “Okay… let me just pack my things.”
They clearly didn’t know she was the reason Suzanne collapsed yet! As long as she made it safely back to the Atwater family, the Wilkinsons couldn’t easily touch her! No matter what, they would have to show the Atwater family a baseline level of respectand as for Elissa So what if the Wilkinsons formally
acknowledged her?
Right now, there was nothing Elissa could do to stop her. As long as Marcia survived
tonight, she would eventually find a way to win the war.