Substitute Wife For The Blind CEO

Chapter 172 - 172: Stop Right There!

They were halfway down the hallway, slipping toward the nearby waiting area, when a man in a white coat brushed past them. He was short, dark-haired, with firm steps and eyes hidden behind thick-rimmed glasses and a surgical mask. He didn't even glance their way as he entered Room 203.

Elizabeth slowed down. Something about the man's energy seemed... off. But before she could voice her thoughts, another doctor rounded the corner from the opposite direction.

"Elizabeth?" the new arrival called out, surprise in her voice.

Elizabeth turned sharply and then her eyes softened. "Dr. Noreen?" she said, both shocked and relieved. "You work here?"

Noreen smiled as they embraced briefly. "Yes! I was transferred recently. Just started a week ago. I didn't know you were in town let alone in the hospital I work. What are you doing here?"

"I came to see someone," Elizabeth replied quickly, trying to keep her tone casual. "You were transferred to Zeden General? Since when?"

Noreen chuckled. "Not long ago. They needed extra hands with some sensitive cases, especially the patient in Room 203."

Elizabeth froze, her brows instantly pulling together in a confused frown. The number struck her like a slap. Didn't a doctor pass by just now to check that same room? Eliana's room?

"What did you say?" she asked, her voice low. What was going on?

"Room 203. The girl that's been unconscious for a while. They brought me in to treat her personally."

Elizabeth's heart dropped. "You're her doctor? Is any other doctor seeing her too?" Elizabeth asked, her heart beat doubling its pace.

Noreen nodded proudly. "I'm her doctor and I'm solely in charge. That case is mine. No one else has been assigned to her since I came in. She's a sensitive one."

Hearing that, Elizabeth's breath caught. Panic surged up like a rising tide. "Then—then who just entered that room now?"

Noreen blinked, frowning. "What? Someone just went into 203?"

"Yes," Elizabeth said urgently. She turned to her guards, voice sharp. "Go get him. Now. That's not a doctor. That might be an assassin."

The color drained from Noreen's face. "What? Wait—an assassin? Elizabeth—what's going on?"

"No time to explain," Elizabeth said, already breaking into a run. "Just come with me. We have to make sure that man doesn't touch that girl."

The hallway erupted into movement as the guards charged back down toward Room 203, Elizabeth and Noreen close behind.

The click of hurried footsteps echoed through the sterile halls as Elizabeth's heart pounded in her chest.

Please, she prayed silently, please don't let us be too late.

Room 203 was silent, save for the slow, rhythmic beep of the heart monitor—the only sound defying the stifling stillness that hung in the air. The dim ceiling light cast a pallid glow over the room, illuminating the fragile figure lying motionless on the hospital bed. Shadows stretched along the corners, like silent witnesses.

The air smelled sharply of antiseptic and plastic—a cold, lifeless scent. Sterile. Almost too clean, as if to erase any trace of what might happen here.

doll abandoned mid-play, with her chest barely rising, each breath shallow and uncertain—as though her body wasn't quite

the prison of her mind, something shifted when the

flicker. A whisper of

twitched, followed by her eyelids fluttering

slowly, her eyes

skull. She blinked, her vision swimming, her thoughts sluggish and disoriented.

to lift her hand but then she

Panic struck through her.

her body didn't move. She couldn't feel her arms,

as raw fear rose up like a tide, and her heart stuttered violently in her chest. Why can't I move? What happened to me? Where am I? She mused as another bolt of pain struck though her, bringing memories of that night and then Ivy's visit and that woman the

Had

about that when her gaze landed on him and her heart

he supposed to be a doctor? She thought as she watched him, her

her bedside—a man in a white coat, face

was composed, but the air around him… it wasn't right. He didn't move like a doctor or maybe he did but at the moment, he didn't

kindness in his expression. No concern. Just... stillness. He seemed... controlled. Tense

She tried to speak. To ask him who he was. But her voice was locked

of her heart monitor quickened,

the man looked down and their

knew—he wasn't

for a split second, she saw something flicker in his eyes—fear. Not for her, but

these while so why regain consciousness now? Why now? He mused and

wasn't his problem. His problem was to finish this job

practiced motion, he reached into the inner pocket of

heart thundered in her chest when she saw that. This just confirmed it. He was here

alone and administrating an unknown injection to her if he was here for

Not like this. Not

inside at least, where no one could see. She was screaming, pleading—but only in her head. Her limbs remained still,

me. Please, someone...

filled it with a clear liquid. He moved toward the IV line with terrifying calm, sliding the needle in with surgical

final breath and then

could press it, the

"STOP RIGHT THERE!"

tore through the silence like a

Daniel froze.

fury etched into every line of her face. Behind her stood Dr. Noreen, her coat barely settled on her shoulders, stunned into momentary silence as

she gasped. "What the hell do you think you're

hospital so how could he be trying to kill a

the hesitation

line and hurled the metal stand aside. The clatter echoed