Substitute Wife For The Blind CEO

Chapter 174

Chapter 174 - 174: Not This Time

hospital entrance, hearts pounding and adrenaline firing through their veins. The sliding doors hissed shut behind them as they crossed into the sterile hallway, searching for any familiar face.

A nurse behind the counter stood up immediately, clearly startled by the sudden burst of energy.

"Where's Elizabeth Winters?" Stefan asked, his voice firm but laced with urgency. "She was admitted here. Head trauma or something."

Before the nurse could answer, a voice cut through the air.

"Stefan?"

He turned sharply, blinking in shock as a woman in a white coat approached him.

She hadn't changed much—poised, graceful, the same piercing eyes just as he remembered. Noreen.

"Noreen?" he said, momentarily thrown. "What are you…?"

"Funny how your mom asked me the same question. I work here now," she said softly. "Transferred back just last week."

The air thickened with emotion. Six years had passed since he last saw her. His aunt Noreen, his late father's secretary's wife.

She had vanished after her husband and his father's death, mourning in private. Seeing her now, wearing a doctor's coat, was surreal.

"I operated Elizabeth," Noreen said, stepping closer. "She's stable—for now. She hit her head hard when she fell. We're keeping her under close observation."

Stefan exhaled shakily, his shoulders slumping just a little. "Thank God."

"And Eliana?" Ethan asked.

Noreen's eyes widened faintly, a small smile breaking through. "She woke up, Stefan. Minutes before the incident. She's weak, but she's conscious."

Emotion gripped Stefan's throat. "She's awake?"

"Yes. Still paralyzed, but she's responding. She saw everything—what Daniel tried to do."

"What really happened? Were you there too?" he asked and Noreen nodded as she went ahead to tell him everything she'd seen starting from how shocked Elizabeth had been hearing she was solely in charge of caring for Eliana.

tensed. "I need to go see the officers. I want answers. I

going

"I'll go check on my mom and then head to the

to the ICU was quieter now, though the echoes of earlier chaos still lingered in the air like smoke after a fire. Nurses moved briskly from room to room, whispering updates, adjusting IV lines, checking monitors—but Stefan barely noticed them. His focus narrowed to one number.

there, Ethan stayed back as he watched Stefan pushed the

dark hair matted to one side with dried blood. A bandage wrapped around her forehead, stark against her skin. Oxygen tubes framed her face, and

looked fragile. Too still. Too

bed. His breath caught. He'd seen his mother sick before—grieving, exhausted, crying—but never like

clenched at

didn't deserve this," he said softly, his

the gauze.

the monitor was the

what Ivy's done before—how could I not see this coming? How couldn't I have thought they would silence Eliana

tightened, and his throat burned. He swallowed the lump of guilt

he could kill her. You—" He paused, exhaling shakily. "You're the reason she's alive right now. But you almost died

I don't care anymore who pulled the strings—because someone tried to kill the woman I love. And now someone's put you in a

darkened.

care what I have to lose. Ivy will pay. Regina will pay.

movement. No flicker of lashes. No

But it didn't matter.

love you, Mom. Stay with

the room—his shoulders stiff with

thought she'd won by staying

wouldn't stop until she

out, Ethan looked at him and could tell he was pretty shaken

feeling?" he asked quietly as they

remain so until those two

the driver's seat

Ethan drove off without

with tension as Stefan sat across from Officer Langford, the same detective who'd arrested

arms crossed, eyes flicking between the

confessed. Completely. We arrested him at the hospital.

"Why?" Stefan asked flatly.

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