Chapter 119
On her way to the hospital, Grace made sure to disguise herself from head to toe. The Lambert family had bodyguards out looking for her, and if they got their hands on her, she’d be locked in a psychiatric hospital with no one coming to her rescue anytime soon.
Once she got to the hospital, she followed a nurse into the changing room and threw on a nurse uniform, a surgical mask, and glasses.
She wandered the halls for a while before finally spotting Alice stepping out of her ward.
Alice walked straight to a doctor’s office and pushed the door open. The doctor’s name was Sidney Tanner.
Sidney greeted her politely, “Ms. Lambert, have a seat.”
Alice didn’t look too happy. “Didn’t I tell you to quit?”
Now that the whole baby situation had caught the Henderson family’s attention, she needed to clean up every loose end. Anyone involved–including Sidney–had to go.
Sidney looked torn. “But I’m up for promotion next month. I swear I won’t say a word to anyone.”
Alice narrowed her eyes, sneering, “What, is 300 thousand dollars not enough to buy your silence?”
Sidney started sweating. He grabbed a tissue from the desk and wiped his face.
Alice had zero patience for anyone outside her inner circle. She always liked throwing her weight around. She said, “You’ve got three days to resign from this hospital.”
With that, she turned and left, heading back to her ward.
The moment she was gone, Grace slipped into the office. Sidney remained seated in his chair and let out a long sigh. Grace glanced at the plaque near the door, which read out “Dr. Sidney
Tanner“.
Just then, Sidney’s phone rang with a call from his family.
“I’ve already transferred the money. Tell the kid to be careful with his spending while he’s abroad. I’ve gotta resign. I don’t want to, but I have no choice.”
He hung up the phone, exhaustion written all over his face.
Grace casually spoke up while pretending to organize a tray of medicine nearby. “Dr. Tanner, with your skills, why would you suddenly quit? Are you moving to a bigger hospital?”
Sidney rubbed his forehead and said, “It’s complicated. My kid is overseas and got into some trouble. I needed the money… but forget it. Let’s not talk about it.”
Grace understood right away–Alice had threatened him. She never left loose ends. Anyone involved in her schemes always got silenced.
She added, “Dr. Tanner, I heard something about Ms. Lambert from a relative of mine. She used to work as a maid for the Lambert family. Ms. Lambert had her frame someone for stealing jewelry.
“And when it worked, she promised to pay my relative 200 thousand dollars if she kept quiet. The money barely hit her account before she got hit by a car. She’s in a coma now and hasn’t woken
up
since. I guess only a person in a coma or a corpse can keep a secret. These rich kids… They’re terrifying.”
Sidney’s expression changed instantly. The shame of being threatened was already eating at him, and this just pushed him further.
Grace calmly finished stacking the medicine and placed the bottles on a tray.
Sidney jumped up. “Wait… What you said just now… Is it true?”
Grace nodded.
He wiped the sweat off his forehead again, his lips trembling as he said, “You should leave.”
She had done exactly what she came to do–plant fear. Sidney was already on edge for being part of the cover–up, and Alice’s attitude had only made it worse. Now that Grace had nudged his guilt, it wouldn’t take much more to make him crack.
That night, at around 10:00 pm, Sidney got off work and headed home. But as he crossed an intersection, a truck came barreling straight at him. He slammed on the gas in a panic, causing his car to swerve hard and smash into a guardrail.
He got out of the car, staring at the massive truck that hadn’t slowed down one bit and was now long gone in the distance. A chill ran down his spine, and all at once, he remembered what Grace had said earlier that day.
Alice had to be behind it. She wanted to shut him up for good.
As panic set in, a soft, clear voice spoke behind him. It was Grace.
Earlier at the hospital, she had deliberately spoken in a deeper tone of voice, disguising herself. Now, she sounded like herself again.
“Are you okay, sir?” she asked.
Her car was pulled over nearby like she had just stopped to help.
Sidney saw her face and froze. He recognized her as Alice’s older sister. He fumbled with his glasses, his lips trembling as panic crept in. “I–I’m fine. Thanks for checking.”
Grace nodded with her brows furrowed, glancing toward the direction the truck had gone. “Truck drivers like that are dangerous as hell. If you hadn’t swerved in time, that could’ve been a fatal crash. You’re lucky.”
Sidney was already a nervous wreck, and her words only made it worse.
She added gently, “Do you want me to drive you to the hospital? You don’t look so good.”
“No need. I’m a doctor myself,” Sidney replied.
He didn’t want to see Grace. After all, she was the one who had been wronged in the whole mess.
Grace gave him a warm, sincere smile. “Alright. Just be careful. Wait here for the traffic officers. I’m sure that truck driver will get what he deserves.”
Sidney couldn’t even meet her eyes. His guilt was eating him alive.
Grace drove away without another word. She didn’t have to do anything more as Sidney would figure out on his own that this had Alice’s fingerprints all over it.
Sidney waited a long while. Eventually, the traffic police arrived and brought both him and the truck driver in for questioning. When he saw the trucker, his knees nearly gave out.
His name was Duncan Finlay, and he was big and burly. Everything about him screamed bad news.
There was no doubt in Sidney’s mind that Alice had sent him. He didn’t dare look directly at Duncan, but Duncan stared him down with eyes like a predator locked on its prey.
Sidney had always been a straight–laced, by–the–book kind of guy. The only reason he got involved this time was out of desperation. But now, faced with a life–or–death situation, he was totally unraveling. He couldn’t even process what the officers were saying.
When they finally let him go, he heard footsteps behind him–it was Duncan following him out.
Sidney thought Duncan was going to murder him. Panicking, he waved down a cab, dove in, and vanished into the traffic.
