Chapter 46

Chapter 46

Halfway through the conversation, Leanne’s words cut off abruptly as she heard at woman’s voice on the other end of the line asking, “Curtis, want some cherries?”

Curtis pulled the phone slightly away and replied with a dismissive “No thanks.” The woman on the other end seemed to say something else, but Leanne couldn’t make it out. Her head was buzzing with noise.

It wasn’t until Curtis’ voice became clear again on the phone that she was pulled back to reality. “Were you asking me something?”

There were a few seconds of silence.

“It’s nothing,” Leanne said, forcing a casual tone. “We’ll talk when you get back.”

She didn’t wait for Curtis to respond before ending the call.

The chill of late autumn penetrated her sweater, seeping through her bones. Her fingertips were so cold she could hardly feel them. Even hailing a cab on her screen felt clumsily difficult.

Perhaps it was the cold that made her tremble ever so slightly.

A black sedan pulled up in front of her, and Caleb leaned out from the rolled-down. window, “Madam, let me give you a ride back to the hospital.”

Leanne didn’t refuse. There was no sense in making herself suffer more.

Inside the car, the heat was blasting, quickly warming her cheeks, but her bones still felt.

cold.

The drive from the ElitePinnacle building to the hospital took half an hour, and Leanne was quiet the whole way.

Caleb glanced at her from time to time in the rearview mirror. She was leaning back in her seat, staring out the window, lost in thought.

When he parked in the hospital’s underground lot and killed the engine, he reminded her, “Madam, we’re here.”

Leanne unbuckled her seat belt, slipped back into her white coat, and was fastening the buttons when she suddenly asked, “Caleb, have you seen Suzan?”

ruggling to find an answer.

have.” Leanne finished with her buttons and looked up, a complex smile on “Am I prettier, or is Suzan?”

Caleb, Curtis’ most trusted aide, although only titled as the president’s assistant, held a status and compensation equal to a vice president at ElitePinnacle. He could discuss

Chapter 46

international acquisitions with ease and assist Curtis in securing major IPO projects, but this question was beyond his ability to answer.

Sweat almost broke on his forehead as he fumbled for words.

“Madam, you are certainly more beautiful than Ms. Wrigh

The compliment wasn’t completely false. There were not many who could compete with Leanne’s beauty.

“Is that so?” Leanne’s tone bordered on self-torment. “Then why does Curtis love Suzan

more?”

Caleb was speechless.

“Actually, Mr. Richardson…”

Before he could finish, Leanne had already opened the car door and stepped out, heading straight for the elevator without looking back. Her slender figure, draped in the white coat, looked isolated and cold.

The voice that had come from Curtis’ phone earlier was unmistakable. It was Suzan’s

Leanne didn’t contact Curtis again. She didn’t care whether he was still in Emberland or had already returned home. She no longer wanted answers because she knew that seeking them was just humiliating herself.

A few days later, in the afternoon, Jennifer called.

“Your Uncle Kyle passed away. The memorial service is Saturday morning. Make sure you request time off in advance. You need to be there.”

Leanne glanced at the tightly scheduled planner on her desk. “I have a surgery scheduled the day after tomorrow morning…”

“Which is more important, your surgery or your Uncle Kyle’s memorial?” Jennifer snapped. “You’re a grown-up. Don’t you know about setting priorities?”

Leanne quickly calculated. The surgery wasn’t complex, which would take an hour at most. She could probably make it to the service if she rushed.

Without further argument, she responded, “Got it.”

But plans never kept up with changes. The surgery went smoothly and was completed in under fifty minutes, but before Leanne could leave the operating room, an emergency

ase came in. It was a patient with chemical burns to the eyes.

assion inherent to a healer, Leanne immediately chose to stay and perform eansing procedure. Once finished, she rushed to hail a cab to the memorial