Chapter 347
“How is her condition?” Julian asked as soon as he arrived at his home. He loosened the buttons of his jacket, throwing it on the couch as he let Alex lead him into the room the said person had occupied.
“According to the ones that brought her out of there, she was in the middle of sending someone to hell,” Alex started as they took the stairs to a particular room. “It seemed she and the girl had gotten into a fierce brawl and her face was ruined. Her nose is broken and according to the doctor who’s still checking up on her, her skull was damaged p>
Julian halted in his tracks when he heard Alex. “Is she alive?” He asked, concern evident in his tone.
“She is p>
Julian pushed the door open, his gaze immediately drawn to the figure in the center of the room. A group of nurses and doctors surrounded the bed.
On the bed lay a woman, her body frail and covered in bandages. Tubes and wires connected her to a series of machines, including an oxygen tank that rhythmically hissed, helping her breathe. For a moment, Julian stood frozen, his chest tightening at the sight before him.
A bandage was perfectly wrapped around her forehead, but it was already soaked through with blood. Even though Alex had reassured him she was alive, he couldn’t help but let his gaze linger on her chest, anxiously searching for any sign of movement. Finally, the faint rise and fall of her breathing brought him a sliver of relief. She was alive—barely, but alive.
“Mr. De Luca, it’s good you’re finally here,” the doctor said, his voice tinged with urgency. He was dressed in casual attire, with a white coat draped over his shoulders. “As you can see, the patient is far from stable, and her condition is critical. She’s suffered extensive damage to her face and is still losing a significant amount of blood as we speak p>
His voice wavered slightly before he continued. “We need to transfer her to a hospital immediately. Treating her here is severely restricting what I can do for her p>
“If you need anything, bring them here or I can get them for you. However, there’s no way you can take her to any hospital. I won’t allow that,” Julian replied, his tone cold yet firm and left no room for arguments.
“Julian,” Alex called, pulling him to the side as the doctor sighed before getting back to work. “I think it would be best to take her to a hospital, otherwise she would die. You betrayed your friend to save this woman for a reason I still have no idea of. Do you want all the effort you put through to get her here to go to waste p>
“This is Xattlewood in case you’re forgetting, Alex,” Julian interjected before Alex could finish his sentence. “Xander runs this city. He’s everywhere. His men are everywhere. It’s even by luck we were able to get her away from there without getting suspicious. Now, imagine if we take her to the hospital and someone connected to Xander finds her there. What do you think will happen?” He questioned.
Alex couldn’t deny that Julian had a point, but the girl was dying. He blinked at Julian. “She has a bandage wrapped around her face. The chances of anyone finding out it’s here are little to impossible. We need to save the girl before she dies,” he tried to convince her, but the unshakable look Julian wore proved he wasn’t convinced enough.
He wasn’t willing to take such a risk although Anastasia was already out of there.
It was pure luck that the body of a surrogate woman who had died during childbirth managed to deceive both Samantha and Xander. Julian seized the opportunity, knowing they had been preoccupied all day, to replace Anastasia with the surrogate.
The resemblance was uncanny—both had wavy black hair and nearly identical heights, with the surrogate only two centimeters taller, a difference barely noticeable. To ensure the ruse held, Julian ordered his team to disfigure the surrogate’s face, making it impossible to identify her.
“I can’t take chances, Alex. Yes, Xander probably believes she’s dead, but that’s still a risky attempt.” Then he faced the doctor, “I’ll get you all the equipment you need and you get the ones you have. You’re going to treat her here and you know the drill, no one should know about this p>
The doctor and the other nurses vigorously nodded before they resumed their work of stabilizing Anastasia.
It was just 6 am, meaning the bodies of both the dead girls had been buried and probably forgotten by now.
“How did it go with the CCTV cameras? Were you able to wipe everything?” Julian asked Alex.
Alex nodded. “I wiped everything clean. None of them will ever find out what’s happened p>
Although Alex didn’t directly go to the factory, he’d given Julian a device the latter would connect to the cameras of the factory, making it easy for him to wipe every single thing that occurred that night.
Now, no matter how hard Xander’s men searched their cameras to find any clues of what had gone down tonight, they wouldn’t be able to.
Julian decided to go down to the kitchen to have a glass of water.
After the bodies of Avery and fake Anastasia had been buried, neither Samantha nor Xander had bothered themselves with anything else except for telling the clients their soon-to-be surrogates were already dead. The factory went back to normal without a single suspicion being noticed.
“Dad… why are you up so early p>
Julian suddenly heard his daughter’s voice.
“I should be the one asking you that.” He went to pick her up.
“I heard your voice earlier,” she replied, rubbing her eyes, trying to fight the battle of keeping herself awake.
Julian had made sure the room Anastasia was getting treated in was soundproof so the little commotion happening inside wouldn’t be heard by anyone, including his daughter.
“Let’s get you back to sleep, baby,” he said, taking her up to her room.