As soon as the topic of “salt” came up, Hayden Cohen’s face soured further, and he quickly shifted Tina’s attention. “Did you hear about the incident at Southridge yesterday?”


    Jared Farrell raised his eyes, signaling for him to continue.


    “I heard a patient died there, and two escaped,” Hayden Cohen said mysteriously.


    “Doesn’t someone always die at Southridge?” Nathan Lehman remarked.


    “This time it’s different. When the police arrived, everyone inside was unconscious on the floor,” Hayden continued, sipping his porridge as he ryed the news.


    “The deseased was found poisoned right at the main entrance. When they asked the staff, no one could remember what happenedst night.”


    “The two who escaped?” Jared was more concerned about the dangerous individuals on the loose.


    “Haven’t been found yet.” Hayden shook his head. “So, the police will be busy for a while, and security checks around the city will likely be stricter.”


    Tina, who had been silent, knew well that the escaped patients were none other than Wraith and Peter Crispin.


    “Oh, by the way,” Hayden, remembering something, pped the table and said to Jared, “Your sister-inw who was thrown in there was also rescued by the police.”


    Jared blinked, recalling the arrangement he had made with Hayden tomit Amber to Southridge. “How is she?”


    “She’s in a bad way,” Hayden remarked, ncing at Tina who continued to eat her porridge quietly, thinking it best to paint a dire picture since Jared had orchestrated Amber’smitment to win Tina’s favor.


    “Your sister-inw was beaten up so badly when she was rescued. Not only was her face unrecognizable and her body covered in bruises, but someone had stabbed her abdomen, nearly spilling her intestines.”


    “And when she woke up, she was delirious, constantly iming there was a bomb inside her.”


    “Also, her leg was amputated!”


    “Are you sure her stomach wounds were severe enough to expose intestines?” Tina asked skeptically. “And her leg, it was just broken, not amputated, right?”N?velDrama.Org is the owner.


    It was unlikely that Jayden and his group would have tortured Amber further after she left.


    “How do you know?” Now it was Hayden’s turn to be puzzled.


    As the details from Southridge were confidential, there was no news leak yet; even he had only heard through internal sources.


    Tina lowered her eyelids and remained silent, sipping her porridge. She knew better; the minor injury to Amber’s abdomen was her doing.


    “What’s the n for her now?” Jared asked, his gaze heavy with implication.


    “She’s been taken to the hospital,” Hayden smiled. “She entered Southridge on her own ord, so it doesn’t fall on us. Besides, she seems nearly insane by now.”


    At the city hospital, Amber was indeed on the brink of being dered mentally ill, or rather, the police were about to treat her as such. No matter how she exined that during her time in Southridge, a man and a woman had imnted bombs in her to set up a challenge, the police refused to believe her. They found neither the alleged mini-bombs nor theparoscopic surgical tools she described.


    And as for her ims of abuse by other patients at Southridge, the police could not pursue those, as the perpetrators were mentally ill and not legally ountable.


    Elizabeth, still in her hospital room, was informed about these developments. All the paperwork was handled by Pinewood.


    After the police visited Elizabeth and she learned the full story, she could only ask the officers to keep Amber’s identity confidential. If her ordeal at Southridge got out, she would be ostracized in Ensford.


    Once the officers left, Elizabeth, frustrated, questioned Pinewood and Talon, “Why didn’t you answer Amber’s calls that day?”


    “Mom, I was with you all day, and I was exhausted,” Talon replied grimly.


    “I figured she wasn’ting to look after you, so what could be so urgent?” Pinewood scoffed.


    “Besides, she said she was going to confront that man in ck, but instead, she ran off to Southridge. Even if I had taken the call, I couldn’t have gotten her out.”


    Pinewood and Talon nced at each other, silent.


    “Fools! Amber will be very useful to us in the future!” Elizabeth scolded them. “Help me up; we need to see Amber!”