Chapter 166


    Keegan slid the bolt across the door with a heavy nk, his face contorted with pain as he spoke to


    her, “Whitney, I can’t put you in danger anymore. I head out on my own. It’s one thing for the cops to


    catch me, but you can’t be seen. You stay hidden here until I’m in the police station, then, you can


    “Uncle, let me out!” Whitney banged on the door, her cries for help falling into the void.


    She moved to the window and saw her uncle’s staggering retreat, her heart piercing with pain like a


    needle had just pricked it


    Her uncle, stubborn and headstrong, thought this would save her. But Whitney feared that after she


    escaped from the vist night, she was most likely already an aplice.


    “Uncle! I need to get out now!” Whitney, frantic and pale, pounded the door frame with desperation.


    But in the secluded little cottage, no one could hear her screams.


    It was not until two dayster that a passerby finally freed her. Whitney, clutching her stomach and


    barely hanging on, gged down a car from the roadside.


    Three dayster, before his detention was up, Ludwik was released from the police station.


    Because a tragedy had urred.


    Sitting in the car, his long legs cold, he could notprehend what Nn was saying nor grasp


    Ashton’s words.


    His mind was a nk te, hallucinations filling the silence.


    The tall, imposing figure of a man seemed so fragile now as he followed Nn into the ICU.


    A deep, icy terror settled in the quiet depths of his eyes.


    There were two beds in the room.


    One for his mother.


    One for ine.


    He stood there, watching the doctor’s lips move, unable to catch the words, his handsome,


    expressionless face twisted with impatience. “What are you trying to say?!”


    “Ludwik…” ine opened her eyes weakly, her sobs frail and miserable, “It’s all my fault. I couldn’t


    rescue Natalie in time from Whitney, and now she’s… she’s in a vegetative state…


    “ine, what are you talking about? You just donated a kidney to Natalie!” Ashton said with a heart full


    of tenderness


    Finally, the doctor’s words seemed to prate Ludwik’s mind. “Mr. Lippert, your mother was


    kidnapped and barely breathing when she arrived at the hospital. Her kidneys were failing fast. This


    youngdy’s emergency kidney donation saved her life, but she’s in a deepa now, one–third of her


    brain dead, in a vegetative state.” Ludwik looked at his mother, her frail, sickly face, her peaceful


    demeanor.


    Just two days ago, she had teased him, calling him a brat. He cherished and loved this person more


    than anyone, the woman who had protected him since childhood.


    His mother.


    A rush of blood surged to his throat.


    Ludwik Hn rushed over


    Ludwik gestured for him to stop, his jaw clenched, his eyshes trembling fiercely


    His voice was as cold as the underworld as he said, “ine, who did you say kidnapped my mom?”


    With that question hanging in the air, Hn shivered, and Parker, his hand trembling with a cigarette,


    both speechless.


    Tears flowed from ine’s eyes as she cried, “I can’t believe it was Whitney too. She and her uncle…


    they took Natalie, knowing how frail she was ”


    Ludwik’s gaze shifted to Parker


    Parker avoided his eyes, his voice hoarse, “Taryn alerted us to the emergency. I immediately took the


    police to pursue them, hoping it was a misunderstanding, just wanting to find Natalie quickly, not


    wanting you to me Whitney…


    Whitney’s uncle plotted this whole thing Natalie received a call from him saying Whitney was about to


    have a miscarriage, and with the quarrel she had with you, she did not care for treatment. In her rush,


    Natalie was taken, and I was thrown from the car… Taryn wept beside Natalie’s bed.


    With Taryn’s confession, Ludwik’s eyes fell, feeling as if he had plunged into a bottomless ice cer


    her loved her grandson so much! They used that to abduct her in her most vulnerable state.


    He asked, “And Whitney?”


    The calmer he was, the more Parker’s fingers shook


    Parker frowned, struggling “I caught Keegan at the foot of the mountain the next day. He said you were


    targeting Skye Gem, that you kidnapped his daughter, and he wanted to destroy you both. Whitney


    wasn’t with him, and Keegan would not divulge her whereabouts…”


    Parker left unsaid the possibility that she had gone into hiding out of fear of prosecution.


    Ludwik’s icy pupils were already shut tight. He bowed his head, gently holding his mother’s hand with a


    tenderness that cast a devilish shadow on his profile.


    “Ludwik!” ine’s sudden coughing fit erupted, and she spat out a trace of blood.


    “inel” Ashton cried out, “You just had kidney surgery. You shouldn’t be talking”


    Ludwik looked up, his gazending on her as he rose to his feet.


    “Ludwik “Haine called him weakly, the monitor rms ring as Ashton hurried to summon the doctors.


    ine cried in fear, her voice pitiful, “Ludwik, I’m not feeling well. I don’t think I’ll make it, and there are


    things I’ve been wanting to tell you


    Nn and the others gradually left the room.


    Ludwik approached, bending down to hold her hand, his heart filled with guilt and gratitude. “Don’t be


    silly. you’ll be fine. What did you want to say?”


    “Ludwik, I love you. I feared I might never get the chance to say it, and this…


    ine sobbed softly, slowly pulling an object on a red thread from around her neck.


    Ludwik’s hand trembled as he recognized the jade half–ring, his eyes going nk before a storm


    surged within.


    im his suit pocket, he produced the matching i


    which he had always kept close to him.


    He looked at ine and said with a deep and astonished voice, “How did you get this half of the ring?”


    ine managed a bitter smile, her voice tender. “I’ve always had it. That night, four years ago, when


    you gave it to me as a token, I hid it. You were off bidding on a project in another province, in danger,


    and your condition


    18:19


    red up. You didn’t know I secretly followed you and saved you.”


    “You?” Ludwik was incredulous, utterly surprised.


    The girl who had always held a ce in his heart over the years was kind and courageous, an angel in


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    disguise who hade to his aid one fateful night. With her tender touch, she had treated his wounds,


    her delicate frame holding him down as his fits raged, soothing him with a gentle voice, humming


    melodies into the dark. On a night when he nearly met his end, she had given him a second chance at


    life.


    Was it really ine?


    Doubt clouded his mind, but as he watched two halves of a broken ringe together to form a


    wless whole, he was rendered speechless.


    ine, of course, knew what he was thinking.


    Her eyes brimming with unshed tears, she sped his hand firmly, “Ludwik, I intended to keep it a


    secret forever! Remember that time at Alpine Springs Resort when I asked you if you had found the girl


    from that night? You said no, and my heart ached with bitterness”