“Is this everything?”
Abigail nodded, feigning a look of confusion.
“Is that lacking?”
Dr.Pitt hesitated for a moment, but said, “This is far from everything we have in our research.”
“There are things that should be retained here after all,” Abigail replied.
“But you’re Zidonian…”
“And right now, I’m here in Minerva,”
Abigail pointed out.
Dr.Pitt was a person of charity, but she was helpless in the rivalhood between nations.
“You’ve done well,” she said.
Abigail lowered her head to hide the brief flash of emotion in her eyes.
Back in Zidonia, Diarmuid was now sure of Abigail’s survival.
But he had no idea where to start looking—Robin was at a dead end, since she had no idea where Abigail was at all.
The only option now was to make Stephen talk.
Everyone has their weakness, but Diarmuid had to take a tough approach with Stephen.
Standing with his clasped behind his back, he growled, “If you still won’t talk, we would have to bring in your wife and child too.”
They were in a square hut, but since Stephen was just brought in, he had not experienced the pain and desperation of being a prisoner.
“You’re despicable.”
He spat furiously.
“Your dispute is with me and no one else!”
Diarmuid’s tone was sharp and ironic.
“You? What else do you have left? Stephen was left stumped right then.Certainly, all the honors and accomplishments he accrued over his career were gone, and he was slapped with the disgrace of causing a death by negligence before his retirement.But Diarmuid was the reason for all that! As such, Stephen stubbornly snarled, “Fine.Do whatever you want to me and my family. I can’t tell you a thing anyway, because I know nothing.”
“You don’t give up, do you?”
Diarmuid beckoned for someone to bring a chair which he sat on and crossed his legs casually, appearing lofty and indomitable.
“James, bring his family here.”
Stephen panicked right then—he was fine with whatever they would throw his way, but he did not want his family involved.
“I would have told you if I knew, but I don’t.What am I supposed to tell you?!”
“The doctors who helped you with Abigail’s surgery have already confessed that she’s alive, and you switched a burned body with hers,” Diarmuid growled as he leveled Stephen a sharp look.
“You know very well where she is—so stop pretending.” Stephen feigned composure despite his fear.
“They’re lying.I don’t know a thing.”
Diarmuid leaned against his chair, but he was clearly impatient.
“Being soft with people like you only makes things worse.Do it, James— I’ll take responsibility even if things get out of hand.”
“Stop! Not my family!”
Stephen had been busy with work in his younger years and never spent much time with his family.
After he was forced into a dishonorable retirement, it was his wife who stayed at his side as they weathered through the difficult period after.
He would not allow his wife to suffer because of him again, or his child to encounter danger and difficulties at work.
Moreover, he knew how Diarmuid did things—he had firsthand experience.
“I- I can tell you, but under one condition—”
“You are not in a position to negotiate.” Diarmuid simply cut him short.
Stephen clenched his fingers and looked Diarmuid straight in the eye, and suddenly laughed.
“Did you know why Abigail left you?”
He wanted to ask Diarmuid to support Abigail’s career, and in turn tell Diarmuid where she was.
However, Diarmuid decided to go overboard, giving him no quarter— in that case, he had no reason to let him off easy! On the other hand, Diarmuid remembered how determined she was in pushing him away, and said, “She thought that I didn’t love her…”
“No, you’re wrong.”
Stephen laughed.
“It’s Abigail who doesn’t love you.Back in that OR, she was grabbing me and begging me to help her run away from you.”
Diarmuid’s placid expression started to crack, and Stephen continued when he saw that.
“She said being with you was painful.”
Even if he had no idea what trouble he would get Abigail into just for saying that, he knew that it would hurt Diarmuid, knocking his insufferable butt off his perch.
Diarmuid would otherwise continue being pompous! Stephen wanted payback too, because it was Diarmuid who pressured the chief of Melville Hospital into framing him for a patient’s death —even if the patient was obviously beyond saving.
Forced to retire and stripped off all honors, everything he worked so hard for over the years crumbled overnight.
He would be lying if he said that did not bear a grudge.
Deciding that it was not painful enough, Stephen continued, “That’s not all—she was already in love with someone else, and even bore his child!”
Diarmuid’s eyes narrowed into dark slits, his calmness vaporizing into fury.
He was a lion ready to pounce!
“Fuck you!” he growled.
Stephen was laughing, having gained the upper hand. “Oh, calm down—you may have the looks, but your temper is so foul that even the ladies run away from you. Why don’t you try to change that instead?”
Diarmuid sprang from his chair, appearing so furious that he could kick
Stephen right then, and James had to quickly stop him.
“He’s just playing you, sir. Calm down.”
“If you say so—but you will have your answer when you see her,” Stephen said confidently.
James shot him an icy look. “Quit yapping and give us an address, or else!”
More or less content just then, Stephen finally said, “She will be returning to the country for a forum.”
Both Diarmuid and James thought of the same thing at the same time.
Mead Clinic’s annual forums were usually held within Minerva or neighboring countries, and they only moved it to Zidonia this year.
“Is she working at Mead Clinic?” James asked.
Diarmuid had the same question in mind.
Stephen nodded. “Yes.”
James was shocked—they had been in Minerva, and was even in touch with Mead Clinic’s shareholders, but never knew that Abigail was working there.
That was when Stephen added, “She’s working under the alias of Jane Tanner.”
James was left gaping when he heard the name. ‘W-What?! Jane Tanner?!”
That hideous-looking doctor?
Right, she was pregnant…
Did that mean she really had a child with another man?
He turned to look at Diarmuid in reflex, and his face had darkened just as he expected!
Hotmesh Research was in charge of receiving the foreign guests from Mead Clinic at the airport, as well as arranging their lodgings and the venue for the forum.
There was a reception prepared for every guest, and they would be taken to their lodgings.
Like the others, Abigail was arranged to stay in a hotel with Dr. Pitt and a fellow researcher.
“Here’s my number. Call me anytime you leave me,” her host said, offering her a business card.
“Thank you,” Abigail replied.
“You must be feeling jet-lagged from the long trip. Feel free to take a break,” the host said. Still, Abigail walked Dr. Pitt to her room first, and the latter took a seat after getting into it. You should rest, Jane.”
“Okay,” Abigail replied. “I’ll be right next door—call me if you need me.”
An attendant had already taken Abigail’s luggage to her room and she returned to her room, a hand on her belly as she locked the door.
Leaning against it, she heaved a long sigh—she had been on edge, but she was slightly relieved now.
She took out a stack of paper from her clothes, which she hid with relative ease since she was wearing loose clothes because of her pregnancy. It was paper too, so the airport sensors would not pick up anything.
The stack of paper contained vital research data from Mead Clinic’s development of a fully artificial heart. It was fortunate she had hidden it where she did—if she had left it in her luggage, Dr. Wells would have found them.
He called for a spot check on everyone’s luggage—even Dr. Pitt’s— for safety reasons.
Staring at the stack of paper for a while, she pondered for a long while before eventually deciding to ask for Stephen’s help.
She would eventually leave anyway, and she would never find anyone who can use this data to its full potential—but Stephen would definitely be able to give it to the right people.
Moreover, he had always been keeping tabs on this research, and his passion for the medical field remained despite his retirement.
With that in mind, she put everything in her bag and left the room.
The walkway was quiet and she took the elevator downstairs, heading out of the hotel with one hand on her bag strap and the other on her belly.
Acar happened to arrive at the hotel just then.
After Diarmuid had learned about her whereabouts from Stephen, he quickly sent his goons to check, and it turned out that Mead Clinic did send Abigail over for the forum.
He was the sole reason the forum was held in Zidonia, and it was naturally easy for him to get her address.
“Isn’t that her, sir?” James spotted someone who reminded him of
Jane Tanner and was pregnant as well. She had a face mask on, and despite not wearing a cap, she had allowed her hair to dangle loosely, covering her face.
Diarmuid turned toward her.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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