The unexpected

Chapter 8

The unexpected

The nurse held up the medicine bag, her face tightening immediately. “Doctor, this isn’t the right medicine. The label looks changed… and there’s something cloudy inside.”

The head doctor grabbed the bag and frowned after one glance.

“Stop the medication now!” he ordered. “Call toxicology immediately. Everyone clear this area!”

Judith’s heart monitor screamed louder as her heartbeat jumped dangerously fast.

“Her blood pressure is rising!”

“Stabilize her now!”

Doctors and nurses rushed around her bed while machines flashed wildly.

Outside the emergency room, Dan stood frozen, guilt heavy on his face as he stared through the glass doors. Ethan waited nearby, tense and restless, while Elena stood beside him with folded arms. She looked worried, but something cold still hid behind her expression.

The elevator doors slid open.

Juliana stepped out, rainwater dripping from her coat. The moment she saw Dan, anger rose within her.

“Dan!”

Several people turned toward her voice.

Dan sighed heavily before facing her.

“Juliana, not now.”

“Not now?” she repeated bitterly. “You left me just to run back to her. Your brother’s wife.”

“Judith is fighting for her life,” Dan said quietly.

“And whose fault is that?” Juliana snapped. “You ruined everything because of this obsession.”

She grabbed his arm before he could walk away.

“I trusted you,” she continued. “I defended you to our families and ignored the rumors. Now everyone was right.”

Hospital workers nearby exchanged uncomfortable looks.

“You knew this marriage was business from the start,” Dan replied coldly. “I never promised you love.”

Juliana laughed bitterly. “But you promised loyalty.”

Her eyes shifted toward Judith’s room.

“That woman is going to ruin you.”

Dan’s expression darkened. “Leave Judith out of this.”

“No. You chose her over your family, your reputation, and your future.”

She stepped closer.

“One phone call, Dan. That’s all it takes for the police to hear about your secret accounts and illegal deals. The company board will bury you.”

Dan stared at her. “You’re threatening me?”

“I’m warning you.”

Their voices rose louder until a security guard hurried over.

“Sir, ma’am, please lower your voices. This is an emergency wing.”

Unknown to both of them, someone nearby was secretly recording their argument, planning to use the video against Dan later.

Juliana ignored the guard and pointed at Dan’s chest.

“Choose her if you want,” she snapped. “But if I fall, I’ll drag both of you down with me.”

“Enough,” the guard warned firmly. “You need to leave this area immediately.”

Before Dan could answer, the emergency room doors burst open again.

The head doctor stepped outside quickly.

“We’ve confirmed that the medication was tampered with,” he announced. “The patient is reacting to a dangerous mixture of drugs. Everyone must clear this section now.”

Shock spread through the hallway.

Ethan stepped forward immediately. “Tampered with? What do you mean?”

“We don’t know yet,” the doctor replied. “But someone intentionally switched the medicine bag.”

A nurse gently guided Ethan backward.

“Sir, please. We need space to work.”

“That’s my wife in there!”

Ethan snapped

“And we’re trying to save her.”

The nurse replied almost immediately.

Meanwhile, little Lily sat quietly in the family waiting lounge. She hugged her teddy while distant alarms echoed through the hospital.

Her nanny had stepped away briefly after receiving a phone call.

Lily’s nervous eyes moved around the nearly empty room.

A man wearing hospital worker clothes approached her slowly and knelt beside her with a gentle smile.

“Hello, sweetheart,” he said softly. “Your daddy sent me. Your mummy wants to see you.”

Lily blinked. “Daddy did?”

The man nodded calmly. “He’s waiting just down the hall.”

She hesitated.

“You know my daddy?”

“Of course,” he replied smoothly. “Come with me. We have to stay quiet because the doctors are working.”

Still holding her teddy, Lily allowed him to take her hand.

Together, they disappeared through a side staff door unnoticed.

Security began pushing visitors away while nurses rushed through the hall carrying equipment.

Back near the emergency wing, Ethan paced endlessly while Elena stayed beside him.

“She’ll survive,” Elena whispered. “You have to believe that.”

But Ethan barely heard her.

Dan leaned against the wall nearby, his thoughts spinning wildly. The threatening text message on his phone refused to leave his mind.

Stay away from Judith or your secrets will be exposed.

Sweat formed along his forehead despite the cold hospital air.

A nurse finally emerged from the restricted area again.

Her face looked pale.

“We tested the medicine,” she announced carefully. “It contained a mixture of dangerous substances. Someone deliberately switched the bag. The police have been contacted.”

Silence fell instantly.

At this time, Ethan had lost his ruthless behaviour. “Who would do something like this?”

He got no response.

Outside in the parking lot, Juliana sat alone in her car while rain hammered against the windshield. Her breathing remained uneven with anger.

Her phone vibrated.

A text message from Elena appeared

I heard the alarms. Hope your friend is okay. Let’s talk soon.

Juliana stared at the message for several seconds before locking her phone without replying.

Inside the hospital, security teams searched through camera footage while doctors continued fighting to stabilize Judith upstairs.

Down in a quiet service elevator, Lily looked nervously at the strange man holding her hand.

“Where’s Daddy?” she asked again.

The man smiled, but his eyes remained cold.

“We’re almost there.”

The elevator doors opened into a dark hallway near the back exit of the hospital. A black van waited outside with its engine running.

Lily stopped walking immediately.

“I want my mummy.”

Before she could pull away, the man quickly lifted her into his arms.

“Shh,” he whispered. “Everything is fine.”

But nothing was fine.

No one saw the van doors close behind them.

Upstairs, Ethan suddenly stopped pacing.

“Where is Lily?”

At that same moment, the nanny came back toward them,

“She was in the lounge,” the woman cried breathlessly. “I only left for one minute… Mr. Ethan, I can't find her!”

Panic spread through the hallway.

Dan pushed forward immediately. “What do you mean you can't find her?”

Security was called again, but the hospital was already overwhelmed by the poisoned medicine investigation.

Ethan’s voice broke as he shouted Lily’s name and ran toward the waiting area.

For one brief second, Elena’s expression changed into something unreadable before she quickly hid it again.

Outside, rain crashed violently against the hospital windows while Judith continued fighting silently for her life upstairs. Unknown to her that her most precious soul on earth has just been taken to an unknown destination.