The Pills

Without a word, Rue reached into her bag, pulled out a thick stack of documents, and tossed them onto Hans's hospital bed.

Mrs. Sterling frowned and picked them up. She barely made it through the first few pages before the color drained from her face.

They were internal financial records from Sterling Corporation.

Years of hidden transactions.

Off-the-books accounts.

Tax fraud.

Information that should never have left the company's private files.

Slowly, she looked up. "Where did you get these?"

Rue leaned casually against the wall. "Does it matter?"

Mrs. Sterling's hand tightened around the papers.

Those records represented one of the company's biggest vulnerabilities. If they ever found their way into the hands of regulators, the fallout would be catastrophic.

Her expression darkened.

"Are you threatening me?"

Rue shrugged. "If that's what you want to call it."

The truth was she'd been sitting on the evidence for quite a while. She simply hadn't had a reason to use it until now.

"And that's not all."

She unlocked her phone and opened a video, then she turned the volume all the way up.

The room immediately filled with breathless moans and unmistakably intimate sounds.

A man and woman appeared on screen, stumbling out of a luxury sedan with their arms wrapped around each other. They barely made it across the parking garage before they started kissing.

"Baby..." The woman's voice drifted from the speaker. "You're incredible..."

Hans's face instantly turned bright red. "Turn that off!"

He practically launched himself off the bed.

"Where the hell did you get that video?"

Rue sidestepped casually.

Hans missed her entirely and crashed onto the floor.

The impact aggravated several of his injuries.

His scream echoed through the room.

Normally, a wealthy heir having a mistress wouldn't have been much of a scandal.

The problem was timing.

The Galloways were preparing to launch a major development project, and news of the engagement between the Galloway and Sterling families had only recently been made public.

If footage of Hans sneaking around with another woman surfaced now, every competitor in the city would jump on it.

Mrs. Sterling glanced at Hans before grinding her teeth.

"Fine."

The word sounded painful.

"We'll drop the complaint."

No one spoke.

Mrs. Sterling forced herself to continue.

"This ends here." Her eyes locked onto Rue's. "Are you satisfied now?"

Rue ignored the question. Instead, she turned toward Cody.

"We're leaving."

Cody nodded immediately.

Without another glance at anyone in the room, he followed her toward the door.

Behind them, a chair scraped against the floor.

"Brother Cody..."

Ariana had risen to her feet.

Cody paused.

For a brief second, it seemed like he might turn around.

Instead, he continued walking.

He never looked back.

Ariana's face went pale.

Once upon a time, Cody had adored her.

Whenever he found something good to eat, she got the first bite.

Whenever he bought something nice, he always thought of her first.

Even after the family's bankruptcy, he'd worked extra shifts rather than let her go without.

Yet now there was only distance in his silence.

Ariana dug her fingernails into her palms.

As she stared at Rue's retreating figure, resentment flickered in her eyes.

It was her fault.

First she'd stolen the life that should have belonged to Ariana.

Now she was taking Cody away too.

Rue could practically feel the glare burning into her back.

She couldn't have cared less.

After turning the corner near the stairwell, she stopped.

"Go wait downstairs."

Cody frowned. "What about you?"

"I need to visit someone."

Only then did he realize who she meant.

Zach Sterling.

Since Ariana's return, everything had happened so quickly that Rue hadn't had a chance to see him.

Cody hesitated before nodding.

"Okay."

Zach's room was located on one of the upper floors. He was only fifteen years old, yet he'd spent more of his life inside hospitals than outside them.

When Rue arrived, the attending physician greeted her with a familiar smile. He clearly hadn't heard the news about her leaving the Sterling family.

"Miss Sterling."

The title sounded strange now.

"Your brother's condition is stable at the moment," the doctor said. "But years of medication have made treatment less effective. If a compatible donor isn't found soon, his condition will continue to deteriorate."

Rue lowered her eyes. She already knew.

Reaching into her bag, she removed a small celadon medicine bottle and handed it over.

"Same dosage as before."

The doctor accepted it.

"I'll come back next week."

After she left, the doctor unscrewed the cap and poured two pills into his palm.

Under the fluorescent lights, they appeared almost translucent.

A faint herbal fragrance drifted from them.

Just smelling them felt oddly calming.

"Vital Essence Pills..."

He shook his head in amazement.

Each pill was worth a fortune on the black market.

Even people with money couldn't always get their hands on them.

He'd often wondered where the Sterling family found the resources to supply such medicine so regularly.

A shocked voice suddenly interrupted his thoughts.

"Vital Essence Pills?"

The doctor jumped. Before he could react, a man rushed forward, snatched the pills from his hand, and examined them beneath the light. His entire body started trembling.

"That's them." His voice cracked. "These are the pills."

The doctor stared. "What pills?"

"The medicine that saved my boss's life."

The man's eyes were red with excitement. He grabbed the doctor by both shoulders.

"Where did you get these?"

The doctor blinked several times before recognition finally struck. This man was one of the attendants assigned to the mysterious VIP patient who had recently been admitted.

The patient's identity was so sensitive that even hospital staff had been warned not to ask questions.

Rumor had it he was dying. He'd been unconscious for weeks and was surviving only through intensive care.

The doctor wasn't even important enough to participate in his treatment.

Seeing that he still hadn't answered, the man became visibly agitated.

"Tell me!"

The doctor nearly stumbled backward. "They were brought here by Miss Sterling. The Sterling family's daughter."