Chapter 6

The nurses’ station called to tell Sienna that some of her father’s belongings had been left at the hospital.

After finishing the design sketches she was working on, she drove over to collect them.

The moment she stepped inside, pain gripped her heart all over again.

After the doctors had failed to save him that day, she’d personally cleaned his face and changed his clothes.

The strange, sterile scent that had clung to him afterward still haunted her. The moment she entered the inpatient wing, her throat tightened and her eyes began to burn.

It had been raining for three days straight, and the wind carried a biting chill.

Sienna pulled her coat tighter around herself.

She took the elevator to the VIP wing on the seventh floor. Her father had been hospitalized there for quite some time, so she knew most of the staff.

Someone called out to her as soon as she stepped off the elevator.

“Sienna, you’re here.”

It was Mrs. Cooper, one of the hospital’s cleaners.

Someone had once given Mrs. Cooper a hard time, and Sienna’s father had stepped in to help her. Ever since then, she and Sienna had been close.

Mrs. Cooper was from the Midwest and had a warm, down-to-earth personality. A month ago, she’d gone home to meet her new grandson. She must have returned only a few days ago.

Sienna smiled and greeted her.

Mrs. Cooper rested her mop against her cleaning cart.

“I brought back a carton of farm-fresh eggs. I’ll drop some off for you when I finish my shift.”

She was always like this.

Whenever she returned from visiting home, she brought something for Sienna and her father.

She often said that she’d moved to Oakhaven alone and barely knew anyone. Meeting them had felt like fate.

She’d never had a daughter of her own, and Sienna was so kind and gentle that Mrs. Cooper had grown genuinely fond of her.

Then her expression turned puzzled.

“I noticed Room 202 was empty this morning. The new nurses don’t know me well, so I didn’t feel comfortable asking. Did they move your father to another room?”

The warmth and concern in her voice made Sienna’s smile freeze.

Her fingers turned cold around the strap of her purse.

When Sienna didn’t answer, hope appeared in Mrs. Cooper’s eyes.

“Did he get better and go home? You mentioned that a friend had found him an excellent doctor. Did the surgery go well?”

Sienna hesitated.

Looking at the bright smile on Mrs. Cooper’s face, she couldn’t bring herself to tell her the truth.

After a moment, she nodded.

Mrs. Cooper’s eyes immediately turned red. She patted Sienna’s arm with relief.

“Thank God. He’s finally all right. All that time in the hospital wasn’t for nothing.”

She clasped her hands and thanked God, saying Sienna’s father was a good man and that God had protected him for a reason.

Then she held on to Sienna and began giving her advice about his care and recovery.

She didn’t stop until someone appeared at the end of the hallway.

Mrs. Cooper walked away with a noticeable spring in her step.

Sienna watched until she disappeared around the corner, then lowered her eyes.

It was better that she didn’t know.

She didn’t want to burden Mrs. Cooper with the truth.

---

At the nurses’ station, Sienna explained why she was there.

The nurse on duty nodded and went into the storage room.

Sienna waited nearby.

She’d never been interested in gossip, but the person they were discussing made it impossible not to listen.

“It was definitely Grant Sullivan. I’ve seen him on TV before.”

“Do you think that woman with him was Mrs. Sullivan?”

“She must have been. Everyone said Mr. Sullivan got married three years ago. I never expected his wife to be so beautiful.”

“He came personally to handle her father’s admission. As if being handsome wasn’t enough, he’s thoughtful too.”

The “Mrs. Sullivan” they were talking about had to be Claire.

No one else would be important enough for Grant to come to the hospital in person.

So after Mr. Bennett’s surgery, Grant had brought them back to Oakhaven and arranged for him to recover here because he was worried Claire would exhaust herself caring for him alone?

Sienna lowered her eyes, her expression unreadable.

They were getting divorced.

Whatever Grant did, and whoever he did it for, had nothing to do with her anymore.

She took the bag from the nurse and turned around, only to come face-to-face with Caleb as he stepped out of a patient’s room.

The moment he saw her, panic flashed through his eyes.

He closed the door quickly, but Sienna had already caught a glimpse of the scene inside.

Grant had cut an apple in half, giving one piece to Mr. Bennett and the other to Claire.

Mr. Bennett said something, and Claire lowered her head with a smile.

They looked like a family.

Caleb approached Sienna with an awkward expression.

“Mrs. Sullivan.”

The guilt written all over his face nearly made her laugh.

Grant was the one involved, yet somehow his assistant looked guiltier than he did.

Caleb was still holding a medical report.

Sienna merely nodded politely and started to leave, but he stopped her.

“Mrs. Sullivan, about what you just saw...”

He hesitated, instinctively trying to defend Grant.

“The Bennetts and the Sullivans have been close for years. It’s only natural for Mr. Sullivan to visit.”

Yes, of course it was.

Her father had been hospitalized for three years, and Grant had visited him twice.

One of those times, Sullivan Corporation had been conducting an inspection at the hospital, and Sienna had practically dragged him upstairs.

The Bennetts and the Sullivans were longtime family friends.

Grant and Claire had grown up together.

Sienna and her father had always been outsiders.

They had never been equals, not in status and not in his heart.

Sienna nodded, her expression perfectly calm.

“Tell him to sign the divorce agreement as soon as possible.”

Without waiting for Caleb to respond, she walked away.

Caleb stood there and watched her slender figure disappear around the corner.

He couldn’t help sighing.

How had their marriage fallen apart like this?

The door opened behind him, and Claire stepped into the hallway in a white dress.

Seeing Caleb standing there in a daze, she smiled and asked, “Is something wrong, Mr. Kent? Is there a problem with the test results?”

Caleb came back to his senses.

“No, Ms. Bennett. I’m taking them to the doctor now.”

“All right.”

Only after Caleb entered the elevator did Claire’s gentle smile fade.

She’d seen the woman outside the room.

So that was Grant’s wife?

She was certainly beautiful.

Claire had already heard the story from one of the Sullivan family’s housekeepers.

Grant had married Sienna three years ago so he could secure the five percent stake tied to his grandfather’s arrangement. Sienna, in turn, had agreed to the marriage because she wanted the Sullivan family’s power and resources.

Claire also knew Sienna’s father had been ill.

Yet when forced to choose, Grant had still prioritized her father.

Didn’t that prove Grant and Sienna had never cared about each other?

Had their marriage been nothing but a transaction from the beginning?

Sienna Reed.

Claire silently repeated the name.

“What are you looking at?”

Claire turned around.

Grant had stepped out of the room.

“He just took his medication and fell asleep,” he said in a low voice.

Claire looked up at him, her eyes softening with a warm smile.

“Grant, thank you. I know how busy you are, but you still came personally to arrange everything.”

Grant’s tone was calm and matter-of-fact.

“You don’t need to thank me. You and your father are family.”

Family.

Claire tightened her fingers around the hem of her dress as warmth rippled through her heart.

She lowered her eyes shyly.

“I know. I always have.”

She’d known ever since middle school, when Grant carried her to the nurse’s office after she was injured.

He had always treated her differently from everyone else.

Even while she lived abroad, they’d never lost touch. Whenever Grant traveled to Germany for business, he always made time to visit her and her father.

Now that they’d returned to Oakhaven, he’d personally arranged everything the moment he heard.

Grant looked down and replied to a work message.

Silence settled over the hallway.

Caleb soon returned and handed Claire the medication schedule and the doctor’s instructions.

“The doctor said Mr. Bennett is recovering well from surgery. All his test results are within the normal range.”

Claire accepted the papers with a smile.

“Thank you.”

“Mr. Sullivan,” Caleb began hesitantly.

Understanding that he wanted to speak privately, Claire said, “I’ll go check on Dad’s IV.”

Grant gave a slight nod.

“Make sure he gets his medication on time. I’ll arrange for someone to help care for him.”

After the door closed behind Claire, Caleb lowered his voice.

“I ran into Mrs. Sullivan just now.”

Grant assumed Sienna had come to care for her father. He glanced at Caleb, silently signaling him to continue.

Caleb took a deep breath.

“Mrs. Sullivan asked me to remind you to sign the divorce agreement as soon as possible.”

Grant’s thumb paused over his phone.

After a moment, he replied, “Okay.”

His voice betrayed no emotion.

Inside the room, Claire stood with her back against the door, her fingers slowly tightening.

They were getting divorced?