Seven Years a Fool One Day a Queen (Kristine and Colton) novel Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Eliza had no idea what decision Calvin had made. All her energy was pinned on the visiting expert team.

As quitting time drew near, still no sign of them.

She had no choice but to track down Dr. Quinn.

He had just come out of surgery. Hearing her question, he looked surprised.

“You didn’t know? The Director went to the airport personally. They won’t be coming to the hospital today.”

Eliza caught a flicker of something on his face and pressed, “Did he go alone?”

Dr. Quinn sighed. “Of course not. He even asked me, but I had a surgery and couldn’t leave.”

She knew too well how fiercely coveted such top–tier medical resources were. She couldn’t afford a moment’s slack.

Quickly she asked where the group was now.

Dr. Quinn phoned a colleague who had joined the welcoming dinner.

“Them? Right now they’re eating at Restaurant.”

The moment Eliza got a clear answer, she hailed a cab and rushed off.

Evening rush–hour traffic strangled the city. She kept checking the time, watching a thirty–minute drive drag into forty, then fifty.

Unable to sit still, she jumped out, paid the fare, and grabbed a shared e–bike to pedal the rest of the way.

She darted through gaps in traffic. At last, twenty minutes later, she spotted the restaurant’s sign.

But to reach it, she had to get past a busy intersection. Too anxious, she swerved hard to avoid an oncoming car and clipped the curb.

The bike bucked; she went down with it.

A burst of pain shot through her elbows and knees–scrapes, by the sting of it.

But at least they were only scrapes.

The black Bentley she’d nearly collided with screeched to a stop. Its driver got out and strode toward her.

Eliza braced for a scolding, after all, she had been at fault. She didn’t even try to get up, blurting an apology first.

“I’m so sorry, it was completely my fault. Don’t mind me.”

“Are you hurt?”

The voice overhead held unexpected concern.

She looked up, straight into a familiar face.

Josh.

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Seven Years a Fool. One Day a Queen

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Chapter 23

He bent down at once to help her. “Where are you hurt?”

“It’s nothing. Just a scratch.”

“I’ll take you to the hospital.”

“No need,” she refused quickly. “I really have something urgent. I’ll go later if I have to.”

His brows drew tight. Without argument, he started steering her toward his car.

She resisted, her tone sharp with desperation. “I said I have something urgent!”

“What could be more urgent than treating an injury?” His voice carried steel.

“Something life–and–death!” she snapped, eyes stinging red.

With his support, limping, she finally reached the entrance of the restaurant.

And there, she ran straight into two people she hadn’t wanted to see.

Calvin. And Medea.

Neither had expected her either.

He stood tall on the steps, his gaze on her cold and imperious.

Medea’s eyes flicked between Eliza and Josh, curiosity glinting, before she asked with deliberate sweetness: “How did you two end up together?”

Josh explained easily, “There was a little accident. Her bike hit my car.”

“Secretary Grant isn’t hurt, is she?” Medea asked, as if genuinely concerned.

“I’m fine,” Eliza said flatly.

She pulled her arm free from Josh’s support and limped past them inside, unwilling to waste another second on irrelevant people.

But she was still too late.

The staff told her Director and the experts had left, ten minutes ago.

She could have stomached being half an hour late, even twenty minutes.

But ten?

So close, so cruel.

Her strength drained all at once. By the time she walked out again, exhausted, Calvin and Medea were gone.

Only Josh waited outside.

He pressed her, steady and unyielding. “Now can we go to the hospital?”

The injuries were just scrapes, but the raw red cuts, especially at her knees, looked far worse than they felt. Every step tugged at them, lancing pain straight to the bone..

“I’ll take you home,” Josh insisted after making sure her wounds were bandaged.

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Chapter 23

She shook her head. “No, I still have things to do.”

“What on earth is so urgent?” His patience thinned, voice dropping colder.

Eliza didn’t want to explain. It was private. She just tried to dismiss him.

But Dr. Quinn’s call broke in.

Afraid to miss any update, she answered immediately.

His voice carried regret. “The expert team has already chosen their case. You’ll need to consider other options.”

Her chest squeezed tight. Her thumb dug into her knuckle, as if pain could steady her.

Her voice still shook. “But they only arrived this afternoon! They didn’t even come to the hospital. How can the decision already be made?”

“It was Director’s arrangement. I don’t know the details.”

He was just a department doctor. There was nothing more he could do.

The call ended. Eliza felt as though she’d fallen into an ice pit, cold tides crashing over from every side.

Josh saw her pallor and asked, “What happened?”

She didn’t know how to answer.

“I know Director well,” Josh said at last. “Maybe I can help.”

Like a shaft of light, his words gave her back a thread of hope.

That night she hired a nurse to stay with her mother instead of doing it herself.

First, she didn’t want her mother to notice her injuries and worry.

Second, after so many days in the ward, she needed to breathe for a moment.

Josh personally drove her home, telling her, “I’ll come to the hospital at ten tomorrow morning.”

“Alright.”

“Don’t pressure yourself too much. Things will work out.”

She nodded silently.

He couldn’t resist ruffling her hair. “Go on. It’s late. Get some rest.”

Before she got out, he added, “And don’t let water touch the wounds. Keep applying the ointment, or they’ll scar,”

“Got it. Now go. And… thank you, really.”

At that, his tight brows eased. “Tinally, some gratitude.”

Only after she waved him off did he drive away.

His comfort eased the crushing weight in her chest, just enough to let her breathe.

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Seven Years a Fool. One Day a Queen

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Chapter 23

But as she turned toward her building, drawing her coat tighter against the chill, the streetlight illuminated a face ahead.

A face she should never have seen here.

Calvin.

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