Shadows Between Us (Stella and Sebastian) novel Chapter 14

Chapter 14

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Just over ten minutes later, a group of black armored vehicles raced into the hospital complex.

“Ms. Carter, we’re here,” Henry said, reaching over to wake Stella.

But before he could touch her, her eyes flew open. The harmless look was gone, replaced by a cold, dangerous glare.

Even Henry, a man hardened by years of tough training, felt a spike of unease.

“Can I get a wheelchair?” Stella asked with a yawn, making no move to get up herself.

Henry was at a loss for words.

Letting out a sigh, Stella finally pushed the door open and got out.

They had an easy trip through the hospital, but the moment they left the elevator, everything fell apart.

Aloud argument was happening just outside Logan’s hospital room.

“Why did you stop Logan’s treatment?” Logan’s mother sobbed. She leaned into her husband for support as she confronted her father Victor, who remained silent on the bench.

“Answer me!” she pleaded.

“Because if you keep treating him…” Stella’s weary voice called from the hallway, drawing everyone’s attention.

Emily, standing among the other senior doctors, frowned as a familiar voice caught her ear. Her gaze tracked the sound and landed on Stella, who stood there in a plain black hoodie, jeans, and canvas shoes.

“He’ll die,” Stella continued flatly as she pushed her hood back, revealing her striking features.

Emily’s expression tightened in recognition.

“What are you saying?” Logan’s mother shrieked, her voice breaking with fear.

“Mr. Quinn, this is the expert you found?” asked a senior doctor, his voice heavy with doubt.

The whole situation was beyond him. Where he saw an unqualified girl, Victor saw someone worth trusting.

“We meet again,” Stella said, ignoring the old doctor as she gave a small wave to Victor.

She was exhausted. All she wanted was to finish this and get back to the island.

“Yesterday, you said Logan was dying,” Victor said, his voice rough but his eyes sharp on her. “How did you know?”

“Do you really want to talk about that now?” Stella replied. She knew Logan’s time was almost up.

12:09 Tue, Jan 13

Chapter 14

Henry, unable to contain himself any longer, snapped, “Show some respect.”

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Stella gave a cold laugh of impatience and simply plugged her ear with a finger, shutting him out.

Victor signaled for Henry to stop, his attention shifting to Stella. “So, what’s the plan?”

“Surgery,” Stella replied.

“This is insane,” the old doctor snapped, his mustache quivering with anger. “Are you even a licensed doctor?”

“I’m old enough. Just not licensed,” Stella said, fighting back another yawn.

She found herself missing Sebastian, who never wasted words on pointless talk.

“You have two minutes to decide,” she stated flatly. “After that, the child’s condition will get worse.”

She left them with that, walked past the group, and sat down on a bench. The decision was theirs.

The hallway was packed, yet a profound silence had settled over the space.

“How sure are you?” Victor asked, his voice steady.

“One hundred percent,” Stella answered, her voice cool and completely confident.

A heavy silence fell over the group. The sheer boldness of Stella’s claim left them all wondering who could possibly believe it.

“Utter nonsense! Mr. Quinn, tell me you don’t believe a word of this,” the old doctor demanded, his voice shaking.

Stella’s gaze wandered disinterestedly around the room until it settled on a familiar face in the crowd.

Their eyes met for a moment before Stella gave another weary yawn.

Emily couldn’t help but roll her eyes, convinced that Stella had no idea who she was dealing with.

She found it hard to believe Victor would fall for this, but the doubt nagged at her.

“It’s not a complicated surgery,” Stella said. “You open the chest, remove the object, and that’s all.”

Giving in to her irritation, Stella leaned against the wall, her entire demeanor cold and restless.

This was her version of being polite.

“Open his chest?” Logan’s mother, who had been crying earlier, gasped, and then fainted into her husband’s

arms.

“You’ll answer for those words,” her husband bit out, his anger finally snapping.

“An object? You haven’t even reviewed the scan, and you’re diagnosing a vascular obstruction?” The old doctor was certain Stella was talking nonsense.

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Chapter 14

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“Something isn’t right with this young girl,” another doctor muttered.

“What, can her eyes see better than the machines now?” someone else said.

The panel of senior consultants took turns criticizing Stella.

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Stella simply leaned back, mentally counting down the seconds while ignoring their comments entirely.

Only Emily appeared thoughtful when she heard mention of a vascular foreign object.

When reviewing the chest X–ray earlier, she had indeed noticed something wasn’t right, but couldn’t quite place what it was.

Stella’s observant glance noticed the contemplation in Emily’s expression.

Victor kept his gaze fixed on Stella. Looking at her youthful features, he couldn’t bring himself to risk his grandson’s life based on her assessment.

Seconds ticked by. Then Stella suddenly raised her hand and held up five fingers to Victor, her face expressionless.

As people watched, confused, she lowered one finger at a time, counting down from four to one.

The moment her last finger went down, the monitors in the room blared back to life, exactly on schedule.

The harsh noise felt like a collective slap in the face, stinging with truth.

“Oxygen saturation is dropping,” a doctor reported. “Heart rate’s falling.”

The temporary calm brought by the valerian root shattered like glass, leaving only cold reality.

“Get the operating room ready,” Victor finally said, his voice rough.

Stella got to her feet slowly. This had been the only possible ending. She couldn’t see why they had fought it.

“Wait!” The hospital director rushed forward, having just returned from a conference. He was sweating as he called out, “Mr. Quinn.”

He had seen everything through the surgical chief’s live feed.

To him, Victor was simply acting out of desperation. He understood that any harm coming to Logan while in his care would mean the end of his professional future.

“For safety, we’ll record the full procedure and stream it on our secure medical network. The specialist team will also be on standby,” the director offered.

Henry shot the director a sharp look, seeing right through his cautious proposal.

Victor stopped Henry with a gesture. “Agreed,” he said flatly, ending the discussion.

Stella was heading for the operating room when she paused beside Emily. “You’ll assist me,” she stated simply.