The Abandoned Wife Dumped Him First (Victoria and Elias) novel Chapter 45

The Shawn Group, CEO's Office.

Hawk knocked and entered, finding Elias leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed. "Mr. Shawn," he said, "I looked into it. Miss Sanger went to the hospital for menstrual cramps."

Elias's cold eyes opened slightly. "Cramps?"

Ever since leaving the hospital, the restless anger under his skin hadn’t gone anywhere.

After dropping Genevieve off, the image of Victoria's look at the hospital kept replaying in his mind. He couldn't shake it. So, he had sent Hawk back to the hospital to find out what game the woman was playing.

He hadn't expected it to be for cramps.

So she hadn't been lying. She really wasn't following him.

"Yes," Hawk said. "I also called Anne just now. She said Miss Sanger wasn't looking well this morning and probably went to the hospital because the pain had become unbearable overnight."

Elias frowned. Logically, he should have been relieved that she wasn't clinging to him like before. But for some reason, the feeling of losing control, that suffocating frustration, only grew stronger.

"Is she at The Imperial Crest Estates now?"

Hawk hesitated, looking like he had something to say.

"Is there a problem?" Elias's dark eyes narrowed. "Didn't I tell you to find her and take her home? Is she throwing a tantrum again?"

Of course. A woman like her would never be so quiet. She must have gotten a taste of his attention when he sent Hawk to take her home and was now leveraging her status as Mrs. Shawn to act out.

Before Hawk could answer, Elias had already made up his mind. He commanded, "Have someone pick out a few new designer bags and send them to The Imperial Crest Estates. Tell her if she wants to remain Mrs. Shawn, she needs to behave. And she can cut the attitude."

"Mr. Shawn, Miss Sanger... she wasn't throwing a tantrum." Hawk hesitated for a moment before pulling up a photo on his phone and placing it on the desk. "When I found her, I was about to offer her a ride home, but I saw she was with someone, so I didn't want to disturb them."

With someone?

When he saw her, she had been alone.

Elias lowered his gaze to the phone screen.

In the photo, a woman was lying on a hospital bed, smiling up at the man beside her. The man, dressed in a white coat, was leaning over and gently stroking her head, his eyes filled with a doting smile.

If the woman wasn't his wife, Elias might have even complimented them on being a picture-perfect couple.

"Mr. Shawn, the man's name is Tobias, the only son of the owner of Holt Industries. He returned to the country a month ago and was hired as the associate chief of cardiac surgery at Metropolitan General Hospital." Hawk could feel the temperature in the room drop. He braced himself and continued, "Miss Sanger has known him since they were children. They probably ran into each other at the hospital."

"Childhood friends, a chance encounter?"

Hawk's heart dropped. Elias's eyes were cold and menacing as he stared at him.

"Metropolitan General Hospital has a daily foot traffic of over fifty thousand people and covers five hundred acres. The cardiac surgery department and the infusion center are three or four buildings apart. Hawk, you really think they just happened to bump into each other?"

"Tobias, I’m not a kid anymore."

"As long as I'm your big brother, you’ll always be a kid in my eyes." Tobias gently pinched her cheek, releasing it just as she was about to protest. He closed the car door and straightened up. "Alright, go on home."

He gave the driver the address and watched as the taxi slowly pulled away, not turning back toward the hospital’s cardiology building until it was out of sight.

Victoria glanced in the rearview mirror, but Tobias was already gone.

"Driver, please turn left at the next light."

"Left?" The driver glanced at his GPS, which clearly showed a right turn for The Imperial Crest Estates. "Ma’am, are you changing your destination?"

"Yes, to the Aurelian Central Design Institute."

She never intended to go back to The Imperial Crest Estates to rest. She’d only told a small lie because she didn’t want Tobias to worry, or worse, have him turn around and tell her brother.

Felice had announced yesterday that she was handing The Shawn Group project over to her, and she knew a lot of people weren't happy about it. They were all just waiting for her to make a mistake.

That's why she'd only taken a half-day off. She needed to get back and start preparing the project materials.

She knew she lacked experience, but now that she had this project, she was determined to do it well. Besides, she hoped this would be an opportunity to grow quickly. That way, when her father returned, she could be of real help to him and her brother.

Just as she was lost in thought, a text message suddenly popped up on her phone.