The Ash Queen's Return: Reclaiming Her Crown novel Chapter 4

Horatio's eyes darkened. "What exactly do you mean?"

Stephen replied, "Your daughter's under more cardiac stress than the last time I examined her. If her condition continues to worsen, she might…"

He paused before continuing bravely, "She might not survive until next year."

The temperature in the room seemed to drop instantly.

Horatio clenched his fists so tightly his knuckles turned white, and there was a frightening chill in his eyes.

"Tell me what treatment plans are available," he demanded in a voice as cold as ice.

Stephen wiped away cold sweat. "At present… All we can do is continue stabilizing her condition with the Lunsford family's medicine. However, the side effects will only worsen if she takes it long-term. The best solution is still to—"

Horatio interrupted him with a cold smile. "Are you talking about the surgery?"

Stephen didn't have the courage to reply. The surgery in question wasn't something ordinary experts would dare perform.

Estella's heart was malformed and positioned strangely. As such, there were no more than three doctors in the world who could perform the surgery on her.

Among them, the one with the highest probability of success was Dr. N, a legendary figure in the international surgical field. Despite her young age, she had completed many difficult surgeries and was particularly skilled at performing surgeries on children with congenital heart diseases.

However, her whereabouts were a mystery, and she never accepted private appointments. She covered herself up thoroughly every time she performed a surgery, so the only thing people could tell about her was that she was a woman.

Dr. N also seemed to have disappeared without a trace in recent years, so it certainly wouldn't be easy to locate her.

"It'd be best if you could find the miracle doctor, Dr. N," Stephen said tentatively.

Horatio's gaze wavered slightly, and he declared coldly, "I'll find her no matter what. I'm leaving no stone unturned."

…

Natalie walked out of the hospital. The cold wind that blew by made her feel much more clear-headed.

She looked down at the coagulated blood on the back of her hand and smiled self-deprecatingly.

She had really lost her mind back there. How could she have thought that the little girl was her child?

Her child… The Lunsford family had gotten rid of her baby five years ago.

Besides, that girl's father was Horatio Hurrell. She and Horatio practically lived in two different worlds, and their lives never intersected.

Still… That birthmark…

She closed her eyes and forced herself to calm down.

Now that she had regained her memories, she had plenty to do. She took out her phone and logged into a long-unused application.

Soon, many messages popped up on her screen, accompanied by a flurry of notification sounds.

Natalie browsed through the messages before sending out a text message. "I'm back!"

A second later, her phone started ringing.

"I'm not dreaming, am I, Boss? You've finally shown up," an excited voice shouted incoherently from the other end of the call.

Natalie couldn't help but hold the phone a little further from herself, smiling faintly.

"You're still as noisy as ever, Lenny," she commented with a chuckle.

Lennox Crowe sounded choked as he replied, "Boss! Do you have any idea how worried we were about you? Where've you been all these years? There was no news about you at all! We even assumed you'd…"

"Did you assume I was dead?" Natalie asked with a smile, finishing his sentence for him.

He could tell at a glance that Natalie didn't harbor good intentions. On top of that, she even asked him for his contact information.

Estella turned around, her large black eyes filled with tears. "No! I like that lady, Daddy. Will you please let her be my mommy?"

Horatio's pupils shrank, and he clutched the leather seat so tightly he wrinkled it.

He shouted in a rare display of anger, "Nonsense! Who taught you to say that? Was it that woman?"

Estella trembled in fright, tears falling down her face. "You yelled at me, Daddy… I don't like you anymore…"

Bennett Fletcher, who was sitting in front, held his breath.

Estella usually had Horatio wrapped around her finger. It was the first time he had lost his temper like this.

Everyone knew that the word "Mommy" was taboo to him.

Estella's mother had been a truly despicable person. Five years ago, she had taken advantage of the fact that Horatio had been drugged by a competitor to sleep with him. Not only had she disappeared without a trace the next day, but she even gave birth to a child.

If he hadn't been so kindhearted as to pick Estella up off the streets back then, he wouldn't even have known that his own flesh and blood had been abandoned by the roadside.

Over the years, he had devoted all his love to Estella, but he always held a grudge against that irresponsible woman.

He looked at Estella's aggrieved expression, took a deep breath, and suppressed his anger. Then, he reached out to wipe away her tears. "I wasn't yelling at you, Star—"

Estella avoided his hand and shrank back toward the car door. "You were! That lady smelled really nice—like gardenias! I like her! Daddy, you're a bad person!"

Horatio's hand paused in midair. A memory of that chaotic night five years ago abruptly flashed through his mind—the faint scent of gardenias lingering in his nose in the darkness.

His expression darkened slightly, and he ordered coldly, "Look into that woman named Natalie Lunsford."