The Day I Walked Away My Empire Began novel Chapter 294

“Hurry up and look for her!”

Steven’s voice thundered through the hallway. Without waiting for a response, he started searching too, panic tightening his chest. Lucie was badly hurt—wandering off from the hospital was dangerous, maybe even life-threatening.

“Go find Lucie. Now!”

“She’s so weak, she can’t have gotten far. Move!”

His bodyguards scattered in all directions. “Yes, Mr. Heath!”

---

Meanwhile, Lucie made her way out of the hospital, barely staying upright. The midday sun beat down, making her head spin and her legs feel like jelly. She was sure she’d pass out any second.

Just as her vision blurred, a taxi stopped in front of her.

“Where to?” the driver asked.

Lucie clung to the door, forcing it open. “The Anderson estate, Billy Hill,” she rasped.

“You got it.”

The driver pulled away, heading for the Anderson family mansion.

Lucie slumped in the back seat. It wasn’t long before the world started to fade.

The driver glanced in the rearview mirror and noticed she wasn’t moving. His stomach dropped. He pulled over, twisted around, and called, “Miss? Miss, can you hear me?”

No answer. Lucie’s face was ghostly pale, her head slumped against the window. Blood had seeped through the bandage at her neck—she’d fainted from her injuries.

The driver recognized her instantly. Lucie Anderson was basically a household name in New Amberton—always on TV and in the papers. Nobody could mistake her.

“Oh my god, it’s the Anderson heiress. What happened to her?”

He didn’t waste another second. Starting the engine, he sped toward the Anderson estate.

---

Half an hour later, the taxi pulled up at the mansion.

Inside, the butler and the staff had been searching for Lucie for days. Everyone was at their wits’ end.

“Miss Lucie’s back!” someone shouted.

Trenton, the butler, rushed out and directed the maids to carry Lucie inside. Seeing the blood on her bandage and how pale she looked, his eyes filled with tears. “Oh, Miss Lucie… how did this happen to you?”

He immediately sent someone to get the family doctor, then hovered by Lucie’s side with two maids, gently wiping her face.

The doctor arrived in a hurry. He snipped away the bandage, frowning as he examined the wound. “The cut’s torn open again, and she’s burning up. We need to clean and stitch this, now.”

Trenton was nearly pacing holes in the floor. “Then do it, please! Just make sure she’s alright!”

As the doctor set up, Lucie stirred awake. Her lashes fluttered. In her feverish haze, she reached out and grabbed Trenton’s hand. “…Where are my parents?”

“Mr. Heath, this is the Anderson residence, not the Heath family’s. If you try to barge in, we’ll have to call the police. And Miss Lucie said herself she doesn’t want to see you. Please leave.”

Steven stood frozen outside. Behind him, his bodyguards whispered, urging him away. He watched the heavy doors close, feeling real regret for the first time in his life. The evening wind tugged at his jacket, and the faint stickiness of spilled soup clung to him, a petty but stubborn reminder of everything he’d done wrong.

Still, knowing she was home and safe made it a little easier to breathe.

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Lucie finally woke up later that afternoon. The doctor had already cleaned her wound and given her new medicine.

She coughed, her throat dry.

Trenton hovered beside her, worried sick. “Miss Lucie, thank goodness you’re awake. What happened? How did you get hurt so badly?”

Lucie opened her eyes, dazed and exhausted. She didn’t want to remember being locked up by Steven, and she definitely didn’t want to think about that night on the mountain.

Trenton hesitated, then said, “Miss, Mr. Pitts has been looking for you for days—something’s happened to him too. No one’s been able to reach him.”

“Elio…” Lucie whispered, her heart clenching. “What happened to him?”

“The night you disappeared, he was frantic, searching everywhere. Then he left on his own and never came back. I saw on the news there was a car accident that night. I don’t know if it was him.”

Lucie’s blood ran cold. “Get me a phone. I need to call him right now.”

If she knew Elio at all, he’d have turned the world upside down to find her. The thought that something might have happened to him scared her more than anything else.