The Hidden Empress Stripping Her Secrets After Divorce novel Chapter 259

"If I confessed to her face and she rejected me, I'd have to accept it," Sebastian said. "If I run away and don't hear it, then technically, she never rejected me."

Lance was speechless.

"Mr. Thorne, your logic is... incredibly self-serving," Lance finally managed to say.

Sebastian ignored him and started walking again.

"Where is she?" he demanded.

"Victoria?" Lance instantly snapped back into professional mode. "She's in the waiting area outside Isabella's ward. Dr. Warren is keeping an eye on her. She refuses to leave. She said she absolutely has to wait for you."

A lethal chill flashed through Sebastian's eyes.

"Then let's go," he said. "We shouldn't keep her waiting."

Following closely behind, Lance stared at his boss's broad shoulders, his mind flashing back to Evelyn's soft "thank you" in the office.

He couldn't help but marvel internally: *Mr. Thorne, you are a ruthless, bloodthirsty tyrant in the boardroom, but the second you get near Dr. Sullivan, you turn into an absolute coward.*

He ran faster than a scared rabbit.

If Lance told anyone, they'd never believe him.

---

The top floor of the sanatorium, ICU waiting area.

The moment Sebastian stepped out of the elevator, he spotted the woman sitting on the sofa.

Victoria was fifty-five, maintained to sheer perfection, wearing a tailored Chanel suit, a string of pearls, and immaculate makeup. She sat with perfect posture, knees clamped together, her clutch resting elegantly on her lap, radiating the suffocating arrogance of old money.

However, that arrogance was currently laced with furious impatience.

"Sebastian, you're finally here." Seeing him, she immediately shot to her feet, slapping on a perfectly engineered smile. "My boy, I've been waiting for ages."

Sebastian stopped directly in front of her.

He didn't greet her. He didn't smile.

Victoria's smile fractured for a millisecond before smoothing back into place. "What, have you forgotten your own aunt?"

"I know exactly who you are," Sebastian said. "Victoria."

He refused to call her Aunt.

Victoria's expression turned ugly.

But she maintained her aristocratic facade, letting out a heavy sigh. "Sebastian, I know you're upset with me. I was wrong this afternoon for stooping to argue with that lowly doctor. But you have to understand my position—Isabella is deathly ill, I came all this way to see her, and I get blocked at the door. Who wouldn't be furious?"

Sebastian just stared at her, utterly silent.

Unnerved by his dead, hollow gaze, Victoria looked away and plowed ahead. "Besides, that little doctor has a terrible mouth on her. She's a complete outsider, what right does she have to block me? She even threatened to call the cops on me? If word got out, my reputation would be ruined!"

She paused, lacing her voice with victimhood. "Sebastian, I watched you grow up. Even though I married out of the family, I've always viewed you as my own son. And now, you're treating me like this over some outsider..."

"Are you done?" Sebastian cut her off.

Victoria froze.

Sebastian stared at her, his eyes so calm they were devoid of any human warmth.

"First," he began, his voice low but dropping like lead weights onto a frozen lake. "Dr. Sullivan is not just my mother's attending physician. She is the woman who saved my mother's life. When you curse her, you are cursing the savior of my mother's life."

Victoria opened her mouth to argue, but Sebastian raised a hand, shutting her down completely.

"Second," he continued, "whether you came here to visit my mother out of sincerity or malice is something we both know the answer to. Do you want me to read back the exact words you screamed in this hallway earlier?"

All the blood drained from Victoria's face.

Sebastian took a step forward, towering over her.

And the man doing it was a Thorne himself.

Sebastian remained by the window, watching the heavy darkness outside.

"Lance," he said.

"Yes, sir."

"Put a team on Geoffrey immediately," Sebastian ordered, his voice dropping low. "Make sure Tessa and the baby are under absolute surveillance."

Lance's heart skipped a beat. "Understood."

"Also," Sebastian paused. "Who tipped Victoria off about the sanatorium today?"

Lance blinked, then the realization hit him like a freight train.

The sanatorium had brutally strict security protocols. Victoria wasn't immediate family, and under normal circumstances, she never would have made it through the front gates. Unless... someone on the inside had opened a door for her.

"I'll investigate it immediately," Lance promised.

Sebastian gave a curt nod and fell silent.

Outside, the night had fully descended.

Suddenly, his phone vibrated in his pocket.

He glanced down, and his pupils violently contracted.

It was a text message on the screen:

[Mr. Thorne, we have a situation at St. Jude's Medical Center. Word just came in. Christian Lancaster is looking for Dr. Sullivan.]

Sebastian's grip on the phone slowly tightened until his knuckles cracked.