The Scorned Heiress's Hidden Empire (by Jade Quinn) novel Chapter 162

Chapter 162

Chapter 162

The hallway fell silent for a moment. Evelyn Rivers suddenly stopped crying, grabbing the doctor’s arm tightly. “Where is he Find him! We have money. We’ll pay whatever it takes!”

Evelyn Rivers instantly stopped crying, grabbing the doctor’s arm tightly.

“It’s not about money…” the doctor replied:

The doctor’s lips moved, but he hesitated for a couple of seconds.

“We don’t know where Jeremiah is right now,” he finally said.

“Jeremiah left a hospital here five years ago to join an international medical organization as a Doctors Without Borders physician.

“He’s always on the move, and nobody knows where he’ll show up next.”

He paused. “The last time our hospital managed to contact him was three years ago. After that, we lost touch.”

Evelyn felt hope spark for a second, only to have it snuffed out just as quickly. Still, she refused to give up and looked desperately at William.

“William, please, can’t you think of something? The Mitchell family has to be able to find Jeremiah Ross!” Evelyn begged, her voice shaky.

Even though it seemed like a long shot, William nodded. “I’ll do everything I can to track him down.”

The doctor looked at William. “Mr. Mitchell, we only have three days. If we can’t find Jeremiah within that time, we’ll have to do whatever it takes to keep her alive.”

*****

Jonathan Rivers was wheeled into the ICU, and the five Mitchell brothers arrived at the hospital one after another.

“We’ve used every connection we’ve got to look for him. We’ll definitely find him!” one of them insisted, trying to sound sure of himself.

Truth is, everyone knew the chances were less than ten percent.

How could they possibly find Jeremiah Ross, a doctor who’s been off the radar for three years, in just three days on a planet this huge?

Three years without a word, no one even knows if he’s alive or not.

Natalie rested her hands on the railing, her beautiful eyes gazing into the distance, lost in thought.

After a while, she walked alone toward the elevator.

Once Natalie left the hospital, she took a cab back to Mitchell Manor.

Natalie had this nagging feeling that the name Jeremiah Ross was familiar, like she’d heard it somewhere before. It was right on the tip of her tongue, but the memory was so faint, she just couldn’t recall where.

She went upstairs, stepped into her room, sat down at her desk, and opened her laptop.

Her fingers paused over the keyboard for a second, then began to type rapidly.

09:23 Fri, Jun 5

Chapter 162

Lines of code flashed across the screen, and in just seconds, she’d hacked into the international medical organizations database.

It didn’t take long for her to pull up Jeremiah Ross’s file.

Jeremiah Ross, male, fifty-six, honorary president of the International Orthopedics Society. He joined the international. medical organization five years ago and began working as a Doctors Without Borders doctor.

His file had everything, when he started, when he left, places he’d been, surgeries he’d done, people he’d teamed up with

But the last entry was from three years ago.

Three years ago, he was in Yecoton, working at a makeshift hospital in the middle of a war zone. After performing a surgery he went missing during an evacuation.

The organization tried to contact him for three months, six months, even a whole year, but there was never any reply.

Eventually, they declared him missing, deactivated his account, and sealed his records.

Natalie just kept staring at the word “Missing” on the screen, her mind racing for a long time.

Her fingers started tapping away again, breaking into Yecoton’s medical records system and digging through all the medical aid logs from the past three years.

She found a name, Abdul Rahman.

This name appeared in three different medical reports, listed only as “foreign surgeon,” with no real name, no photo, and no nationality.

All three reports were about lower limb reconstruction surgeries.

The surgical techniques matched exactly with the ones Jeremiah had detailed in his published research.

Natalie looked over the three reports, downloaded them, and began tracking down Abdul Rahman.

Next, she stealthily hacked into Yecoton’s communication system and scoured the satellite phone logs from northern

Yecoton.

After two hours, Natalie finally found a number.

No registration, no user info, not a single lead, she jotted the number down

She grabbed her phone, used her international calling card, and dialed the number.

The phone rang for ages before someone finally picked up, but there was nothing but faint breathing on the other end.

Natalie didn’t say a word, just waited for five seconds, still, no one spoke.

“Dr. Ross,” Natalie said.

Natalie’s voice was steady and full of certainty.

The person on the other end paused, clearly caught off guard, before a raspy voice came through.

“Who are you?” he asked.

“I’m Zoe, Natalie said.

sxtled “Zoo? Is that really vou? Why are you reaching out to me?”

09:23 Fri, Jun 5

Chapter 162

“There’s a critical leg reconstruction surgery in Harbor City, and we need you,” Natalie replied without hesitation

“The patient’s leg was crushed. Both the tibia and fibula are shattered, with major nerve and blood vessel damage.

“The doctors said if you can’t get here in three days, they’ll have no choice but to amputate.”

She finished speaking and waited for his response.

Jeremiah paused again. If Zoe was personally reaching out, this had to be something serious.

He replied with respect but a hint of worry, “If you’re asking, of course I’ll help. But Yecoton’s at war right now. There’s no way for me to get out…”

To get to Harbor City, he’d need to reach Sanaton’a first, then catch a flight to Dubiton, and from there fly to Harbor City Even in the best-case scenario, that would take two days.

Two days for travel, plus the surgery and post-op monitoring, would just barely squeeze into the three-day limit.

But how was he supposed to get out?

There were no civilian airports, no commercial flights, and no normal roads.

He’d have to cross war zones, pass through checkpoints, and trek across the desert.

“He was all alone, a fifty-six-year-old guy, a surgeon who’d spent five years with Doctors Without Borders.

Never mind making it in time for the surgery, just getting out alive was already a huge question mark.

Natalie tapped her fingers rhythmically on the desk. “I’ll handle it.”

“Alright,” Jeremiah replied.

She hung up and texted Blondie, instructing him to get Jeremiah Ross to Harbor City by tomorrow, no excuses.

Next, she called Larkin. “Pack your gear and get to St. Alden Medical Center. Now.”

If everything went according to plan, Jeremiah would make it to Harbor City by tomorrow night.

But that’s just the ideal scenario. If anything went wrong during the journey, or if Jonathan’s condition suddenly got worse before then…

If she wanted to save his leg, she had to be prepared for anything, ready to jump in and handle emergencies as they came.

She might not be a surgeon, but as someone skilled in alternative medicine, she could buy more time for Jeremiah if the three-day window closed, maybe even keep his leg intact for a while longer.

Even if she managed to save his leg, the recovery would be slow, complicated, and full of challenges.

But that was just the worst-case scenario. Hopefully, things wouldn’t ever get that far.

Natalie closed her laptop. It was already past seven in the evening.

Since everyone was still at the hospital, she decided to brew some soothing vegetable soup in the kitchen, planning to bring it over for them later.

Until everything was confirmed, Natalie wasn’t going to tell them about Jeremiah, no need to get their hopes up only to have them dashed.

sty net nothing was really going to go wrong

09:23 Fri, Jun 5