Trick Him Into Divorce, Then Flee With His Unknow Kid novel Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Chapter 14 One More Step Toward the Light

Rose had no idea how Ariel had seen through her.

She’d always thought she was good at hiding her emotions. No matter what she was feeling, she could put on a smile convincing enough to fool almost anyone.

Apparently, not her daughter.

It wasn’t that she was unhappy. She wasn’t heartbroken, either.

Life had simply thrown too much at her all at once. The weight of it had settled quietly inside her, leaving her no choice but to carry it alone.

"Of course not," Rose said softly, forcing a smile. "Did you finish your bath, sweetheart?"

Ariel nodded enthusiastically. She scooted closer to the screen until her little face nearly filled the camera, as though she could hug her mother through the phone.

"Mommy, don’t be sad. I know you’re changing the subject." She smiled with the innocent certainty only a child could have. "It’s okay. When I come home, you’ll be happy again."

Rose quickly covered the camera with her hand.

Tilting her head back, she blinked hard, willing the tears to disappear.

They didn’t.

Everything that had happened over the past few weeks had finally caught up with her.

To everyone else, she looked calm, decisive, and unshakable.

The truth was, she had simply become very good at enduring.

There were burdens she couldn’t share, battles she couldn’t explain, and emotions she had nowhere to put. So she did what she’d always done.

She buried them.

After wiping the corner of her eye with the sleeve of her sweater, she uncovered the camera and smiled once more.

"Just wait a little longer, sweetheart," she said gently. "Mommy’s going to make sure you never have to hide in the shadows again."

*****

After being stranded on the side of the road for more than thirty minutes the night before while waiting for a rideshare, Rose had inevitably come down with a cold.

Her head throbbed. Her throat felt raw, and every breath through her nose was a struggle.

She hated taking medicine.

Ever since she was a little girl, Dr. Nathan Hale had trained her to recognize medicinal plants, understand drug compounds, and memorize the pharmacological properties of countless medications. Ironically, years of studying medicine had left her with an intense dislike for swallowing it—especially anything bitter.

It was only a cold.

She intended to let her immune system do the work.

With the holiday season approaching, most of her responsibilities at G.S involved reviewing grant proposals, finalizing research budgets, and preparing projects for the coming year.

Once everyone returned after the holidays, she planned to devote herself entirely to her next major undertaking.

As Dr. Nathan Hale’s only protégé, Rose had inherited more than his knowledge of pharmacology and drug development.

She had inherited his conviction that medicine could never afford to stand still.

Scientific progress wasn’t measured by preserving old discoveries. It came from challenging them.

She still remembered the awe she had felt when she first stepped into Nathan’s laboratory years ago.

The deeper she studied pharmacology, the more she realized how little anyone truly knew.

Every answer uncovered ten new questions.

Drug discovery.

Medicinal chemistry.

Biotechnology.

Clinical therapeutics.

Genomics.

Each discipline revealed another piece of an impossibly complex puzzle.

That realization had shaped the way she viewed medicine for the rest of her career.

No single specialty held every answer.

Every field had strengths.

Every field had blind spots.

And every generation of researchers carried the responsibility of pushing medicine one step further than the last.

Her Pharmaceutical Intelligence Platform had already proven that artificial intelligence could organize and analyze enormous volumes of scientific data, dramatically shortening the distance between laboratory discoveries and real-world patient care.

But that achievement was only the foundation.

Her next project would be far more ambitious.

She envisioned an intelligent healthcare platform capable of bringing together pharmaceutical research, clinical medicine, biotechnology, genomics, and advanced artificial intelligence into a single integrated ecosystem.

The system would analyze symptoms, identify potential health risks, assist physicians with early screening, and provide reliable preliminary health guidance for patients.

More importantly, it would connect fragmented medical knowledge from research institutions around the world, continuously learning as new discoveries emerged.

Instead of allowing invaluable scientific data to remain scattered across isolated databases, the platform would organize it into an evolving network of medical intelligence—accelerating research while making healthcare more accessible for everyone.

Caleb, the heir to Peace Medical Center, had offered access to one of the nation’s largest clinical research databases.

Over the next several days, Rose planned to work with his team to organize and standardize the hospital’s clinical data before returning to G.S, where the integration process would begin.

If everything went according to plan, the platform would eventually combine research spanning pharmacology, medicinal chemistry, biotechnology, preventive medicine, genomics, and modern clinical diagnostics.

It wasn’t simply another research project.

It was the future she had spent years trying to build.

*****

By her third day at Peace Medical Center’s, Rose knew most of the physicians, researchers, lab technicians, and nurses by name.

She had just stepped out of her office, a folder tucked beneath one arm, when one of the younger nurses hurried toward her with unmistakable excitement written across her face.

"Dr. Rose!" she whispered loudly. "You have to look. The hottest guy just walked in. I seriously thought he was a movie star."

Rose chuckled, her voice rough from the cold.

"Oh?"

"He’s carrying this little boy, and his wife is checking them in at Pediatrics." The nurse shook her head dramatically. "Seriously... how does someone that gorgeous already have a family?"

Rose raised an amused eyebrow.

"That handsome?"

The nurse pointed toward the pediatric outpatient clinic.

"See for yourself."

Rose glanced up from the folder in her hands.

She spotted Ryan instantly.

He stood several inches taller than almost everyone around him, broad-shouldered and impeccably dressed in a charcoal wool overcoat that looked as though it had been tailored specifically for him. Even in a crowded hospital lobby, he drew attention without making any effort.

It wasn’t just his appearance.

Years of running one of New York’s most powerful companies had given him an effortless confidence—a quiet authority that made people instinctively step aside when he walked by.

Ryan held a lethargic Mike against his shoulder, the little boy resting limply with his cheek tucked into Ryan’s neck.

Beside him, Samantha glanced down at the paperwork she’d just received from registration, absentmindedly checking the appointment details as they walked.

From a distance, they looked every bit like a happy little family.

Rose almost laughed.

Ryan had always been the kind of man who gave everything to the people he cared about.

Because he loved Samantha, he naturally cared for the people she loved as well. Her younger brother had barely gotten sick, and Ryan had personally brought him to one of New York’s best children’s hospitals.

His devotion left no room for doubt.

Perhaps she’d looked a second too long.

Just before disappearing into the pediatric wing, Ryan turned his head.

Their eyes met.

One heartbeat.

Two.

Then he looked away as if she’d never existed.

No hesitation.

No acknowledgment.

Nothing.

Samantha noticed the brief exchange immediately.

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