Although Old Master Prescott’s voice was weak and hoarse, Chloe Nash still heard him.
Grandpa Prescott was calling her name.
She couldn’t help but feel a stinging sensation in her eyes.
She could never forget the time after Grandpa passed away, when she knelt in the mourning hall, crying her heart out, and an old hand gripped her shoulder.
He solemnly told her, "Sienna, stop crying. From now on, I’ll treat you like my own granddaughter. Come home with me, okay?"
Her father was a policeman, and when she was young, he was severely injured during a mission and became bedridden.
Her mother couldn’t accept the reality and abandoned them.
She and her grandfather took care of her father for ten years, but he eventually passed away.
From then on, her world only had one relative—Grandpa.
She had always worked hard in her studies, hoping to grow up quickly and take care of her grandfather.
But fate was so cruel that it even wanted to take away her last family member.
It was Grandpa Prescott who brought her to the Prescott Family, providing her with a life like she was one of their children.
This kindness, Chloe Nash would never forget for a lifetime.
If she hadn’t been unable to bear being treated like a plaything by Silas Prescott, she wouldn’t have left in that manner.
And then returned with a different identity.
Chloe tried her best to hide the emotion in her eyes, but she couldn’t help but tremble while holding Old Master Prescott’s hand.
She didn’t know if Grandpa heard her voice or if he was thinking of her in his dying moments.
Her voice had been specially trained to be indistinguishable from the real Chloe Nash.
Grandpa shouldn’t be able to tell the difference.
Upon hearing the name, Silas Prescott’s eyes also reflected a certain sadness.
He patted Grandpa’s hand and said, "Grandpa, rest assured, I will definitely find Sienna."
Hearing him say this, Chloe finally eased the heart that was lodged in her throat.
Fortunately.
Silas Prescott didn’t suspect a thing.
She and the other experts held another meeting to make a detailed plan for Grandpa’s surgery.
Finally, the surgery was scheduled for two days later.
To improve Old Master Prescott’s various health indicators, Chloe adjusted several of his medications.
Then she prepared to leave.
Just as she walked out of the meeting room, she heard Silas Prescott call her.
"Dr. Nash."
Chloe stopped walking, and Silas Prescott walked up to her, saying, "I’ll take you back."
"No need, I’ve already called a car." She didn’t want to spend a moment longer with him.
But Silas Prescott was adamant, "Then cancel it."
Chloe curled her lips slightly, "Mr. Prescott, I am a doctor. Since I have taken on this patient, I will do everything I can to ensure the surgery’s success. There’s no need for such courtesy."
Silas Prescott’s narrow eyes fixed on her intently, a questioning sound emerging from his throat.
"Why does Dr. Nash always want to avoid me?"
A single sentence blocked all of Chloe’s refusals in her throat.
Silas Prescott, with an IQ of two hundred, would suspect the slightest clue.
If she deliberately distanced herself, it would backfire.
Chloe smiled faintly, "Mr. Prescott, you’re overthinking. I’m not avoiding you, it’s just that I’ve been abroad for so long, I’m quite independent and don’t want to trouble others."
Silas Prescott tilted his head toward her, "Then let’s go."
She followed Silas onto the car, again sitting in the back seat by the window.
After giving Silas her home address, she said nothing more.
Always pretending to be busy.
It wasn’t until she got out of the car that she nodded to Silas, "Thank you, Mr. Prescott, be careful on your way back."
As Silas held her luggage, his fingers couldn’t help but clench.
In his mind, he remembered what Sienna Paxton often said to him.
"Brother, I’m going up first. Be careful on your way back."
The same phrase, spoken by different people, felt inexplicably similar to him.
He handed the luggage to Chloe, nodding politely, "Get some rest. I’ll have someone pick you up tomorrow."
Chloe no longer refused, responding, "Okay."
She reached out to pull the luggage, but accidentally touched Silas’s hand.
The man’s palm was warm, gripping the handle tightly.
In that pair of dark eyes, unknown emotions were surging.
Chloe was so startled her back broke out in a cold sweat, quickly retracting her hand.
Her gaze showed a brief moment of panic.
The contact with Silas again brought back memories of their abandoned past.
Chloe hurriedly cleared her thoughts and softly said, "Mr. Prescott, give me the luggage."
Silas stared at Chloe’s nervous eyes and in a deep voice asked, "Dr. Nash, do you know Sienna Paxton?"
The question made Chloe’s fingertips tremble with fear.
She wondered why Silas asked this question; had he discovered something?
Chloe pretended to be nonchalant, shaking her head, "Sorry, I don’t know her. Thank you, Mr. Prescott, for seeing me home. I’ll head up."
With that, she pulled her luggage up the stairs.
Silas stared at her back for a dozen seconds before driving away.
Seeing him leave, Chloe finally breathed a sigh of relief.
She carried her luggage to the doorstep and rang the doorbell.
This was her first time coming to this home.
Everything felt so unfamiliar.
The door opened, and seeing Mr. and Mrs. Nash standing at the door, Chloe’s eyes welled with tears.
She knelt before them with a thud, her voice choked, "Dad, Mom, I came in Chloe’s place to see you."
Seeing their daughter’s face and hearing her voice once more, even knowing the person before them wasn’t their daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Nash still warmly embraced Chloe.
Tearfully, they said, "Our dear daughter, you finally returned. We’ve both missed you terribly."
Chloe said, tear-streaked, "Dad, Mom, I’m sorry. If not for saving me, Chloe wouldn’t have died. It’s my fault, I failed you."
The floodgates of memories opened like a deluge, surging toward Chloe.
Sienna Paxton and Chloe Nash were volunteers in the same batch, often treating the wounded.
But after three months on the front lines, while they were rescuing the wounded, Sienna suddenly fainted.
When she woke up again, Chloe held her hand and told her.
"Sienna, you’re pregnant, now over three months along."