Any prejudice the room held against Claire's young age vanished entirely after witnessing the surgery.
When it was finally over, Claire still looked full of energy as Dr. Duncan helped an exhausted Mary out of the operating room.
Latham and Octavia, who had been blind to what was happening inside, rushed forward the second the doors opened.
"Was the surgery a success?"
It was the only question burning in the couple's minds.
Claire glanced at Dr. Duncan, allowing him to deliver the news. "The surgery was a complete success."
Latham and Octavia breathed a massive sigh of relief.
Neither of them paid any attention to Mary, who was barely standing. Their eyes were glued to the doors, waiting for Lance.
Moments later, the medical staff wheeled Lance out.
The couple immediately followed him toward the recovery ward.
Meanwhile, Claire and Mary retreated to the lounge.
The panel of experts was dying to pick their brains about the procedure, but seeing how exhausted they were, no one dared intrude.
They planned to catch Claire the next day, only to find out she had already gone home to sleep.
Mary, however, stayed behind. As the lead surgeon, she needed to be on-site to handle any potential complications.
More importantly, Lance was her grandson. She wanted to be there when he woke up.
A few doctors tried to strike up a conversation with her, but she politely sent them away.
Her energy was completely depleted; the marathon surgery had drained her to the bone.
Octavia stayed at the hospital all night, while Latham headed straight to the office just before dawn.
The news of his son's car crash had hit the press, sending the company into an even worse downward spiral.
The office needed its leader, so he had no choice but to go.
Octavia was surprisingly understanding, supporting his decision to stabilize the business and reminding him to get some sleep.
The moment Latham walked out of the hospital doors, he called to check on the investigation into Lance's crash.
The traffic police had reached a preliminary conclusion. "It was brake failure."
"Could the brake failure have been intentional?" Latham refused to believe his son's perfectly fine car had just magically broken down.
And for a massive truck to appear at the exact moment the brakes went out? What kind of twisted luck was that?
nel
Lance wasn't a professional driver, but he wasn't terrible behind the wheel either He hadn't been on his phone, so how did he completely to swerve?
Unless the truck driver had intentionally aimed for him.
"We're still investigating. The initial assessment points to worn brake pads, but we
aren't ruling out foul play."
The officer's words filled him with a sinking dread.
What if it was premeditated?
The James family had stepped on a lot of toes during their rise to the top.
Securing the West End project had made them plenty of enemies, too.
It was entirely plausible that someone saw an opportunity and took a shot.
"Please, I'm begging you to find out the truth as quickly as possible. The James Group is already in hot water, accident
and my son coincidences
anything but a but a
"Do
you have any suspects in mind?" The officer had known the James family for years.
He was doing his best to crack the case quickly.
But if this was an intentional hit, they needed the family to point them in the right direction.
A suspect?
Latham opened his mouth, a specific name rising to his throat before he forced it back down.
It couldn't be her. She wouldn't take things that far.
Besides, their bad blood had nothing to do with Lance.
Lance was completely innocent in all of this.
"I'm not sure. I'll have to rely on your investigation. If you confirm it was intentional, I'll file formal charges."
Latham hadn't wanted to blow
things out of proportion, but now et
that the news of the crash was
public, the situation was completely out of his hands content