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Chapter_220
Tiana stared down at her phone, its dim glow illuminating the fierce resolve etched across her face. The girl had slipped away—but not for long. The pieces were finally aligning: the nephrology department, the mysterious patient, the oncology wing. This wasn’t just about a stolen kidney.
It was a system.
A scheme built on desperation and exploitation.
And at the center of it all stood Elaine.
Tiana’s gaze drifted to the bustling street below. Horns blared and lights flashed, but she heard none of it. Her thoughts were a storm, focused entirely on the truth she had come so close to grasping. She had no intention of backing down now.
Back in Whitney’s apartment, the air was thick with tension. The faint hum of the refrigerator was the only sound for a long moment as Taryn placed the small packet of antidote pills into Whitney’s shaking hands.
“This is going to work, right?” Taryn asked quietly, her brow furrowed with concern. “You really think your mom will make it long enough for all this to come to light?”
Whitney gave a faint smile—brave on the surface, but fragile beneath. “She has to. I can’t let Elaine get away with poisoning her and pretending to care. Not after everything.”
Taryn’s expression tightened, but her voice was steady. “You’re doing the right thing. And you’re not doing it alone, Madam. I’ll watch over your mother personally. I won’t let Elaine near her again.”
Whitney’s throat constricted. Her chest ached with the weight of grief and the burden of betrayal. “I just wish Ludwik could see it. He’s so lost in Elaine’s lies… and I don’t know if he’ll ever find his way back.”
Taryn’s face softened. “People don’t stay blind forever. Sometimes it just takes the right light to make them see.”
Whitney let out a shaky breath, her smile bitter. “I hope you’re right. But even if he doesn’t come back… I’m not stopping. I have to do this. For my mother.”
Just then, her phone buzzed. Tiana’s name flashed across the screen.
Whitney snatched it up. “Tiana? What happened?”
Tiana’s voice came through sharp and urgent. “It’s not just nephrology, Whitney. I think Elaine’s been using the oncology wing as cover. I found a girl—young, early twenties—who might’ve sold her kidney to pay her father’s hospital bills. She was terrified, and then she vanished.”
Whitney’s pulse surged. “Do you know where she went? We need her, Tiana. She might be the link to everything.”
“I lost her in the stairwell,” Tiana said bitterly. “But I’m close. I can feel it. She’s scared and running, but I swear to you—I’m going to find her.”
Whitney’s voice dropped, low and fierce. “Good. Keep pushing. If we can get her to talk, we can bring everything down. Elaine won’t have anywhere left to hide.”
“I won’t let you down,” Tiana promised.
As the call ended, a heavy silence settled over both women—one filled not with fear, but focus. For Tiana, there was no turning back now. She had followed this thread to the edge of a dangerous truth, and there was only one direction left: forward.
She turned toward the stairwell once more, the cold hospital air brushing against her skin. Somewhere out there, that girl was the key. And Elaine’s empire of lies was hanging by a thread.
Tiana clenched her fists.
No more running. No more secrets.
Elaine had taken too much from too many.
Now, it was her turn to lose.
