To Love a Shadow, To Be the Sun novel Chapter 142

"No matter how difficult, it has to be done. I might just have to present him with a second ‘gift' at this summit."

That afternoon, Elara got a call from Rose. Her grandfather had fallen ill again and was back in the hospital—she needed to hurry home.

Without wasting a moment, Elara and Summer packed up at the hotel and rushed for Kingston City.

They had barely left when a man who looked like an assistant approached the front desk, holding out a slip of paper with a license plate number. "Excuse me, is this car registered to one of your guests?"

The receptionist smiled politely. "I'm sorry, but we can't disclose any information about our guests."

Not a minute later, the manager hurried over and gave the receptionist a subtle nod to check.

The receptionist glanced at her computer. "Yes, that was a guest's car. They checked out about ten minutes ago and should be gone by now."

The assistant returned to his car, looking frustrated.

"They're already gone, but I did manage to get her information," he reported, passing the file up to the front seat.

"Miss Calloway, age twenty-six—same age as Madam, but the birth dates don't match. Still, this is the closest match we've found so far. The hotel staff said they left in a rush for Kingston City."

The man in the front seat studied the photo, his expression calm.

"Other than DNA, there's no such thing as true resemblance in this world."

The assistant nodded quickly. "Yes, sir. At least we know Madam is still in Kingston City. Should I inform Chairman Lawrence that you're heading back there?"

…

Elara and Summer hurried into Harmony General Hospital.

As they reached the entrance to the inpatient wing, they ran into Charles.

"Are you working the night shift, Charlie?" Summer asked, surprised.

Charles glanced at Elara's impassive face and realized she must already know the truth about their relationship.

"I was just about to clock out. You two finished up quickly, didn't you?"

Elara found her grandfather in his hospital bed, eyes closed, an IV drip in his arm.

Rose, seeing her arrive, stood up quickly and led her into the hallway.

"He was doing so well just a few days ago. How did he end up here again?" Elara asked.

"It's your lovely wicked mother-in-law, that's how," Rose said, voice trembling with fury.

"She found out we live in the same building and started making a scene—spreading rumors that we're haunting Brian, refusing to let him go. She even pressured the building management to give her our apartment number…"

Rose pulled up photos from that morning on her phone.

"Look—she actually hung a banner downstairs, yelling through a megaphone, accusing you of stealing her daughter's fiancé and abusing your in-laws! The whole building is gossiping about us now. Your grandfather nearly had a heart attack from the stress."

Elara looked at the photo: the banner read, in bold red letters—

[Slut seduces her way to the top, gold-digger fakes innocence to marry into money.]