Chapter 280
Chapter 280:
Heat rushed to Eliza’s cheeks — a mixture of humiliation and rage. She looked at the elevator doors and pictured Dallas behind them. Was he awake? Was he in pain? Did he really hate her this much?
“I’m not leaving,” she said through her teeth.
She lunged sideways, aiming for the stairwell door marked Emergency Only.
The first guard moved faster than a man his size should have. He grabbed her arm, spun her around, and dragged her back toward the center of the lobby. It wasn’t an embrace. It was a restraint.
Reаd t𝘩e 𝗅𝖺𝗍еs𝘁 𝗍𝗿e𝘯𝖽𝗌 on
“Let go of me!” Eliza screamed, thrashing. “Dallas! Dallas p>
The elevator chimed — a soft, cheerful sound in the middle of the chaos.
The silver doors slid open.
A man stepped out wearing a pristine white lab coat over a black t-shirt, a slim metallic stylus tapping idly against the tablet in his other hand. His eyes were dark, amused, and entirely devoid of warmth.
Dr. Vance.
He stopped, leaning against the elevator frame, watching the guards wrestle with a soaking wet and frantic woman. He pursed his lips and let out a low whistle.
“Tsk, tsk,” Vance said, his voice cutting cleanly through the noise. “Look at this. The little bird trying to fly into the hurricane p>
Eliza stopped struggling. She knew him — Dallas’s shadow, the man who stitched him up when the world tried to break him.
“Dr. Vance!” Eliza gasped, wrenching her arm free as the guard loosened his grip at the sight of the doctor. “Tell them who I am. Take me up p>
Vance walked toward her slowly and stopped a foot away, looking down at her. He smelled of rubbing alcohol and expensive cologne.
“I know who you are, Eliza,” he said. “You’re the reason my patient’s blood pressure is spiking through the roof p>
“Is he okay?” Eliza seized the sleeve of his coat, her wet fingers leaving a dark mark on the white fabric. “Please. Just tell me he’s alive p>
Vance glanced at her hand on his sleeve with mild distaste but didn’t pull away.
“Alive?” he said, his tone almost casual. “If you consider a shattered tibia, three broken ribs, and a lung barely holding inflation to be alive. He nearly died on the table last night p>
Eliza’s hands flew to her mouth. The air left the room. “Oh my God p>
“He was driving like a maniac,” Vance continued, conversational and cruel in equal measure. “In the rain. Blind drunk. Because he saw something he shouldn’t have seen. Sound familiar p>
The guilt hit her like a stone sinking into still water. “It wasn’t me,” she whispered. “The video, the photo — it wasn’t me p>
“Doesn’t matter what I think,” Vance shrugged. “Matters what he thinks. And right now, he thinks you’re the devil p>
“I have to see him,” Eliza said. “I can explain. If I can just look at him p>
“He doesn’t want to see you,” Vance cut her off. “Weston and Zane are up there now, taking shifts. If Weston sees you, he might actually throw you out the window. We’re on the twenty-second floor. It’s a long drop p>