"Shut up! Skylar, don't talk nonsense!" Ethan interrupted her sharply. He forced himself to stay calm, though the agitation in his voice was impossible to suppress. "Summer isn't that kind of person! She’s just throwing a tantrum and hiding! I’ll go find her right now! I’ll bring her back personally!"

He turned to rush out.

"Wait!" Julian grabbed him. Though his mind was in a whirl, he retained a shred of logic. "Calm down first! Where could she go? Her hand injuries haven't healed, and she has no money... Ask the hospital staff first!"

The two of them immediately rushed to the nurse's station.

The nurse on duty looked at the two young masters who had returned with grim faces and replied professionally, "Miss Summer Woods? She completed her discharge procedures three days ago."

"Who handled it for her? Her?" Ethan asked urgently.

"No." The nurse shook her head, recalling the event. "A man came to pick her up. Very tall, very handsome, with a powerful aura. He said he was Miss Woods’ biological brother. His paperwork was in order, so we processed it."

Biological brother?

Ethan and Julian exchanged a look, seeing shock and a sense of foreboding in each other's eyes.

"The surveillance! Pull the surveillance footage!" Ethan practically roared.

In the hospital security room, the footage was pulled up.

The time rewound to three days prior.

On the screen, Summer Woods was wearing an oversized hospital gown topped with an ill-fitting old coat. Her face was so pale it was nearly translucent. Her right hand was wrapped in thick bandages, hanging limply at her side, and her left hand was also fixed in a brace. Her movements were slow.

A man was supporting her.

He was exceptionally tall, wearing a well-tailored black overcoat. The lines of his profile were cold and sharp, and his brow carried a sense of distant authority.

He supported Summer with extreme care, his movements displaying a gentleness that contrasted sharply with his stern exterior.

They walked slowly through the hallway, toward the elevator, and out the main doors of the inpatient department.

From start to finish, Summer never looked back. Not even once.

Finally, the man held the car door open for her, shielding the roof with his palm. Once she was settled, he closed the door and walked around to the driver’s seat.

The black sedan drove away smoothly, disappearing from the camera's range.

Ethan stared fixedly at Summer’s thin, frail silhouette on the screen, particularly those hands wrapped in glaring white bandages. His heart felt as though it were being squeezed by an invisible hand, bringing a sharp, unfamiliar sting of pain.

Was that... Summer?

The sister who was always vibrant and radiant, who would jump into his arms to act spoiled?

How could she... have become such a lifeless shadow?

No, it was him. It was them. They were the ones who turned her into this.

The realization hit his mind with a bloody force, making his breath hitch.

"Back to the house!" Ethan turned abruptly, his voice hoarse. "She must have gone back for her things!"

They drove back to the villa at breakneck speed.

Rushing into Summer’s room, the sight before them made them freeze in their tracks.

The room was still tidy, yet it possessed a desolate chill of abandonment.

The wardrobe was more than half empty; the dresses and coats she usually wore were gone.

The violin she cherished like treasure—the one that had been with her since she was seven—had vanished along with its case.

On the dressing table, the bottles and jars belonging to her had been cleared away.

Inside the desk drawers, her collection of CDs, sheet music, and small trinkets were all gone without a trace.

It was as if this person had never lived here for twenty years.

Only a single photo frame remained on the nightstand.

Ethan walked over and picked it up.

It was a photo from several years ago, taken in the family garden.

In the photo, a seventeen-year-old Summer stood in the middle wearing a beautiful floral dress. One hand was affectionately hooked around Ethan’s arm, while the other held up a playful "V" sign. Her smile was so bright it was dazzling.

Julian stood on her other side, looking at her with an expression so tender it could melt.

It was such a beautiful scene.

But now, Summer’s face in the photo had been violently and haphazardly crossed out with a black marker.

The crude lines covered her bright smile, leaving only a jarring blot of darkness.

Ethan’s fingertips trembled violently, and the frame nearly slipped from his grasp.

He averted his gaze and saw a note pinned under the frame.

He picked up the slip of paper. There was only one line of text. The handwriting was somewhat slanted and weak, showing the writer’s fragility at the time, yet the strokes carried a sense of absolute finality:

I have found my biological brother, and I have a new fiancé. We shall never meet again in this life.

— Summer Woods

Chapter Eleven

"Never... meet again?" Ethan clutched the light slip of paper, his hands shaking so much the edges became crumpled. Those four words were like red-hot nails driven into his eyes.

Julian stood in the center of the empty room, looking around.

This place was once filled with Summer’s presence—her laughter, the stumbling notes when she practiced her violin, her playfulness... now, nothing was left.

An unprecedented, massive wave of panic, like a cold tide, instantly submerged him.

She was gone.

This wasn't a tantrum. This wasn't a fit of pique.

She was truly gone, taking all her belongings, severing all ties, and... not planning to return.

"No... it can't be..." Julian shook his head instinctively, refusing to accept the reality. "Summer... she’s just angry. She needs time... once her anger fades, she’ll come back..."

"Come back?" Ethan slammed the note onto the desk with a dull thud. He looked at Julian with bloodshot eyes, his voice distorted by suppressed emotion. "Look at this room! She took everything! She didn't even leave a single photo! She changed her number! She wrote 'never meet again'! Julian, you tell me—does she look like someone who is coming back?!"

Julian was stunned by the roar. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

He was right. This wasn't the behavior of someone running away in anger. This was... a farewell.

"Brother! Julian!"

Skylar’s tearful voice drifted up from downstairs. Soon, supported by a servant, she appeared at the doorway. Seeing the empty room and the grim expressions of the two men, she froze for a moment before the realization hit her. Tears instantly flooded out.

"Sister... Sister really left? She doesn't want this home anymore? She doesn't want me?" She wept piteously, her body swaying. "She clearly knows I’m like this... how can she be so heartless... she just hates me, she wants me to die! Brother, Julian, save me! I don't want to die!"

She cried out, and in her agitation, she began to cough violently, her face flushing an unnatural crimson.

"Skylar! Don't get worked up!" Ethan rushed to support her, shouting at the servant, "What are you standing there for? Call the doctor!"

The family doctor arrived quickly and administered medication. Skylar eventually calmed down, but she continued to sob quietly, clutching Ethan’s hand as if it were her only lifeline.

"Mr. Woods, Mr. Rivers," the doctor said solemnly, calling them aside. "Miss Skylar cannot afford any more emotional distress. Her condition... is deteriorating faster than we anticipated. A donor must be found immediately. The transplant needs to happen as soon as possible. The optimal window... may only be one month. Any longer, and even if a donor is found, the success rate will drop significantly, and her body might not be able to handle it."

One month.

Only one month.

Ethan’s heart sank heavily.

"Search! Keep searching! Use every connection! No matter what method or how much money it takes, you must find Summer Woods for me!" He roared at his subordinates, the veins on his forehead bulging.

The Rivers family’s resources were also fully mobilized.

Two days later, a detailed file was placed before Ethan and Julian.

On the first page of the file was a candid photo. The man in the photo was the same person who had picked up Summer in the surveillance footage.

He stood among a group of suited elites, yet he stood out like a hawk among sparrows—his gaze sharp, his aura imposing.

Cade Sterling.

The youngest head of the overseas Sterling Group.

With industries spanning the globe—finance, technology, energy—his background was unfathomable. He was a true titan of the business world.

But it was the last few lines of the file that made Ethan’s and Julian’s pupils contract.

Cade Sterling was separated from his twin sister in childhood and spent years searching for her.

His sister has a light pink butterfly-shaped birthmark on her back, near the shoulder blade.