This remark made Elena laugh: "How can you be so overbearing? Not even letting someone cry when they’re moved?"

"Fine, fine, you’re always right." Liam surrendered completely.

As long as Elena softened her attitude even a little bit, he would surrender unconditionally.

"Elena! Elena! Elena! How dare you? What right does a bastard with no father have to fight with me for Liam?"

In an obscure corner, Vivian watched the backs of Liam and Elena leaving side-by-side, gritting her teeth, her face twisted.

Thinking of everything she had seen while stalking Elena for these past few days, the flower of evil in her heart bloomed quietly.

"Elena, I want you to taste what it’s like to lose the person most important to you."

Vivian laughed hideously, a hint of viciousness flashing in her eyes.

Wednesday afternoon, Elena was undergoing rehabilitation training when her phone suddenly vibrated. Seeing it was a call from the hospital, she was puzzled—a follow-up survey? She hesitated but answered.

After the call, Elena’s face turned pale and her body trembled, barely able to stand.

Liam rushed to support her: "Elena? What’s wrong? What happened?"

Elena turned to Liam, urging him anxiously: "Liam, the First Municipal Hospital called and said my mother is in the emergency room, she’s in life-threatening danger. Please, take me there immediately."

Liam’s pupils shrank; he immediately pulled Elena to the underground garage and drove toward the hospital.

First Municipal Hospital.

Elena and Liam arrived outside the emergency room, just as a nurse was preparing to go in. Elena rushed up to intercept her.

"How is my mother doing now?" Elena asked urgently.

Just as the nurse was about to answer, the door of the emergency room opened halfway. A doctor covered in blood walked out, holding a piece of paper.

"Who is the family member of Wen Lan? Is Wen Lan’s family here?" The doctor shouted while looking around.

Elena immediately ran to the doctor: "I am, I am, Wen Lan is my mother."

"Your mother’s condition is very critical. We need the family to decide on the treatment plan." The doctor handed the paper to Elena.

Elena looked at the paper, and tears couldn't help but fall; the cover clearly read "Critical Illness Notice."

"Doctor, no matter what it takes, no matter what treatment, please, you must save my mother."

The doctor replied solemnly: "We will do our best."

Liam comforted Elena: "Auntie is a good person; she will be fine."

Elena didn't answer, only pressing her hands together, praying incessantly in her heart.

Half an hour later.

"Miss, please come in. Your mother has something to say." The doctor came out again.

Elena felt an ominous foreboding and rushed into the emergency room.

Upon entering, Elena saw her mother lying on the hospital bed, bloodless, with an oxygen mask on her face.

Elena held her mother’s hand, only to feel it cold, without the slightest warmth.

"Elena, all these years, Mom didn't give you very good material conditions, everything had to depend on your own hard work. Do you blame Mom?" Her mother opened her eyes with effort, her eyes full of guilt.

Elena’s tears welled up: "No, Mom. You worked so hard to raise me, it hasn't been easy at all."

"Mom knows you’ve always lived very tiredly. I wanted to help reduce your burden, so I never wanted to quit my job. Mom was even more afraid that you’d be left all alone with no one to care for you, that’s why I kept urging you to get married."

Elena’s tears finally burst forth.

"Don’t say that, don’t say that, Mom, you will be fine."

Her mother’s pale face suddenly flushed, and she placed her other hand on Elena’s.

"In this world, what mother doesn't want her daughter to be happy? It’s just a pity Mom won’t be able to see that day anymore. You must take good care of yourself from now on."

Having said this, the cardiac monitor emitted a long, continuous "beep."

Chapter 29: The Culprit

"Mom—"

Elena wailed for her mother, but only the cold machine responded to her cries.

Liam, who was waiting outside, heard Elena’s wails and immediately entered, only to see her collapsed by the side of the hospital bed, crying uncontrollably.

"Elena, the dead cannot come back to life. You have to be strong. Auntie would be very sad to see you like this." Liam held Elena tightly.

Elena seemed to have found a support, grabbing Liam’s clothes tightly and crying loudly as if to vent.

The nurse next to them covered her mother with a white sheet. The other nurses and doctors stood by the bedside in silent mourning.

After a while, Elena’s emotions gradually stabilized.

The doctor stepped forward: "Miss, your mother’s internal organs ruptured due to a traffic accident, causing massive hemorrhaging. All the available blood bags in the hospital were used; she essentially had her blood replaced three times, but ultimately she died because the rescue was ineffective."

Elena looked up, her raspy throat making a sound: "What about the driver? Where is he?"

The doctor was in a difficult position, but still spoke: "The ambulance was called by a passerby. The driver fled the scene. By the time the passerby discovered it and called 120, your mother had already missed the optimal window for rescue. If it had been five minutes earlier..."

The doctor didn't finish, but Elena understood what he meant.

If she had been discovered five minutes earlier, if the driver hadn't fled, her mother wouldn't have died.

"It’s all my fault..." Elena cried until she nearly suffocated, her hands clutching the white sheet the whole time.

She couldn't believe that the mother who had made her breakfast just that morning was lying on a cold hospital bed.

Liam held the trembling Elena tightly, continuously comforting her: "It’s okay, it’s okay, my dear."

Back at the Shi residence.

Vivian hurried back to her room, opened her suitcase, and stuffed a pile of clothes inside.

Just then, Shi Qing opened the door and walked in, frowning as he looked at the messy clothes on the floor: "Where are you planning to go?"

Vivian continued packing without looking up: "Wherever is far from Yangcheng, that’s where I’m going."

Shi Qing stepped forward and pressed down on her suitcase, a hint of viciousness in his gaze.

"The Bai family is coming for the engagement the day after tomorrow. If you run now, are you trying to get the entire Shi family killed?"

Vivian pushed Shi Qing away forcefully: "So what? I want to live for myself now."

"A fine 'living for oneself'." Shi Qing sneered, his gaze piercing Vivian like ice.

Vivian felt uncomfortable under his gaze and looked away: "You don't need to look at me like that. If I’m not at the Shi family, aren't you the rightful heir? Isn't that good?"

"Do you know the consequences if you don't marry into the Bai family?" Shi Qing suppressed his anger, his face gloomy.

Vivian curled her lips indifferently: "What consequences could there be? It’s not like we’ll go bankrupt."

Usually, although she was just a pampered young lady, she knew a bit about the family’s foundation.

While not comparable to major conglomerates like the Liam Group or the Xu family, they wouldn't collapse so easily.

"You actually guessed one thing right: the Shi family is about to collapse. If you don't marry into the Bai family, they won't invest in us for liquidity."

Shi Qing’s words were like a bomb in Vivian’s ears, leaving her frozen in place.

"So you’d better stay home honestly. As long as you marry into the Bai family, I’ll tell Father and Mother to stop restricting you."

After saying this, Shi Qing turned and walked out of the room.

Listening to the sound of the door locking from the outside, the temperature in Vivian’s eyes turned colder and colder, her fingernails digging into her palms until they bled.

After finally taking Elena home and settling her in, Liam returned to the company with a somber face and found Xu Chen.

"Did you find it?"

"I found some surveillance footage, but this matter might involve the Shi family." After saying this, Xu Chen brought up the intercepted surveillance video on the computer.

Liam looked at the video, and the moment a pink Bentley appeared on the screen, his face turned icy.

"Can you pull out the facial image!"

Xu Chen nodded and zoomed in on the picture; Vivian’s face appeared on the screen.

"Liam... what should we do?" Xu Chen turned to seek Liam’s opinion.

"Even if I have to turn the Shi family upside down, find her."

Chapter 30: Despair

Two o'clock in the morning, Yangcheng Airport.

Vivian, dressed in a black trench coat, wearing a mask and a baseball cap, walked toward the security checkpoint. The moment she took off her mask, she was immediately subdued by the people behind her.

One of them spoke into a headset: "Notify President Liam, the person has been caught."