Chapter 16
“Not only that, but Tracie specifically told me to mix spicy powders, like chili powder, into Ms. Shields‘ medicine to make her suffer more. She also wanted to stir up tension between you and Ms. Shields,” the nurse confessed, her voice trembling.
“Tracie s original plan was for me to accompany Ms. Shields abroad and poison her food, so she would die quietly and unnoticed. But she never expected Ms. Shields to jump out of the window the day we were supposed to leave, so that plan fell apart.”
As she spoke, her crying grew more frantic and her fear was unmistakable, her voice quivering uncontrollably.
“I’ve been forced into this by those two siblings from the beginning. That Sean doesn’t even know how to handle a scalpel. He only became chief surgeon because Tracie threw money and resources
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his way.”
“Everyone in this hospital knows you‘ re Tracie’s backer. The money and resources are from the Stuart Family! If I wanted to keep my job here, I had no choice but to follow their orders.”
Her words struck Floyd like a series of thunderclaps, leaving him stunned.
It turned out Lumina‘ s injuries had been far worse than he realized.
Every time she cried out in pain, she was begging for his help. But what had he done? He had been a complete fool, blindly led by Tracie and Sean.
At that moment, Floyd’s assistant received
a call.
It was from one of the team members who had joined Floyd and Lumina on the Mount Gravenwood expedition over a month ago.
The call was in response to the request Floyd had made earlier, instructing his
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assistant to thoroughly investigate everything that happened during the expedition.
The team member explained that, in preparation for the trip, he had brought several high–definition recording devices- one mounted on his chest and another attached to his backpack.
Since he only intended to document his own journey and didn’t want to upset anyone, he hadn’t mentioned the recording devices to anyone. He planned to edit footage related only to himself
afterward.
However, while reviewing the footage recently to edit the video, he had found. that the device on his backpack had accidentally captured something unexpected.
At first, he hadn‘ t intended to bring this up, as he didn’t want to cross Tracie. But when the assistant contacted him
yesterday, he knew he had to speak up.
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Soon, Floyd received the video.
Though the angle wasn‘ t perfect, it still clearly captured the entire argument between Lumina and Tracie.
Tracie deliberately approached Lumina, a smug expression on her face as she spoke.
The assistant, who had minored in sign language during college, was able to read her lips clearly. He repeated her words in his mind, matching them to her
movements:
“Your parents must have done something truly vile to end up dying in those mountains, right?”
“I heard their bodies were completely torn apart by wild animals. What a horrific
death. I can only imagine the despicable things they did.”
No sooner had she finished speaking than Tracie stumbled and fell.
As she tumbled, she managed to pull a
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small knife from her pocket and viciously stab herself in the wound.
Then came Floyd, rushing toward them in a fury. Without a word, he slapped Lumina hard across the face.
Poor Lumina never had a chance to defend
herself before Floyd left her alone in that
dark, haunting place.
So this was what had happened.
So *this* was the truth!
No wonder Lumina had cried out, “I 11 never follow you again. I’ll run far away. Please don’t leave me here!”
In that moment, how devastated must she have felt? The person she believed she could trust with her life had abandoned her in Mount Gravenwood–a place so close to where her parents had tragically died. How terrified must she have been?
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