Chantelle paused briefly. She chewed slowly, thinking about his question. Then she smiled.
"It was alright, I guess. When you’ve faced death, you start to see every day as a gift. Life doesn’t feel so hard when you think like that."
She gave him a warm smile, then went back to eating.
"I..." Daniel felt a sharp pain in his chest. Hearing Chantelle speak so calmly about something so painful broke his heart.
It was like she was telling someone else’s story. He wanted to say sorry, but the words wouldn’t come.
What could he even say, when everything she had been through was because of him?
Just then, the door flew open and Thea rushed in.
"Oh my God, Chantie! You’re awake! You scared the heck out of me!" she cried as she ran over and wrapped Chantelle in a tight hug.
"I’m alright, Thea, but my omelet won’t be if you don’t let go soon!" Chantelle teased her and tried to keep her tray balanced.
"Fine, fine. Looks like you only care about Daniel now, huh?" Thea said with mock jealousy. "Now I’m even below an omelet on your list. Please don’t tell me Daniel made it. I might cry!"
"Umm... he did," Chantelle said sheepishly.
"It’s actually pretty good. Want a bite?" she offered with a small smile.
Thea felt like Chantelle’s words had hit her right across the face.
"You girls go ahead and talk. I’m going to find Philip. I’ll stop by again tonight," Daniel said, taking the chance to leave. He was secretly overjoyed after hearing from Thea that Chantelle still cared about him.
Chantelle caught the smug look on his face. She knew he was probably off in his own world again, thinking too highly of himself.
Still, maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing for him to know how she felt. She had once loved him so deeply, it cost a life. So, it’s reasonable for her to be cautious now.
Outside the room, Ashton came rushing up to Daniel.
"Sir, you were right. There’s a hidden path under the mountain lake. Lone Wolf must’ve escaped through it," he reported.
"Send in the special forces. I want him to be captured alive," Daniel ordered.
"Yes, Sir. I’ll get on it! But Sir, didn’t you say Lone Wolf would come to us if he was still alive? Why do we need to find him first?" Ashton asked, curious.
The Wilsons only used the special forces in rare, serious cases. For Daniel to call them to do the task, something major must have happened.
"He has something I need. Just do what I said," Daniel replied firmly.
Seeing Daniel’s serious face, Ashton didn’t ask any more questions. He left right away to carry out the order.
After Ashton left, Daniel took the elevator to the top floor. That’s where the director’s office was located.
This hospital was a branch of Easthan Community Hospital. It was a public research facility, but rich donors funded it.
Most patients here were either from powerful families or had rare, complicated illnesses.
The top floor had the director’s office, a resting lounge, and several advanced medical labs—just like the ones Philip Collins used.
Russell Jones was just as passionate about medicine as Philip. But Russell was better at managing people and pushing new ideas.
Under his leadership, the labs had trained many talented young doctors. Russell was skilled, but his real strength was building a strong team.
Each doctor had their own specialty, and Russell knew how to bring them together.
When Philip first saw the teamwork in Russell’s lab, he felt a bit jealous. He had always worked alone.
But today, he had no time to think about that. He had just received Chantelle’s lab results.
He and Russell stayed inside the office, going over the data.
When Daniel walked in, the two men were seated quietly in front of a computer, staring at a screen full of numbers and charts.
"Philip, any update?" Daniel’s voice snapped Philip out of his thoughts.
"Yes... uhh, no... not really..." Philip mumbled, nodding one second and shaking his head the next.
"Yes or no?" Daniel asked sharply, clearly losing patience. He turned to Russell. "Russell, you tell me."
"Hmm... yes and no," Russell said, sounding unsure, but clearly agreeing with Philip.
Daniel’s face became even more serious.
Seeing Daniel’s face darken, Philip quickly shook himself awake and sat up straight.
"Daniel, don’t worry too much. For now, we can confirm that Chantelle is okay," Philip said. But his tone wasn’t as light as usual.
"Yes, Daniel. There’s nothing wrong with her at the moment," Russell added with a nod.
"At the moment? What does that mean?" Daniel asked nervously.
"Based on her lab results, it looks like Chantelle is dealing with post-traumatic effects. They cause sudden seizures. She had a serious one recently. In most cases, it would have been fatal. But her body had small traces of a drug that helped stop the seizure," Russell explained. "The drug only helps for a short time. It doesn’t fix the problem. And if she keeps taking it, the side effects could get worse. That’s why she was bleeding and passed out."
"Post-traumatic effects... a recent seizure...?" Daniel repeated, growing more anxious.
His mind went back to that phone call—the day he took Kane away. Chantelle had gone silent, and he thought she was just accepting defeat. But when he rushed to find her, there had been a car crash.
That was when Lone Wolf took her.
He was the reason Chantelle had a seizure while driving.
He was the reason she got kidnapped.
He was the one who gave Lone Wolf the chance to drug her and make everything worse.
Daniel’s heart pounded as the heavy guilt crashed down on him. Something rose in his throat, hot and tasted metallic.
Without warning, he bent over and coughed up a mouthful of blood onto the floor.
"Daniel!" Philip shouted, stunned.
"Sir!" Russell called out in panic.
Philip rushed to catch Daniel before he collapsed onto the floor.
"Daniel, don’t worry. I swear—we’ll do everything we can to help Chantelle get better!" he said quickly, trying to calm him down.
Russell came over too. Together, they helped Daniel sit on the couch and gave him space to breathe.
Slowly, the redness in his eyes faded, and the veins in his neck stopped pulsing.