Ruby Grant, Is That You?
16: Chapter 16: Caleb Lawford Gave Chase!
Ruby Grant, Is That You?
Ruby Grant’s face was etched with anxiety as she cradled Ceci’s small body, her heart aching.
Ceci had been somewhat conscious before, occasionally furrowing her brows or sniffling, but now her eyes were shut tight, her eyelashes utterly still.
She frantically touched Ceci’s forehead.
It was even hotter, so hot it felt like it could melt her palm!
Ruby Grant looked around frantically at the now-empty waiting area, a chill seeping into her heart.
‘Caleb Lawford, if anything happens to Ceci, I’ll drag you to hell with me!’
‘She’s still so young!
Caleb Lawford, wasn’t tormenting the first half of my life enough for you?
Now even Ceci has to suffer because of you!’
Ruby Grant ground her teeth in hatred.
Steeling herself, she strode toward the hospital elevators.
But the doctors who had just swarmed out surged back like a tide.
Holding her child, Ruby Grant was instantly swallowed by the crowd, forced to use her arms to shield the baby in her embrace.
They jostled against each other, an unusually large and imposing procession.
The doctors were all extremely excited, waving the crowd away like bodyguards.
They showed no mercy to Ruby Grant, who was blocking their path.
Ruby Grant was pushed until she was dizzy, feeling countless hands shoving her shoulders and back.
The thin air made Ceci uncomfortable, her eyes squinting open a blurry slit as she let out a weak, wailing cry.
She wanted to take the stairs instead, but there was no way to turn back.
“Be good, Ceci.
Don’t cry, don’t cry.”
Ruby Grant cooed softly, her arms forming a tight, protective circle around Ceci.
“Get out of the way!
If you delay President Lawford and Miss Grant’s examination, you won’t be able to afford the consequences!”
The hospital director in the lead was drawn by the crying.
He glanced dismissively at the simple, cheap clothes on the baby in Ruby Grant’s arms and shoved her aside in annoyance.
Ruby Grant staggered from the forceful push.
The moment she heard the title “President Lawford,” she froze on the spot.
And in that stunned moment, she saw the two people being fawned over in the center of the crowd.
Yana Grant was in a wheelchair, her smooth, fair calves exposed, with a single bandage on her ankle.
Caleb Lawford was pushing Yana Grant’s wheelchair, while his assistant and Yana’s maid followed in step behind them.
“Caleb, it’s just a little scrape.
If my stomach wasn’t hurting and I wasn’t worried about an infection, we wouldn’t need to go to all this trouble.”
Yana Grant blushed, her eyes filled with honeyed affection.
She shyly glanced up at Caleb Lawford beside her before lowering her head with a small smile.
Caleb Lawford’s voice was deep, his expression cool and aloof.
“Have the hospital’s best doctors hold a consultation.
A full check-up will be more reassuring.”
“You are The Lawford Group’s chief counsel.
For you, this is nothing.”
Yana Grant stared at his face, mesmerized, her heart pounding in her chest.
Listening to their exchange and seeing their reactions to one another, the director’s eyes lit up.
His gaze darted between the two, a shrewd ‘I know what’s going on’ look on his face.
“President Lawford must be deeply in love with Miss Grant!”
At his words, Yana Grant’s face grew even redder.
She gave the director a playful glare and mumbled, “What nonsense are you talking about?”
Though she verbally chided the director, her gaze fell upon Caleb Lawford, expectant and nervous, exceptionally curious about his reaction.
Seeing that Yana Grant seemed to enjoy his comment, the director was about to praise them further with phrases like “a match made in heaven,” but then he saw Caleb Lawford’s gaze drop and look away coolly.
“Don’t speak nonsense.
This is just for an employee.”
The words died on the director’s lips.
He shrank back resentfully.
“Oh, right!”
‘I’m such an idiot.
Even if President Lawford is interested in Miss Grant, everyone knows he has a wife!
And here I am, teasing him and Miss Grant in front of everyone!’
‘Who am I to comment on President Lawford’s private affairs?’
The director belatedly broke into a cold sweat.
Ruby Grant’s gaze pierced through the crowd, fixed on the two people at its center.
Her vision turned to shades of gray, and the overwhelming noise seemed to render her deaf.
The only color she could see was Yana Grant’s face, flushed pink like a spring peach in March.
Their blatant intimacy in front of everyone made her, the still-legal wife, feel like an even bigger joke.
But she no longer held any girlish affection for Caleb Lawford, only hatred.
‘I hate that he’s the president of a major corporation, yet he uses his power to crush the lives of ordinary people.’
‘His own daughter!’
Ceci burned in her arms, her little face—a mirror image of Caleb Lawford’s—streaked with tears.
Her grape-like eyes, brimming with tears, watched the spectacle alongside Ruby Grant…
‘Even when I was The Lawford Group’s chief counsel, I never received such favorable treatment from him.’
‘It’s the difference between being loved and not being loved, I suppose.’
Ruby Grant bit her lip, the strands of hair falling before her eyes hiding the self-mockery swirling within them.
Ruby Grant’s plain clothes stood out starkly among the sea of white coats.
Caleb Lawford’s gaze shifted from Yana Grant, and he immediately spotted the figure in the corner.
A sense of profound familiarity washed over him, and Caleb Lawford narrowed his cold eyes.
The woman only showed a sliver of her fair profile.
Although she was far away, he could almost see the mockery beneath her lowered eyelashes.
Caleb Lawford’s heart skipped a beat, and the color of his eyes deepened abruptly.
His breath caught in his throat.
The next moment, he saw the woman turn and walk away.
‘Ceci’s fever isn’t breaking.
If I don’t do something soon, her life could be in danger!’
‘I can’t wait any longer!’
Ruby Grant forced her thoughts away from her hatred for Caleb Lawford and decided to take a taxi back to the employee dorms.
The figure’s sudden disappearance gave Caleb Lawford a pang of anxiety.
He paused, and the next second, his tall frame abruptly pushed through the crowd, striding after the woman!
‘Ruby Grant!’
He ran all the way to the nurses’ station at the hospital exit but couldn’t find any sign of her.
The cold wind whipped at his dark, high-end custom suit jacket.
Caleb Lawford clenched his fists.
He was panting slightly, and for a moment, he wondered if his frantic search for her had caused him to hallucinate.
“So pitiful.
That woman’s child has a high fever, but she ran into this whole mess and had to leave with her baby.”
At that moment, the entire hospital’s focus was on Yana Grant, so the nurses’ station was particularly idle.
The sound of their gossip reached Caleb Lawford’s ears.
Caleb Lawford’s eyes twitched, and his breathing gradually slowed.
‘A child…
Ruby Grant couldn’t have a child.’
Confirming that the figure wasn’t Ruby Grant, Caleb Lawford rubbed his brow, chalking it up to a hallucination caused by too much stress recently.
He let out a breath, only to look up and see Yana Grant approaching in her wheelchair, pushed by someone else.
“Weren’t you going into the examination room?”
Caleb Lawford adjusted his breathing and spoke in a gentle voice.
But Yana Grant gave him an aggrieved, mournful look.
“But you were leaving.
You know how much I hate going to the hospital for check-ups alone, Caleb.”
She saw that he was distracted and hadn’t immediately comforted her as he usually would.
“What’s wrong?”
Noticing something was off about him, she craned her neck to look in the direction he was facing.
Seeing nothing unusual, she could only ask in confusion.
“I was mistaken.
I thought I saw someone I knew.”
Caleb Lawford said calmly, reaching out to take over pushing Yana Grant’s wheelchair.
“Oh, I see.”
Yana Grant nodded, only half-understanding.
Before being pushed into the examination room, she glanced back one more time.
After leaving the hospital, Ruby Grant frantically hailed a taxi and jumped in.
The window was half-open, and the wind from the car’s sudden acceleration stung her cheeks, but she didn’t seem to notice, single-mindedly urging the driver to speed up.