Chapter 617:

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“Garrett! Calm down! You can’t kill him here!” Sterling yelled, horrified. He had never seen this side of Garrett.

Casey was more direct. He grabbed Garrett’s arm and tried to pry his fingers loose. “Sir! Let go! Miss Frye needs you! You can’t do this!”

The name Amelia was a bucket of ice water on his burning rage.

Garrett’s body went rigid. His grip on the man’s throat finally loosened.

Casey and Sterling pulled them apart.

о𝘳𝗴а𝗇𝘪𝗓𝖾 𝘆𝘰𝘂𝘳 𝗅𝗶𝖻r𝗮rу 𝗼𝗇 𝘨a𝗅n𝘰𝘃𝖾𝗅𝗌.с𝗼𝘮

The imposter collapsed to the ground, coughing violently, but a twisted, triumphant smile spread across his face. He had succeeded. He had made Garrett Thornton lose control in public.

Garrett didn’t spare him another glance. He stumbled back against the wall, his hands shaking so badly he could barely hold his phone as he dialed Amelia’s number.

He needed to hear her voice. He had to hear it now.

The phone rang and rang. Just as despair began to set in, the call was answered.

Garrett’s heart was in his throat. He pressed the phone to his ear, his voice raspy with tension. “Amelia?”

A chaotic wash of background noise, the sounds of a hospital, came through the line, followed by an unfamiliar woman’s voice, choked with tears. “Hello? Is this… Mr. Thornton?”

Not Amelia. Garrett’s heart plummeted. “Who is this? Where’s Amelia? Put her on the phone!”

The woman on the other end was Nina Webb, the assistant Clarence had assigned to Amelia. She was terrified by the surgery, by Amelia’s critical condition.

“Mr. Thornton…” Nina sobbed. “Amelia… she’s not… she’s not doing well. She’s in the hospital…” Following Clarence’s orders, she couldn’t give details, and her words came out vague and panicked.

Hospital. Brice had been telling the truth. The world tilted, and Garrett had to brace himself against the wall to keep from falling.

“What happened to her? What hospital?” he roared into the phone.

His anger only made Nina more incoherent. “I… I can’t say… Mr. Clarence said…”

The name Clarence hit Garrett like a fist. His brother knew. He knew, and he had hidden it from him.

A wave of betrayal washed over him, but he forced it down. He had to get to her. He made his voice a command. “Put the doctor on the phone. Now.”

Nina hesitated, then passed the phone to a nearby nurse.

The nurse’s voice was professional and detached. “Sir, the patient has just come out of emergency surgery. Her vital signs are stable for now, but she remains in the intensive care unit for observation.”

“Surgery?”

A roaring sound filled Garrett’s ears and his legs gave out. If Casey hadn’t been there to catch him, he would have collapsed onto the cold, wet stone.

The pain in his leg, a dull throb before, had turned to searing agony after the violent confrontation, but he couldn’t feel it. All he felt was a soul-deep terror.

He hung up, his eyes wild and red, and looked at Casey. “Get the car. We’re going to the hospital.”

Casey’s face was a mask of conflict and misery. “Sir, Mr. Clarence said—”

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