Private Marriage, Secret Love-Chapter 72: Who Is She Again?

"Did you really ask her to come to the room?"

Ethan Lancaster spread his hands. "Nope."

"You should have just ignored whatever she said. Why did you even engage with her?"

Ethan Lancaster’s legs bounced idly. "I didn’t engage, and I didn’t pay her any mind. She just barged in and started stripping without a word. Scared the hell out of me."

As he said this, the man sat up and pulled Raina Reddington’s hand to his chest. "I’ve never seen anything like it. My heart is still pounding."

Raina Reddington tried to pull her hand away, but couldn’t. "I saw the video. You two were talking. If you’d had anything decent to say, she wouldn’t have gone that far."

"So I can get her to strip with just a few words? The Reddington family’s upbringing doesn’t seem all that great, does it?"

Raina sat down beside him, and Ethan immediately pulled her into his arms. "Isn’t this exactly what she did to you back then?"

"This is one of those moves that hurts you far more than anyone else. Did you really think this would be good for your reputation?"

Ethan was unconcerned. "Since when has my reputation ever been good?"

"That’s true."

Ethan wrapped his arms around her, pulling her down onto the large bed. "Time to sleep."

It was Raina’s single bed, making it a tight squeeze for two. Ethan didn’t just hold her with his arms; he also wrapped his legs around her. Raina didn’t get a wink of sleep all night.

The next morning, Mia Reddington was nowhere to be seen at the breakfast table. Ethan figured she didn’t have the nerve to show her face.

After breakfast, Ethan Lancaster took Raina Reddington home. No one from the Reddington Family asked them to stay.

Zion Lancaster was still living at home. The York Family had come by more than once, trying everything from persuasion to threats, but her heart had grown cold. She was dead set on a divorce.

After lunch at the Lancaster estate, the moment they put down their utensils, Raina Reddington got a call from the hospital.

Ethan Lancaster saw her jump up, snatching her purse and coat from the rack as she rushed for the door. "Grandpa, Dad, Mom, I’m so sorry. There’s an emergency at the hospital. I have to go."

"An emergency during the New Year holiday?" Jessica Jacobs said, but she still grabbed a couple of snacks from the table and pressed them into Raina’s hand. "Be back early tonight."

"Okay."

It was New Year’s Eve, so Ethan Lancaster had given all his staff the day off. He drove Raina Reddington to the hospital. She was in such a hurry she left without a moment to spare.

Raina Reddington went straight to the operating room, where a nurse was waiting for her at the door.

"What’s the situation?"

"These young girls..." The nurse trailed off with a sigh. "She took abortion pills at home. Almost died. She started hemorrhaging on the way over and is still unconscious."

Raina Reddington walked into the emergency room and saw a frail, petite figure lying on the bed. As she got closer, she saw the girl’s face was drained of all color. Raina recognized her and gently patted her cheek. "Minnie."

"Dr. Reddington, you know her?"

Raina touched the girl’s forehead. "Let’s begin."

Ethan Lancaster waited in the car, but he grew impatient after a while and went into the hospital’s outpatient waiting area.

’There’s probably no one more pathetic than me on New Year’s Eve,’ he thought. ’What kind of woman did I marry? Everyone else is out partying their asses off, and here I am, waiting for my wife to finish overtime at the hospital.’

But then, the word "wife" came to mind, and Ethan Lancaster couldn’t help but smile.

He stood watch for a while but didn’t see Raina Reddington. A nurse happened to walk over. "Oh, you’re Dr. Reddington’s husband, right? Waiting to take her home?"

"Yes. Isn’t her surgery over yet?"

"It’s finished. She went to the patient’s room. Fifteenth floor of the inpatient ward."

Ethan Lancaster found the ward and began searching, checking the room numbers one by one.

Raina Reddington had drawn the privacy curtain around the bed nearest the door. She looked at the girl, who seemed to want to avoid her gaze and turned her face away.

"What happened?"

Minnie Hale just shook her head, unwilling to talk.

"This is serious. I’m going to have to call your parents."

"No!" Minnie Hale scrambled to sit up. "Raina, please don’t."

Raina was fuming. She had seen countless cases like this, but this was someone she knew. "Do you have any idea how much danger you were in today? You were *this close*," she said, her voice tight, "just a tiny bit away from us not being able to save your uterus. How old even are you? You almost lost the ability to ever be a mother."

Tears streamed down Minnie Hale’s face. "Whatever. It wouldn’t matter if I died."

"What are you talking about? And it’s the New Year holiday, why aren’t you home?"

Minnie Hale pulled the blanket up higher. "Just leave me alone."

"Minnie, we practically grew up together. You’re younger than me, but you always liked to tag along and play. If you’re in some kind of trouble, you can tell me. I’ll help you."

Minnie Hale shook her head. "You’ve already fronted the money for my medical bills and done the surgery. I’m so, so grateful. But please, you absolutely can’t tell my parents. I couldn’t bear it if they found out..."

Ethan Lancaster reached the hospital room door just as a family member of another patient pushed it open to go inside. He spotted Raina Reddington at once.

"Why aren’t you out yet?" Ethan Lancaster took a couple of steps inside. Hearing his voice, Raina turned her head. "How did you find this place?"

"The surgery’s over, isn’t it? Look at the time." As Ethan Lancaster spoke, Minnie Hale, who was in the bed, stared at him for two or three full seconds. Suddenly, as if she’d lost her mind, she yanked the blanket over her head. "Don’t come here! Go away! Both of you, go away!"

"Minnie?" Seeing her agitation, Raina put a hand on her shoulder. "What’s wrong?"

"Make him leave! Go—"

Ethan Lancaster pointed to himself, and Raina looked just as confused. "Okay, okay, I’ll have him leave right now."

With that, she waved at Ethan. He walked slowly to the door but didn’t leave right away, stopping to stand in the doorway instead.

Minnie Hale peeked out from under the blanket, her small, delicate features now clearly visible. Her eyes met Ethan Lancaster’s, and she started kicking her legs in a panic. "Go away! Get out! Don’t come over here!"

Ethan Lancaster stepped outside. A moment later, Raina Reddington came out.

"Who was that?"

"A girl who used to be my neighbor." Raina Reddington glanced back, lost in thought.

"What happened to her?"

Raina walked a few steps ahead. "She had an unwanted pregnancy and nearly died trying to self-induce an abortion with pills."

"She looked pretty young."

"Yeah." The Minnie Hale in Raina’s memory was still a bubbly, innocent little girl. She had contacted Raina once after moving here for school, but Raina had been so busy they’d only managed to squeeze in a quick dinner. "She’s still a student."

Ethan Lancaster was walking behind her, and when she suddenly stopped, he almost bumped right into her.

She spun around and stared at him. "Minnie doesn’t know you, so why was she so scared of you? She didn’t have that reaction to anyone else. Have you two met before?"