Chapter 414 False Salvation
Chapter 414 False Salvation
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Rowan’s pulse mmed against his ribs as he wheeled toward Quinn, eyes wide with raw shock. “Quinn, please–tell me this isn’t some cruel mistake. Are you saying it’s all true?”
She answered with action, sliding a thin dossier across the table. Inside, Julius‘ exhaustive investigative report waited like a loaded gun.
Rowan flipped through the pages, each rustle sounding like the crack of ice in a deepening winter. If Julius hadpiled this, the chances of forgery were almost nonexistent.
<i>That </i><i>means </i><i>Serena </i><i>can’t </i><i>save </i><i>Lena </i><i>at </i><i>all</i><i>. </i>
He remembered the night Serena had sworn she could rescue Lena, producing a single hospital cross–match result–and he had never checked a thing.
Back then, desperation eclipsed judgment; he cared only that Lena might live, blind to Serena’s character, blind to the need for proof.
Blood shot across Rowan’s eyes as rage tore through the hope he had clung to. “Serena Fane, you lied to me?”
Serena’splexion drained to a ghostly baster. She had never imagined Quinn would out her so bluntly, shredding the lie she’d believed was wless.
She had figured deceiving Rowan alone would suffice.
After all, he was the only one who still fretted over Lena’s fate.
Besides, Lenanguished in far–off Celosia while they stood here in bustling Azania.
<b><i>Julius </i></b><i>had </i><i>somehow </i><i>arranged </i><i>a </i><i>cross</i><i>–</i><i>match </i><i>between </i><i>two </i><i>continents</i>? <i>When </i><i>did </i><i>that </i><i>happen</i>? She dredged her memory and found only emptiness.
Serena straightened her spine, forcing a brittle confidence. “One sheet of paper and suddenly I’m branded a liar? Lena is in Celosia. When exactly did she stand beside me for a blood draw? This report is riddled with questions!”
Rowan pinned Serena with an unblinking stare, yet some fragile part of him prayed she was right. <i>Because </i>if <i>she’s </i><i>lying</i>, what <i>bes </i><i>of </i><i>Lena</i>? <i>Is </i><i>there </i>even time <i>left </i><i>to </i>locate another <i>donor</i><i>, </i><i>to </i><i>run </i><i>fresh </i>tests, to <i>beat </i><i>the </i><i>clock</i><i>? </i>
Quinn broke the hush with crisp certainty, her gaze never leaving Serena. “If we want the truth, we simply run the match again. Since you call Julius‘ report fake, let’s do a new cross-
<b>17:39 </b><b>Sat</b>, <b>Sep </b>20 N
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Chapter 414 False Salvation
match–right now.”
Panic skittered across Serena’s voice. “W–Why should I be retested?”
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Quinn’s reply was ice wrapped in velvet. “You’re not willing to? Then your promise <b>to </b>save Lena was never more than smoke. Keep this up, Serena, and you’ll spend the rest of your days in an Azanian cell.”
The color drained from Serena’s face yet again; options narrowed like closing jaws. She told herself she had to reach Celosia first, no matter the cost.
She forced a new argument, voice trembling but urgent. “Fine–run your tests, but grant me bail so I can fly to Celosia. Lena is there, and I’m eager to donate my stem cells.”
Quinn shook her head, reply calm and merciless. “No need. We’ll draw your blood here, courier it to a high–resolution HLAb, and confirm the match. If you’re trulypatible, you’ll be on the first ne to Celosia.”
Serena fixed Quinn with a stare so vicious it cut through the stale interrogation–room air. “Quinn, why can’t you just be dead? If you were gone, everything–absolutely everything- would fall perfectly into ce!”
In Serena’s frantic calctions, a corpse would leave no witnesses. Her neat fiction would never be exposed. She could board the first flight back to Celosia and someday im the Fane family’s throne she coveted.
Now, that fragile blueprint <iy </i>in ruins, toppled by the very woman standing across from her.
Across the room, Rowan felt thest shard of hope inside him shatter like ss against
concrete.
The instant Serena spat out those poisonous words, Rowan understood–every soothing promise she had made before was nothing but a clumsy, gilded lie.
“Serena Fane, you deserve to die!” A roar tore from Rowan’s throat. He lunged, fingers mping around Serena’s neck with a strength born of heartbreak and rage.
Uniformed officers rushed forward, boots skidding across the linoleum as they shouted for him to stand down.
They pried, yanked, begged, yet Rowan’s hands were iron manacles. Not a single finger budged.
His eyes burned scarlet, fixed on Serena as though she were the source of every darkness in his life. “You’re the one who should die. If it weren’t for you-”
<b>17:39 </b>Sat, Sep 20 <b>N </b>
Chapter 414 False Salvation
(44<b>) </b>
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If it weren’t for Serena, he would never have thrown himself in front of a bullet meant for her, leaving Quinn bleeding beside him. Quinn would never have dragged Serena out of the fire, smoke scorched into her lungs, life hanging by a thread.
Lena, who had beamed with joy when she learned there might be a donor, would not be staring down a fresh abyss of despair.
All of it–every drop of blood, every broken promise–sprang from one single fabrication Serena spun without remorse.
Serena’s face turned an rming crimson. She wed at Rowan’s wrists, but his grip remained immovable, denying her even a sip of air.
“Rowan!” Quinn surged forward, locking both hands around Rowan’s tense wrist. “She is not worth a prison sentence. Lena is still in Celosia, waiting for you.”