Blair's brows furrowed tightly. "What do you mean?"
"You don't know? So Wesley didn't tell you what mission he was part of? He and Carlos embarked on a manhunt for those gangsters who tried to kill me. It's a large criminal organization with a ton of illegal weapons. Wesley and Carlos may not survive!" Megan continued speaking in a smug tone, her voice betraying not the slightest trace of sadness.
Blair was so pissed she gripped her phone tightly, hand trembling. She shot to her feet and walked to a quiet corner, and then roared, "Megan Lan! You're a garbage human! They're risking their lives to help you, but all you're doing is bragging about it! It's like they're your toys!"
"So what?" Megan was happy to hear Blair go off like that. Debbie had slapped her face earlier. Now she had someone she could take out her anger on.
"Megan Lan! Wesley and Carlos have cared for you forever, so why don't you seem to care about them?" Blair felt sorry for the two of them. After everything they did for her, she still wasn't grateful.
"Care about them? When my parents died for them, they felt sorry for me and fostered me. But what about now? Thanks to you and Debbie, they always pawn me off on the bodyguards. They don't care about me anymore! They're the ones who made me an orphan!"
Flames of fury burning in her eyes, Blair retorted, "You brought this on yourself. You played dirty tricks and stirred up trouble for everyone. Megan, if you were nice, even Debbie and I would care about you. Things could have been good. But it's all on you now!"
"Why should I be nice? Give me one good reason! Why should I let them be happy? I laugh when they're sad! My parents died for them! But they're still alive. Why?" Megan suddenly burst into a fit of wild laughter, sounding like a lunatic. "I was spoiled by the four most respected men in the city. Everyone admired me. It felt good—really good. But you and Debbie showed up and changed everything. I'm not the only girl in their lives now. I'm so pissed!"
"You know, I think Debbie was on to something! I want to strangle you, too!" Blair cursed between gritted teeth. She was usually calm, even-tempered. Now all she felt was white-hot rage.
"Strangle me? If you lay a finger on me, Wesley will never forgive you. So go ahead, if you want to lose the love of your life. I was there long before you! You can't have my place in his heart. He'd risk his life for me. Would he do the same for you?"
"It's his duty. He's supposed to risk his life to save people. It doesn't mean you're special. But he deserves your respect and gratitude. It's not something you should brag about to others just to make you feel better!" Blair felt her heart ache for Wesley. He might be hurt, all for this ungrateful bitch!
"Humph, whatever! Oh, I forgot to tell you. Damon called Debbie a bit ago. He told her that Wesley and Carlos were wounded and are in emergency surgery. They're in a military hospital. Why don't you go check on him? Hurry up, or you might be saying goodbye to his corpse!"
Megan let out a happy laugh before hanging up.
'Emergency surgery?' Blair's heart skipped a beat. Her whole body shuddered, but she tried her best to compose herself, trying to clear her head so she could think about what to do next.
She called her superior to ask for time off. Getting the approval, she returned to her office desk and grabbed her purse. Then, she called Adalson. "Uncle, you have a list of all the military hospitals in Y City?"
"I do, but we won't need it. Wesley was transferred to the hospital you stayed at last time. I'm heading over there, too. Blair…" Adalson paused.
The silence on the other end made Blair nervous again. Tears sprang to her eyes as she sobbed, "Uncle…"
Adalson sighed and said in a low voice, "I'm not gonna lie to you. It sounds bad."
Blair was unable to say another word, tears streaming down her cheeks.
When Blair arrived at the hospital, she saw the whole ground floor was a mess. In the hallway, there was a surgical glove here, a gauze pad there. They'd mopped up most of the blood, but there was still a red spiderweb of stains, a grisly reminder of the violence. Some soldiers screamed in pain when the doctors applied medicine to their wounds.
Blair stood still in a daze, watching the doctors and nurses scrambling to and fro to handle the patients. She didn't know where Wesley was. She didn't even know who to ask.
As she anxiously scanned the room, she spotted Damon, who wore an expression of worry. His clothes were torn and bloodstained, too. Immediately, she dashed towards him and clutched his arm, saying in a shaky voice, "Mr. Han."
Damon raised his head. "Blair, calm down. Wesley's in the operating room."
"O-operating… room…" she stammered, holding back her tears. "Where's that?"
"I'll take you there." Damon led Blair to the operating room where Wesley was. The doors were closed and the red light was still on. Blair waited at the door, seeing some nurses rush in and out, bearing more blood bags.
Damon told her, "Wesley and Carlos are both gravely injured. I already called Niles. But I won't tell Grandpa Keith or his parents right now. We don't know anything yet."
Blair nodded. "He'll…pull it through, right? He'll be…fine?" She found it hard to finish a full sentence.
Unlike his usual playful self, Damon now looked very serious when he spoke. "You know it's serious when they're in surgery. But they've been in worse scrapes. They'll be fine," he said firmly.
His assurance lifted Blair's mood a little.
Wesley's men were wounded too. At first, a few soldiers with minor injuries stood guard outside the doors, but Adalson ordered them to leave and get their wounds tended to.
When Niles arrived, he saw Blair sitting down, face ghastly pale. Adalson sat beside her, speaking words of comfort.
"Hey, Uncle Adalson. How's my brother?" Niles was still in his white doctor's gown. He was getting practical training at another hospital when Damon called. He didn't even take the time to change his clothes and hurried there. The young doctor wore a solemn look on his pale face.
Adalson tried to calm down the young. "Be patient. He's still in surgery."
"How long has he been in there?"
"More than two hours…" Adalson sighed.
Niles stayed quiet. He waited there with them, but he'd never been known to be patient.
Blair had sat so long, her legs were numb. But Wesley was still in surgery.
In the middle of the surgery, a doctor emerged from the OR, and asked Niles to sign a few papers. Blair saw one of them was the written notice of the patient's critical condition. Seeing that Blair was almost on the brink of a meltdown, Niles tried to tell a few jokes to cheer her up. He told her that every member of the Li family had signed a "critical condition notice" for Wesley in the past, but each time, Wesley would pull through.
Later, Adalson got a call and he had to exit the hospital, leaving Blair and Niles there.
The soldiers with minor injuries all came to the operating room after they had their wounds treated. Blair saw Talbot, Bowman, and a few others she didn't know. They all looked a mess, and their clothes were stained with blood.
Talbot's arm was bandaged, his face bruised and torn. He looked pretty bad, but he was still not as bad off as Carlos or Wesley.
Some soldiers who had leg injuries limped all the way to the operating room. They all stood in front of the doors and waited for Wesley.
Blair had adjusted her emotions. Now she was calm, and it was her turn to comfort Niles. He'd become agitated and paced back and forth. "Don't worry, Niles. They said they already patched them up as best as they could."
Niles stamped his foot and plopped back in the seat.
It was dark outside before the light above the operating room finally shut off.
A few doctors came out, all looking exhausted. The soldiers immediately rushed over and surrounded the doctors, asking anxiously, "How's the chief?"
"Is it serious? When will he wake up?"
