Love beyond the mask (Whitney)



Sammy slipped into the room, clutching the smartphone his mom had given him. The sight of a nurse standing by his grandmother's bedside caught him off guard.

Just moments ago, he had pretended to be his older brother, Danny, using every trick in the book to shoo away the security and medical staff on this floor. He did all this just to have a moment of privacy to connect his grandma with his mom via video call.

"Grandma..." The little guy sprinted over to her.

At the sight of her grandson, Natalie's expression changed. She struggled to rise from the bed, reaching out as if to warn him of some danger. Her mouth opened, but only a strained "No" escaped.

Yet, Sammy had already made his way to the other side of the bed, leaving Natalie with no choice but to fix her gaze on the 'nurse' and instinctively shield her grandson behind her.

"What's wrong, Grandma?" Sammy asked, puzzled by her odd behavior.

His eyes then shifted to the masked nurse. "Nurse, could you give us a moment alone? I need to talk to my grandma."

He pulled out the smartphone, ready to make the call the moment the nurse left. But the nurse didn't budge.

Frowning in confusion, Sammy took another look.

Natalie's grip on his hand tightened, trying to pull him back.Material © of NôvelDrama.Org.

But her strength was failing.

Sammy, wise beyond his years, sensed something was amiss. Why wasn't this nurse moving? And why was she radiating such a cold aura, her eyes fixed on him in such a strange way?

"Nurse?" Sammy tried again, his voice rising in uncertainty.

But then it hit him. Something was very wrong.

With lightning speed, he darted towards the nurse, leaping onto the bed in an attempt to yank off her mask. "You're not a nurse! Who are you?!" "You little nuisance!" The woman, Elaine, snarled, her voice dropping as she shoved Sammy to the floor.

"Ah..." Natalie screamed.

Elaine quickly covered her mouth, her eyes darting to the door as Sammy struggled to his feet, blood trickling from his forehead.

Natalie, frantic and heartbroken, urged him to cry out for help with her eyes.

But Sammy didn't run. He'd already sent the hospital's security on a wild chase to get in, leaving him without immediate backup. He decided to stand his ground.

"This woman... Elaine, it's you, isn't it?" Sammy's voice was filled with accusation. "You're here to hurt Grandma! Mom was right about you!" As he spoke, Sammy charged at her, using every bit of his self-taught fighting skills, hurling anything within reach and biting whenever he could. "You're not Daniel..." Elaine realized, taken aback by the boy's unexpected strength. This was not the frail Danny she had anticipated but rather a formidable opponent in young Sammy.

Realizing her cover was blown, Elaine knew fleeing was no longer an option. With security likely compromised and her presence known, she had to take drastic measures.

In a heated moment of panic and rage, Elaine made her decision. Overpowering a child was one thing, but now she had to act fast.

Sammy took the brunt of her fury, tossed against the sharp edges of the bed, his cries piercing the tense silence.

"Grandma," the grandmother whimpered, struggling to rise.

Elaine, her face a mask of twisted fury, dialed her accomplice, Delphine. "Destroy the hallway cameras. Plan's blown. I have to take them both now. Get ready."

With Sammy attempting to make a call for help, Elaine snatched away the phone, her eyes scanning for an escape route. Deciding on a desperate measure, she dragged Sammy to the window, overlooking the hospital's secluded garden. It was a risky move, but it might just work.

"Walk out now," she hissed at Natalie, "or the boy dies."

Faced with an impossible choice, Natalie, tears streaming down her face, made her way to the door, each step a testament to her despair.

Elaine, seizing the moment, tossed Sammy out the window and into the garden below before making her escape.

Back in her apartment, Whitney sensed something was terribly wrong as the video call from Sammy abruptly ended, not once but twice. Panic set in as she realized her son and mother were in grave danger.

Whitney grabbed her coat and dashed out without a second thought, driving as fast as she could towards Skyfaith Hospital.

Upon arrival, she found herself unable to access the second floor where the inpatient wards were. The place was buzzing with medical staff running around frantically, hinting at some major crisis unfolding upstairs.

She tried reaching Sammy over and over, pacing anxiously in the lobby.

Just as she was about to defy the rules and charge upstairs, a towering figure stumbled through the hospital's front doors amidst the pouring rain. It was Ludwik, looking utterly disheveled and pale as death.

The hospital director hurried over, panting, "Mr. Lippert, Mr. Lippert, I honestly have no idea how Mrs. Lippert disappeared... and how she ended up being kidnapped?"

The bodyguards mentioned that Sammy, the young master, had sent them away around three o'clock. They had to obey him, being both the bodyguards and nursing staff.

"I've just checked the surveillance footage. There's a gap of about twenty minutes after three o'clock, and I can't figure out why. I'm trying to get in touch with our security department to solve this... Oh!"

Ludwik, in a fit of rage, kicked the director aside.

Whitney's face turned ghostly white. Natalie kidnapped? Then, what about her Sammy...

"Is everyone dead? Find them, find them!" Ludwik was in utter panic. Amidst this chaos, his gaze fell on Whitney, who was fidgeting with her phone, looking up towards the wards in desperation.

Why was she here at the exact moment his mother was kidnapped? What was she trying to find out?

Ludwik strode over, seizing Whitney by the wrist with a terrifying, ice-cold glare. "Was it you?"