Love Beyond the Mask novel Chapter 105

The assistant peered down at the photograph of Whitney, and her hands trembled ever so slightly. She lifted her eyes to Elaine, knowing this was no laughing matter.

Clearly, Elaine had been plotting this for a long time. Despite her young age, it was terrifying how cunning and malicious she was.

Elaine leaned back into her leather chair, gazing out the window at the cars scurrying like ants below. A sly smirk crept across her face. "Time to spring Whitney from her gilded cage," she said.

"Check on the schedule for the doctor who's attending to Mr. Lippert's mother in her cottage retreat. Find out when he's off-duty," Elaine commanded.

The assistant quickly responded, flipping through her notes with practiced ease.

Elaine chuckled lowly, a sinister plan clearly forming in her mind. "And get me a burner phone," she added.

...

As per routine, Taryn delivered meals to Whitney on the sixth day. Natalie's villa was nestled behind the golf course, a fair distance from the main manor.

It was a considerate gesture from Mr. Lippert, who wanted his mother to convalesce in peace, the forest air rich with oxygen.

But now, with Whitney confined by Ludwik and Natalie oblivious to her plight, the help from both households remained unaware of each other's affairs.

Today, the day the doctor was off-duty, Xandra had been reassigned to fill in.

Around noon, with her health seemingly stable, Natalie retired upstairs and received an unexpected call from an unknown number that reeked of telemarketing.

She answered the phone with her usual warmth. "Hello?"

"Natalie!" The sing-song voice of Elaine carried through the line, its sweetness veiling malice.

In a flash, it ignited something in Natalie's memory—a warning signal, an echo of danger, telling her that this was the voice of a venomous snake and that she should stay away from it. She stiffened. "Elaine, what can I do for you?"

Elaine's voice was dripping with feigned innocence. "Oh, nothing much. Just wanted to ask why you dislike me so. Why have you made Ludwik hold off marrying me? He's indifferent to everyone else; he could marry anyone. You're quite the thorn in my side, you know? Why are you afraid of me? Could it be because of the time I pushed the girl who liked Ludwik..."

"Ah!" Natalie could not grasp the details, only that this girl was a source of terror. No, she was no girl. She was a scorpion. What had she done? Natalie could not remember, but her head throbbed with pain and fear, an urgent need to escape this conversation...

Natalie gasped for breath, her chest tight, her complexion fading to an ashen hue.

Elaine listened silently as the old lady fell ill, then hung up the phone with a cruel twist of her lips.

She instructed the assistant, "Natalie is going to have an episode. Keep an eye on the cottage. Once chaos ensues, Whitney will get wind of it."

Sure enough, as Natalie's illness acted out, the cottage descended into disarray. Xandra scrambled to contact Ludwik, but his phone went unanswered—likely tied up in a meeting. It was office hours, after all!

Confusion reigned. Natalie had been improving and eating every meal well. Why this sudden epileptic relapse? Xandra could not understand it.

With no doctor present and staff overwhelmed, a housemaid rushed to the main house for help.

Taryn had just served Whitney when the landline shrilled from below. She dashed to answer it, leaving the upstairs bedroom door ajar.

Moving with a deliberate slowness, Whitney stepped out of her room, overhearing Taryn's panicked voice. "The matriarch is ill? No doctor? Is she foaming at the mouth?"

"What's wrong with Mom?" Whitney's eyes narrowed with concern.

Taryn spun around. "Madam, I must check on the situation at the cottage. Please stay put."

"Let me see her. If Mom's foaming at the mouth, it's no small matter." Whitney swiftly pocketed a needle kit from her room, concealing it within her clothes.

Taryn ushered her onto the e-bike without a second thought and drove toward the cottage.

As dusk approached, the sky grew overcast. Whitney dashed into the cottage. This was her second visit, and she was very familiar with the place, heading straight into Natalie's room.

Inside, chaos reigned, and the nurses were too afraid to intervene. Whitney ordered everyone out. "Stay outside. I know some first aid."