CHAPTER 479: CHAPTER 479: A SON’S SURPRISE

Ruby Sullivan opened her eyes to find that it was already dark outside. Honey lay beside her, still clutching one of her hands. Her throat was dry, her head somewhat dizzy, and she felt a bit nauseous. She needed to use the bathroom and was quite hungry—all the typical aftereffects of drinking too much.

She frowned as fragmented memories flashed through her mind, and she couldn’t help but sigh. At her age, crying in the arms of a teenage girl—isn’t that a bit pathetic?

She tilted her head to look at her sleeping daughter, feeling somewhat guilty, worried that her disheveled appearance when she returned in the afternoon might have frightened her daughter.

Have I worried you? She apologized silently to her daughter, trying to withdraw her hand from Honey’s embrace, but as soon as she moved, Honey woke up.

With sleepy eyes, Honey glanced at her mother. In the dark room, she couldn’t make out her mother’s face, so she tentatively asked, "Mom, are you awake?"

Ruby Sullivan smiled, "Yes, did I wake you? Sorry."

Honey covered her nose, "Mom, I think you should drink less alcohol in the future."

Ruby Sullivan sat up and sighed, "I think so too."

After saying that, both mother and daughter giggled together.

Ruby Sullivan turned on the bedside lamp, but there was no phone on the bed or nightstand. She thought

it might still be in her bag, so she told Honey to continue sleeping and then turned off the light and went out.

The wall clock in the living room had luminous hands; it was already past nine o’clock. Ruby turned on the light, poured herself a glass of water, and drank it while heading to the entrance. Hearing movement, Mama Bennett came out of the room, "Going out again?"

"Looking for my phone." Ruby Sullivan responded.

"Hungry? What do you want to eat? Shall I make you some porridge?" Mama Bennett was most concerned about Ruby Sullivan’s stomach.

"Yes, porridge would be nice." She rummaged through her bag but found nothing, so she put the water glass aside and took the bag down to search thoroughly, confirming that her phone wasn’t inside.

Next, she patted the coat she wore out, but it wasn’t there either.

Ruby Sullivan thought she might have left it at Stella Jennings’ house, so she borrowed a phone from Mama Bennett to call herself, but unexpectedly, Ethan Sterling answered.

He paused when he heard her voice, then realized that Mama Bennett must have dialed Ruby Sullivan’s phone.

"Awake?" His voice softened.

"Yes, I woke up because I was so thirsty. How come my phone is with you?"

"When I got home, I saw you left your phone in the car. I’ll bring it to you tomorrow."

Ruby Sullivan thought that if there was an issue, Ethan Sterling would tell her, so she didn’t worry much, "Alright, I’ll wait for you at home tomorrow morning."

Ethan Sterling exhaled, the surgery room light was still red, and Brandon Sullivan’s life hung in the balance. Telling Ruby Sullivan about it now wouldn’t change anything, nor could it allow her into the surgery room. It would only make her wait like him, affecting her mood. It was better to let her rest well and gather strength—if anything went wrong, she’d have the energy to deal with it.

By three in the morning, the surgery room light finally went off. Brandon Sullivan’s life was temporarily preserved, but he wasn’t out of danger yet, and risks could arise at any moment.

"It is advised that the family should not leave the hospital for now." The doctor said before leaving.

Outside the ICU, Ethan Sterling sat until dawn. Around six-thirty, he called Old Black to have him pick Ruby Sullivan up and bring her to the hospital.

Ruby Sullivan slept well this time; her headache was gone, her feet steady, and she felt refreshed.

During breakfast, Seth Sterling asked his mom worriedly, "Did you drink too much last night because of company matters?"

Ruby Sullivan gave an apologetic smile to her son, "Sorry for making you worry. No, it wasn’t because of company matters. Holly and my mom both passed away earlier, so when we talked about it, we suddenly started missing her, and that led us to drink too much."

Although the main reason wasn’t thinking about her mom, she felt this explanation was better for her son.

Seth Sterling "Oh"ed, somewhat skeptical but said no more. It wasn’t until he finished his bowl of porridge that he spoke again, "I know you’re competing with that company called Miss recently. I have records of them hiring a smear campaign against Nirvana."

Ruby Sullivan was stunned by her son’s words.

She knew her son had been passionately into programming since this year, but she hadn’t expected he could accomplish so much already. Ruby Sullivan knew nothing about programming languages and suddenly felt her son was a little genius; she even saw stars in her eyes as she looked at him.

"Son, will doing these things get you a visit from the internet police?"

"Don’t worry, my anti-tracking skills are strong, they won’t find me. Besides, I didn’t do anything bad. Even if the police know, they’d turn a blind eye—there are too many places in need of justice to have time to investigate me." Seth Sterling was confident and a bit cocky.

Ruby Sullivan didn’t expect her son to spring such a surprise on her. After thinking for a while, she raised her eyebrows at him, "Later, copy the data you collected onto a USB, it should help mom a lot."

Seth Sterling nodded with a smile, "I’ll go do it now."

Ruby Sullivan took the USB given by her son, feeling it better to explain to him, "Mom is very grateful you did this, but mom’s unhappiness really isn’t because of the company. I admit Miss has caused me a bit of trouble, but this company isn’t qualified to compete with mom for the market. Our consumer targets are different,

hardly comparable. But with your data, I can stop them from continuing to slander my company."

"Glad I could help you."

Ruby Sullivan actually wanted to discuss the risks of hacking with her son but reconsidered, thinking there was no basis for her concerns, and since she herself knew nothing about it, it might be better to leave it to Ethan Sterling to talk to her son.

Before long, Mama Bennett sent the two children off to school, and Ruby Sullivan received a call from Old Black, and headed downstairs.

"Where’s Ethan Sterling?" She was a bit surprised.

"Should be waiting for Miss," Old Black replied.

Ruby Sullivan found it somewhat confusing, but knew Old Black was telling her all he understood and imagined, so she didn’t ask further and got into the car readily.

The car had been driving for about ten minutes when Ruby Sullivan, after reading the news and changing her focus, glanced at the scenery outside, realizing the car wasn’t heading toward Plum Creek Road. She was stunned, "Where are we going?"

Old Black was also puzzled, "Aren’t we going to City General Hospital?"

"City General Hospital?" Ruby Sullivan was even more confused, "What’s going on at the hospital?"

"This morning, I got a call from Mr. Sterling saying to take you to the hospital; he should be waiting for you there."

Ruby Sullivan frowned, feeling uneasy, "Got it."

Wondering why not Mercy Hospital? Either the hospitalized person wasn’t Ethan Sterling, or he might have been sent there without knowing. Ruby Sullivan hoped for the former, but until she saw him face to face, she couldn’t keep her anxiety at bay. When they were stuck in traffic on the ring road, she even thought about just getting off and running there directly.

"Did Ethan Sterling sound odd when he called you?" she asked anxiously.

"No." Old Black understood her concern, thought for a moment, and sincerely said, "I think it’s likely not Mr. Sterling who is hospitalized."