The surgery at the public hospital still hadn’t been scheduled, so Anastacia took Emerald to a private hospital owned by Alaric.

When the doctors saw Anastacia, they were all startled. "Madam!"

Anastacia scoffed coldly. "Don’t call me that. I can’t afford it. I’ve been divorced for a long time."

Emerald was taken aback. Alaric had never mentioned anything about her parents. It turned out that he wasn’t any better off than she was—he didn’t come from a stable family either.

Even so, the dean came over in person, clearly intimidated by Anastacia.

Emerald’s surgery was arranged swiftly. It was a simple procedure, so it didn’t take long.

When they left,...