A Visit Before Goodbye
983 Words
The driver glanced down at his stained suit—he’d dirtied it while checking the engine earlier. But seeing the Whitmore family stepping out of their mansion, he didn’t have time to worry. He rushed to the trunk and pulled out several gift boxes, their once crisp packaging now slightly dented from the earlier rear-end collision.
“These are from the Master and Madam,” the driver said respectfully as he approached Charles Whitmore. “They insisted these be delivered personally.”
“Oh, no need,” Charles replied quickly, waving his hands. “You’ve been too kind already. After all these years—”
“We don’t need gifts,” Clarissa interrupted, her voice cold and dismissive. “Just take her and go. I’m sure your family’s waiting.”
She didn’t even spare the boxes a second glance. To her, the misshapen wrapping said it all—cheap. Unworthy.
Madeline followed her mother with the smug satisfaction of someone who thought she’d just won a war. So Eliana’s biological family really was as pathetic as she’d hoped. Perfect.
The maids, too, exchanged sneers, pitying glances, and quiet mockery as they trailed behind them.
Only Charles remained behind, awkwardly shifting his feet.
“Well… safe travels,” he muttered. “You can give the gifts to her real parents. Consider it… my way of saying goodbye.”
The driver hesitated. He couldn’t make that call. The Master and Madam had given strict instructions—these boxes had to be accepted by the Whitmores.
Inside the boxes were thirty property deeds, thirty commercial titles, a black card worth over 3 billion yuan, and rare medicinal herbs like thousand-year-old ginseng and spirit mushrooms—all parting gifts for raising their daughter.
But looking at the Whitmores’ cold backs, the driver said nothing. Instead, confusion rose in his heart.
Why did it feel like they… didn’t like Miss Eliana at all?
Eliana, meanwhile, calmly reattached the car door with one graceful movement.
“Let’s go,” she said, stepping into the car like nothing happened.
The driver was stunned. She fixed it? Just like that?
She leaned back in her seat, her face calm, gaze lazy as she stared out the window. Her beauty was striking—every blink, every glance carried an innate elegance that reminded him again of the Madam. No… she was even more commanding.
“Weren’t we going to Maple Hollow County?” she asked suddenly, her gaze flicking to the rearview mirror.
“Maple Hollow?” the driver blinked. “Oh—that’s Madam’s hometown. Your actual home is in Capital City.”
Capital City—the economic powerhouse of the nation.
It had four districts: East, West, South, and North.
North was the least developed, with River County being its poorest section.
River County itself was divided into four towns: Springhill, Summerbay, Autumnfield, and Winterville.
Charles Whitmore was the richest man in Winterville—the poorest town, in the poorest county, of the least developed district.
Yes, he had built a fortune of over a billion yuan. But in Capital City standards, he was barely a blip on the radar.
Inside the Whitmore mansion, Madeline glanced out the window—and froze.
“Mom… their car—”
“What now?” Clarissa followed her gaze, unimpressed. “Maddie, listen to me. From now on, that girl has nothing to do with us. Delete her number. Block her. If she dares ask you for money someday, you say no. Got it?”
“No, Mom. That car… I think I saw a Capital City license plate. And not just any plate. It looked like… Capital A, followed by five sixes?”
Clarissa’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t be ridiculous. Plates like that belong to the top of the pyramid. There’s no way that girl’s family owns something like that.”
Even their own cars didn’t have vanity plates.
“There’s only one place that kind of car could come from,” Clarissa scoffed.
“Lakeview Heights.”
The most elite gated community in all of Capital City. Only the ultra-rich lived there. Homes worth hundreds of millions. Land that cost more than gold.
—
Back inside the luxury car, the driver turned slightly.
“Miss Eliana, Lakeview Heights is still twenty kilometers away. If you’re tired, you can rest for a bit.”
Eliana’s eyes sparkled like morning dew beneath her thick lashes. Her home was… Lakeview Heights?
“The most expensive neighborhood in the capital?” she mused aloud.
Then, casually, “Can we stop by Jingkang Hospital?”
The driver stiffened. “Are you feeling unwell, Miss?”
“I just want to visit someone. My… former grandmother. She’s the only one in that house who ever truly cared for me.”
After it was revealed Eliana wasn’t the Whitmores’ real daughter, the old woman fell gravely ill. She’d been hospitalized ever since.
The driver was visibly moved. A girl like her, still wanting to say goodbye? She wasn’t just beautiful—she was kind, too.
Ten minutes later, the car stopped in front of Jingkang Hospital.
“I’ll wait for you here, Miss,” the driver said.
Eliana nodded and stepped inside.
Room 301.
The woman on the bed was frail, her hair completely gray, her skin pale and thin. Once a lively, sharp-tongued matriarch, now reduced to a shadow of her former self.
Eliana entered quietly. Her chest tightened at the sight.
When did she become like this?
A young doctor looked up from the chart. “Eliana Grant. Good timing.”
He flipped his pen shut, his face clean and handsome, eyes intense.
“You know as well as I do,” he said, “none of the heart medications are working anymore. We tried higher doses. Didn’t help. She’s in the final stages.”
“Her heart’s failing. We’re running on borrowed time now.”
- Writer
