Chapter 7 - The Desperate Search
The Callahan Biotech empire essentially ceased normal operations as Vance redirected billions of dollars toward saving his daughter.
He flew in the most brilliant geneticists and transplant surgeons from Switzerland, Japan, and Germany.
Maddie barely left Maya’s hospital bedside, holding the fragile little girl’s hand while machines pumped oxygen into her tiny lungs.
Vance had completely dropped his custody lawsuit, realizing that legal warfare meant nothing if his child did not survive.
He voluntarily submitted himself for painful bone marrow testing, praying to whatever god existed that he would be a match.
Maddie and little Leo were both tested as well, but the results brought only devastating despair.
None of them were a close enough match to guarantee Maya’s body wouldn't violently reject the transplant.
Grant Ellison visited the hospital frequently, using his own vast wealth to fund global donor searches.
Vance swallowed his immense pride and allowed his rival into the room, prioritizing Maya’s survival over his own ego.
As days turned into weeks, Maya grew steadily weaker, her skin turning pale and translucent against the white hospital sheets.
One rainy evening, Vance was standing in the hospital corridor, staring blankly out the window, completely out of options.
He heard the sharp, arrogant click of high heels echoing down the pristine hallway.
Vance turned around and felt a surge of pure, unfiltered hatred course through his veins.
Lila Crane was walking toward him, wearing a designer trench coat and a smug, sickening smile.
Vance signaled his security team to throw her out, but Lila raised her hand, dangling a small silver data drive.
She cheerfully announced that she knew exactly how to save his precious little girl's life.
Lila revealed that three years ago, before Vance ordered the clinic to destroy his and Maddie's remaining IVF embryos, she had secretly paid a technician to freeze and hide them.
She explained that she had planned to use the embryos to secure her own position as a billionaire's wife if Vance ever tried to leave her.
But more importantly, she had recently paid a black-market lab to extract stem cells from those hidden embryos.
Those stem cells were an absolute, one-hundred-percent perfect genetic match to rebuild Maya’s failing heart.
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Lila smiled wickedly, slipping the data drive back into her pocket as Vance’s security guards closed in.
She calmly stated that she would only hand over the life-saving biological material if Vance married her by the end of the week.
