Thomas watched Dr Stewart and a team of experts surround and wheel Ivy into the operation room helplessly. James was also placed on the stretcher and was pushed to a separate room, only his situation wasn't as severe as Ivy's. He complained of severe nausea but his muscles weren't stiff and he was breathing normally.

The guard paced outside the operation theatre, furious with himself. Beside him, Teo kicked the concrete walls, sharing Thomas's sentiments about the entire incident.

​​

"How could we have not known?" Teo said as he curled his fist and punched the wall. "If I ever find out who did this – I'll—"

"Leave that to me." A deep and cello like voice rang out in the quiet hospital hallway.

Recognizing the owner of the voice as Noah's, Thomas looked up and saw his partner walking towards him. Thomas and Teo didn't have to guess to know that their boss was extremely displeased. The muscles of his face tight, his onyx eyes had somewhat darkened and his mouth was tight. If looks could kill, he probably had dropped dead by now.

"Boss," Thomas knelt immediately. "I'm a failure. I should have seen it coming."

"Sir, we were too careless. We did not foresee that this would happen." Teo then followed Thomas's actions and knelt. He also felt the weight of what happened heavily on his shoulders. Why had he trained so hard to pay back his friend and life saviour only to let her down so quickly?

Noah glanced at the blaring red lights of the operation theatre before focusing his attention back on his men. Teo had been right because as much as he hated to admit it, even he didn't see that coming. He looked at both Thomas and Teo who by now were shivering slightly. They most probably dreaded what sort of punishment they would receive for their failures.

As furious as Noah was with the incident, he wasn't an unreasonable man.

"Thomas, Matteo stand." His voice was deadly and deep.

Surprise took over the two kneeling men's faces but they didn't disobey the order. In somewhat hesitant moves, both men stood. It was then that Doctor Stewart strode out from the emergency room with another doctor, both still dressed in operation robes.

"Noah Adler," he greeted and then bowed.

Noah nodded and got straight to the point, "How is Ivy?"

Doctor Stewart straightened his body and took a clipboard from the doctor standing beside him before speaking, "Thomas was right about the poison. I had Ivy's blood sent it for a tox screen. There were high levels of arsenic in her bloodstream—," he said, passing the clipboard to Noah. "And it is enough to cause cardiac arrest and death an hour after ingestion."

Noah's eyes darkened and he slid his hands into his pants, curling them in anger.

"Ivy is currently going through haemodialysis to remove the poison." The doctor bowed. "I'm afraid I started the treatment even before the tox screen results came back. If I were late, the poison might bind to the tissues and this can be life threatening."

"Doctor, can we see Ivy?" Thomas asked.

"She is still inside going through dialysis. It might take a few hours," Doctor Stewart paused before looking at Noah worriedly again. "Noah, the after effects of acute arsenic poisoning is serious. Ivy might develop some degree of nerve damages and might even have cardiac and liver problems in the future… She may also may not be able to have children in the future."

"And how is Ivy's friend James?" Noah asked coldly.

The other doctor standing beside Dr Stewart stepped forward, bowed. "He is doing very well all things considered. His tox screen indicated that he was poisoned by arsenic but his levels aren't as high as Ivy's was."

"And why is that?" Noah frowned as he questioned the Doctor.

The doctor could offer nothing but a mere speculation so Thomas took his chance to step forward. "Boss, when the drinks arrived, James merely sipped his drink while Ivy took a huge gulp." Thomas was glad he had observed this or James may have suffered.

Finally cleared, both Doctor Stewart and the other Doctor disappeared quickly into the emergency room again.

Aiden arrived and stood behind Noah and spoke "Noah, the men reported that they have caught the waiter who served the drinks to James. He is currently detained in one of our warehouses," Aiden reported quickly with his hands on his phone. "They are awaiting further instructions about the matter."

Controlling his anger, Noah said harshly. "Detain him at the warehouse. I'll deal with him myself."

As Aiden murmured the instructions on the phone, Noah walked into the emergency room. A long corridor with glass panels greeted him first. He scrubbed his hands to avoid contamination, all the while looking through the glass where Ivy lay still in the middle of the huge room.

Aiden followed behind Noah before he pushed the main door opened and he walked inside. Ivy lay motionless with only her chest slowly moving up and down. Her face was pale and her lips were no longer a vibrant red. Her outfit had been completely discarded and she now wore a white hospital gown. She had an oxygen mask over her mouth, presumably because of her shortness of breath.

She groaned a few times and gagged as though as she wanted to vomit but her eyes remained shut. There were at least four different needles poking her pale and delicate skin, two presumably for the dialysis and a few others for IV drips. Another machine was hooked to measure her heartbeat and blood pressure. Noah hated to see her like this.

And despite the best medicine and equipment, his money could afford, Ivy didn't look like she would recover anytime soon. Her heartbeat spiked for a moment, causing Doctor Stewart to be alarmed. He returned to the bed and urgently called out to his team of Doctors, "Cardiac arrest!"