Night of Destiny Novel by Vanessa K

Chapter 355 The News That Came Too Late
“Of course you aren’t dreaming, Grandma. Anastasia and I are officially dating,” Elliot replied with a smile, though his gaze
lingered on the flustered woman whose face was buried in her hands as she stood to the side.
Anastasia immediately and desperately signaled for him to look her way. She even mimed to tell him to keep her presence here
a secret from the old lady.
One could practically hear Harriet buzzing with excitement on the other line as she quipped, “Alright, then. I’ll be waiting for you
to marry her and make her my granddaughter-in-law!”
“Okay, Grandma. I’ll talk to her about this,” Elliot promised.
“Also, bring her and her child back home in the next few days. They shall be my honored guests.”
“I’ll make the arrangements,” he said patiently and indulgently.
“My dream has finally come true. Oh, and don’t let the press snap pictures like those ever again. I don’t want Anastasia’s
reputation to be tarnished.” Harriet was already going into protective grandmother-in-law mode.
Anastasia was moved to hear this. Elliot, on the other hand, said decisively, “I’ll have those pictures on the internet taken care of
immediately.”
He ended the call with Harriet and turned to appraise Anastasia with interest. “Hear that? Grandma wants us to get married as
soon as possible.”

She felt her heart somersault. We’re moving a little too fast, aren’t we? We only just went public with our relationship yesterday,
and now we’re talking about throwing a wedding?
Meanwhile, over in Hogland, Hayley finally woke up after the surgery. She felt like her bones had been detached and put
together again, and she was in so much pain that she couldn’t help trembling. This was her first procedure, and she had already
arranged for subsequent surgeries that included liposuction and breast augmentation.
Presently, there was only one person in her mind who became her driving force to go through such torturous ordeals, and that
was Elliot.
She grew excited just from thinking about how she would ‘accidentally’ walk by him and amaze him with her stunning
appearance. She could already imagine the way he would look at her with the same devotion and love as he did with Anastasia,
and the thought of that alone was enough to satisfy her. She was sure that when the time came, he would be entranced by her
beauty.
Now that she had regained consciousness, Hayley was transferred to the normal ward; she would remain there for the rest of her
recuperation period while being tended to by a professional caretaker. The female manager who had recommended her to the
facility, in particular, was attentive to her every need.
While Hayley’s looks were average at best, she was generous with her money, and the manager knew that those who had gotten
plastic surgery would return for future procedures as well, even if sporadically. At some point, Hayley would become one of her
long-term clients as well.
Right now, Hayley’s face was entirely wrapped in bandages, revealing only a pair of bloodshot eyes. The sutures on her eyelids
had yet to be taken off, and the parts of her face which were still visible were so bruised up that she looked borderline horrific.
She took one glance at herself in the mirror and grew so despondent that she didn’t want to take another look.

She couldn’t wait for the swelling to go down and for her new face to be revealed. She turned to her assistant and said, “Give me
my phone.”
The assistant did so immediately, and Hayley wasted no time in connecting to the WiFi here. As soon as she did, her phone
chimed incessantly as new texts came pouring in. She saw that most of these texts were from Erica, and she clicked on the first
one at the very top.
‘Hayley, where are you? Did you turn your phone off or something? Have you seen the news of Elliot’s newfound love life?’
Her mind imploded when she read this. What love life?
She quickly backed out of the text message and clicked into her browser, promptly searching Elliot’s name. At once, she was
greeted by countless articles written about him, but what caught her eye right off the bat was the title that read, ‘Elliot Presgrave
Pictured Kissing Girlfriend in Cafe’.
Hayley’s chest rose and fell rapidly as she clicked into the article to see who Elliot’s supposed ‘girlfriend’ was. That was when
she saw the picture, and though only half the girl’s face was captured by the camera, Hayley could still tell from the delicate side
profile that the girl was none other than Anastasia.
A piercing shriek escaped Hayley as she threw her phone aside in a fit of rage, and she put her hands over her face. Having
gone through such painful plastic surgery, she was supposed to rest, and stress did not do any good for her at all. However, she
was belligerent after reading the news, and she felt as if she might combust.
“Miss Seymour, is everything okay?”
“My face hurts,” Hayley groaned, though her heart was the one filled with searing pain. She never expected Anastasia to be so
shameless as to be pictured being all loved-up in Elliot’s arms.
Hayley could barely breathe through the pain that came from the incisions and wounds on her face. She needed to calm down,
but the image of Elliot and Anastasia kissing seemed burned into the back of her mind.
The fiery pain lasted for a while, and even the doctor dropped by to check on her. She was told to keep calm and maintain a
straight face most of the time if she wanted to keep her sutures and wounds from tearing, which would lead to scarring and
disfigurement.

Devastated, Hayley lay in bed and felt resentment wash over her. She had gotten work done on her entire face, only to have
some other woman swoop in and act all lovey-dovey with Elliot. Worst of all, that woman was her arch-nemesis, the one person
she hated the most.