Chapter 294: We found him a perfect match.

Khan dropped Ashley off at her office building, which was still under renovation. However, since it was already in its final stages, only a few workers remained.

Khan insisted on staying with her for her safety. However, Ashley wanted him to focus on coordinating with Gustav so they could sneak Lucian out of the hospital without anyone noticing.

How Gustav would keep the doctor’s lips sealed was something he had to figure out himself.

As for Khan and his crew, the success of the plan mostly rested on them. Ashley didn’t want anyone screwing it up for her. Her first move as the Madam of Dominion was to secure Lucian’s safety. If this failed, it would drastically affect her entire future.

Having said that, Ashley headed straight into the building. However, she didn’t go anywhere else.

Instead, she headed to a secret floor that only she had access to.

Once the elevator opened, Ashley stepped out onto the secret floor of her building. There wasn’t much there aside from an open space, multiple computers and monitors, and a few couches.

She walked toward one of the computers and pressed the power button, watching all the monitors light up.

[Welcome Back, Ghost.]

The greeting appeared on the screen before the monitors displayed multiple tabs she had left open. Every file she had on her laptop had been synced here, allowing her to control everything remotely.

But unlike using a small laptop, this place had been designed for efficiency.

Ashley put down her bag and sat on the swivel chair. Reaching for a bottle of water, she chugged it down.

Just then, her phone pinged.

Glancing at it, she saw Doctor Wesley’s name.

Ashley checked the message and saw several attached files.

[Madam, this is Doctor Wesley. These are all the master’s medical records as you requested. I have already sorted them according to the timeline. If you have any questions, my line is open.]

Ashley quickly checked the files, but there were too many pages. Hence, she sent them to her computer and immediately got to work.

She wasn’t a professional, but she knew how to read test results, though not enough to make a diagnosis.

"Interesting," she whispered. "So, before Lucian’s diagnosis, he was fine. Is this normal?"

Ashley examined Doctor Wesley’s records, and if she was understanding them correctly, Lucian had been completely fine up until the diagnosis.

To understand it better, Ashley searched for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and read through multiple articles. She spent an hour trying to understand it. She knew an hour was probably not enough, but she needed a better grasp of it.

Not that she didn’t trust Doctor Wesley, but aside from stabilizing her position in Dominion, Lucian was also her priority.

"So there really isn’t any cure for this disease." Her jaw tightened as she bit her thumb while reading more. "Is a transplant the only option we have?"

Ashley glanced back at Lucian’s records and shook her head.

She might have been adamant about scheduling Lucian for a transplant, but that didn’t mean she wanted that to be their only hope.

With that, she moved on and searched for any ongoing research regarding drugs or treatments for the disease.

Ashley quietly looked through the research facilities and their progress. Quite a handful of them were working on treatments for diseases like this.

Lucian—through Black Dragon Corporation—had actually funded several of them.

People simply never connected it to him because he funded many other research projects as well.

Another two hours passed, and Ashley found herself running her hands down her face. Even with Ghost’s network, it felt hopeless.

Leaning back in her chair, she tilted her head and closed her eyes. When she reopened them, she stared at the ceiling.

"No," she told herself. "I’m not giving up just yet. Lucian funded research to cure himself. That means he never fully accepted this."

Even if Doctor Wesley had told her and everyone else that Lucian avoided treatment and ignored his advice, he didn’t understand Lucian the way she did. Or at least, he didn’t know her husband as well as she believed she did.

Lucian was not the type to say things directly. He was also the type of person who, if the treatments or options available didn’t provide a proper solution, wouldn’t bother taking them.

Some might call it stubbornness, but Lucian’s position was far more complicated than that.

Shaking her head, Ashley returned to Lucian’s records.

Aside from the perfectly normal test results, there was nothing unusual. Then his diagnosis suddenly came out of nowhere. Doctor Wesley repeated the tests, and the results remained the same.

Or rather, the second results were even worse than the first.

"He didn’t even show any symptoms—clinical or physical—until these results appeared," she muttered, the screen reflecting in her eyes. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Ashley blinked and leaned back slightly, thinking about her previous life.

"If Lucian was diagnosed before our marriage, then in my previous life... he was diagnosed too," she whispered, her brows knitting together. "But Lucian lived for five years."

Although she now questioned whether Lucian had truly been assassinated or had simply collapsed, this turn of events felt abnormal.

Ashley pondered it until realization flashed across her eyes.

"Right," she whispered. "In my previous life, Lucian was ambushed and injured."

The possibility that his lung problems surfaced while he was hospitalized was high. And if he had already been there, Gustav and Lukas might have discovered it and decided on a transplant. The incident itself could have served as the perfect cover.

But even then, Lucian had faced multiple assassination attempts that slowed down his recovery.

Ashley’s heart clenched as her heartbeat seemed to slow.

When Lucian had "recovered," she knew he had never truly been the same.

He was still just as ruthless and possessive as ever, but the amount of medication he took and the constant presence of medical professionals told her otherwise.

Besides, Lucian got sick easily.

She hadn’t realized it before, but now it seemed as though Lucian had undergone a transplant in her previous life.

"Then I claim no one else knows him better than me," she muttered, hissing softly as she forced herself to refocus.

She continued, reminding herself that she had already seen the effects of a transplant.

At the back of her mind, she knew Lucian might still have to go through it—and this time, it would be her decision.

But another part of her whispered:

What if there was another way?

Until Gustav and Omen found a match for Lucian, she had to keep searching.

No matter what.

As Ashley focused on the matter at hand, her phone began vibrating on the table.

Ashley peeled her eyes away from the screen and saw Gustav’s name appear.

"I guess I’ll have to get used to seeing his name on my phone now," she whispered as she picked up the call.

Ashley didn’t greet him, but Gustav spoke first.

"We found him a perfect match."