‘All right, that's about enough…’

Alfred hadn't even finished speaking when his assistant came rushing in from outside.

The man shot a glance at me, kneeling on the floor, then turned to Alfred and spoke, his face grim.

‘Alfred, the freighter we have out in international waters just picked up the signal from Old Mr. Winfield's private jet.’

Alfred's face went white in an instant.

He looked over at me, about to say something,

when Scarlett grabbed his forearm.

‘Alfred, I don't think she has any idea she did anything wrong. Even now, at a moment like this, she's using her father to scare you!’

Alfred's eyes turned cold all at once.

He shoved me away with a violent push,

strode straight to my mother's hospital bed,

and aimed his fist at the blanket over her head, clenching it tight and driving it down hard.

After a few blows,

blood streamed out from beneath the blanket in an instant,

leaving streaks of bright red across the snow-white bedding.

‘Alfred, let go!!’

I lunged forward like a madwoman and clamped down on his wrist with everything I had.

He showed not the slightest intention of stopping.

The force behind his fist only grew heavier.

I screamed it again and again until my voice cracked, the taste of blood spreading salty across my tongue,

and still I couldn't hold back his fist.

Then, all at once, my mother's limbs began to convulse violently.

Dr. Finch rushed over in the same instant,

threw Alfred off, yanked back the blanket, and froze at the sight of my mother's ashen face.

‘Something's wrong! We're losing her! Get her to the OR, now!’

Alfred stared at my mother convulsing without pause, his whole body rigid.

When he came to himself, he kept waving frantically at the lackeys who'd trailed in behind him.

‘Hurry! Get her into the operating room!’

The words had barely left him when a nurse came hurrying over.

She looked at Alfred and Dr. Finch, trembling as she spoke.

‘The operating room… the operating room's lost power… we can't run emergency procedures…’

Alfred seized the nurse by the collar, his voice shaking.

‘Then what are you standing around for?! Use the hospital's backup generator!’

The young nurse glanced at Scarlett, standing behind him.

‘Miss Simmons said the backup generator can't be used without her order. Otherwise she'd show us what it means to lose two lives at once…’

Alfred whipped around to face Scarlett.

‘Scarlett, did you say that?!’

‘Yes!’

In the moment it took him to turn, tears had already covered Scarlett's whole face.

She looked at the anger written across his features and dropped to her knees before him with a thud.

‘Alfred, please forgive me for being so willful…’

‘Just now Shelagh didn't show the slightest hint of remorse. Instead she used the old chairman to scare you. I don't think she has any idea she did anything wrong at all…’

‘I don't care about myself, but I'm worried about you. If word of this gets out someday, how will you ever command any respect at the company…’

‘I'm willing to go all the way. If Shelagh won't properly admit her fault today, then I'll trade my life and the baby's for her mother's!’

As Scarlett went on, one line after another,

the fury in Alfred's eyes was slowly smothered beneath tenderness.

He clenched his fist, turned to face me, and when he spoke there was actually a tremor in his voice.

‘Shelagh, hurry up and admit your fault properly, or I won't be able to help our mother either!’

While they argued,

my mother's convulsions had grown more and more violent.

Even with four men holding her down, the sound of bone knocking against the bed frame came again and again.

I dug my fingers hard into my palms and screamed at Alfred,

‘I already said I was wrong! What more do you want from me!’

"Alfred, my mom isn't going to make it. After everything she did for you, funding you all the way from high school until now, you can't treat her like this. Send her into surgery, right now!!"

"If anything happens to my mom, Alfred, my father will never let you get away with it!"

Alfred turned to glance at the bed soaked with blood,

then stepped forward and seized my wrist,

"Shelagh, stop deluding yourself. Your father is already dead!"

"There's no one left who can save you or your mother now. Be sincere and apologize to Scarlett. Kneel! She'll believe you mean it if you bow your head to her!"

"Right…"

Scarlett came forward with her hand on her hip, taking small mincing steps, pointing at me as she spoke in a sugary voice,

"Shelagh, honey, kneel down. Three bows, and your mom goes straight into surgery…"

My mother let out wave after wave of agonized whimpers,

Dr. Finch's face was as white as paper,

I couldn't hold out any longer,

I knelt at Scarlett's feet and slammed my forehead hard against the floor,

"One, two, three…"

"That's enough, Alfred. Send my mom into surgery, now!"

Seeing this, Alfred turned and reached out toward Scarlett,

"Quick, give me the remote for the power box!"

"No way…"

Scarlett clasped both hands behind her back, tears streaming down,

"My stomach hurt so much while Shelagh was bowing just now. I think the baby still feels she wasn't sincere enough. Make her do a hundred more…"

"You bitch!"

I sprang up off the floor and swung my arm at Scarlett's face,

but before the slap could land,

Alfred grabbed a fistful of my hair, his expression turning cold in an instant,

"No wonder Scarlett said your apology wasn't sincere. You're just putting on an act!"

"Don't say another word now. Kneel and bow! A full hundred of them! Otherwise you can watch your mother convulse to death right here!"

"And stop dreaming that father of yours is going to come save you. Wake up!"

The words had barely left his mouth,

when a cold announcement chime rang out through the hospital lobby,

【Mr. Winfield's private jet is about to land on the rooftop helipad…】