Chapter 93
Her hand slid toward Eddy’s chest, but Eddy caught Jeannette’s wrist, his gaze cold and unyielding as it fixed on her face. “You’re saying my wife pushed you down the stairs?”
“Wasn’t it you who pushed my wife? Are you jealous she’s pregnant? Did you send me away just to pick a fight with her?”
Jeannette’s face flashed with shock at his accusations.
But he had seen her fall with his own eyes.
“Eddy, how could I ever do something like that to Blanche? And I had no idea she was pregnant. I only heard by chance that she’d been hospitalized, so I went to check in on her, just to say hello-”
While Jeannette kept digging herself deeper, Rhoda only cared about saving her
own skin. She hurried toward the door.
“Stop right there.”
Eddy’s voice was icy as he shoved Jeannette off of him and turned to Rhoda. “Inciting my son to hurt my wife–do you have any idea how bold that is?”
He called out, “Security.”
Rhoda’s eyes went wide with terror, unable to believe Eddy had found out.
Two bodyguards entered from the hallway and shut the hospital room door behind
them.
Rhoda backed away, panic clawing at her throat. “I didn’t do anything!”
Jeannette, who had collapsed onto the bed, suddenly flung herself at Eddy, wrapping her arms around him. “E–Eddy, my mother doesn’t even know Healy. She’s never met him! How could she possibly convince him to hurt Blanche?”
“That’s right, I’ve never even seen your son.” Rhoda avoided Eddy’s eyes, her voice wavering as she echoed Jeannette’s defense.
In that instant, Jeannette/realized–Blanche must have exposed their secret, turned Eddy against her mother on Sheila’s behalf.
“Eddy, you can’t just listen to one side! This is all Blanche slandering my mother.” Jeannette clung to the front of Eddy’s shirt, desperate. “Because… because… I’m her half–sister!”
1/3
20:32
Chapter 93
“I’m sorry, Eddy. I never meant to hide it from you. The truth is, I’m Blanche’s sister
“She hates my mother for interfering with her parents‘ marriage, hates me for being the illegitimate child. That’s why she pushed me down the stairs, why I lost my baby, and now she’s accusing my mother. But it was Sheila who stole my father away from my mother in the first place. They were together before Sheila manipulated him.”
Eddy’s knuckles turned white as he clenched his fists. “Don’t stop until my wife wakes up,” he ordered the bodyguards.
“Yes, sir.”
The guards lunged forward. Rhoda screamed, “Help!”
But her cry was cut short as they shoved her to her knees, one of them stuffing a filthy sock into her mouth while the other pinned her arms behind her back. Without hesitation, one raised his hand and slapped her across the face.
The sound of blows filled the sickroom, sharp and relentless.
Jeannette stared in disbelief. She tumbled from the bed and crawled over to throw her arms protectively around her mother. “Eddy, please, don’t! She’s old–she can’t take this!”
“My mother truly doesn’t know Healy–she would never tell him to hurt Blanche. She would never harm her own daughter’s sister!”
“She’s innocent, I swear it!”
“Why won’t
you believe me?” Jeannette sobbed, shielding Rhoda’s face and pleading with Eddy. Tears streamed down her cheeks.
“Eddy, she’s Lara’s grandmother. If Lara finds out you had her grandmother beaten, she’ll be devastated. You don’t want to hurt your daughter, do you?”
The guards hesitated, glancing at Eddy for direction.
Eddy’s expression was dark as night, his voice glacial. He looked down at the two women cowering at his feet, and images of Blanche, pale and fragile on the operating table, flashed through his mind. Grief twisted inside him.
“You dare mention Lara? After what you’ve done to her, she’s no longer fit to be my daughter,” he said coldly.
“Pull her away. Keep going!” he ordered.
At once, the guards wrenched Jeannette off her mother and resumed their assault
2/3
20:32
on Rhoda.
Jeannette struggled in the grip of one of the guards, forced to watch as her mother was beaten.
Her heart seethed with hatred–she wanted nothing more than to kill Blanche.
She sank to her knees, clutching Eddy’s leg and begging through her tears, “Eddy, I’m sorry. My mother’s sorry, too. We’ll go and beg Blanche for forgiveness, kneel down and ask her to spare us.”
“Please, don’t let them keep beating her–she’ll die if this goes on.”
Eddy lifted Jeannette’s tear–streaked face with a cruel calm. “You really think I’d give you another chance to get close to her–to hurt her again?”
