Chapter 3
When Julia woke up, she found herself lying in a hospital bed with only a nurse watching over her.
"You're finally awake. You have second-degree burns everywhere. If you'd gotten here any later, they would've had to do a skin graft."
The nurse continued, "The doctor will come check on you later. Mr. Foster just pulled all the doctors away to help with his wife, so nobody's available right now."
She sighed wistfully. "Mr. Foster really loves his wife. I heard she just got splashed with a few drops of oil and fainted from the pain, but she's been perfectly fine for hours."
Julia closed her eyes bitterly, and tears slid silently down her face.
It wasn't until evening when Julia went for her follow-up examination that she finally spotted father and son in the VIP room. They had been missing all day.
Isabelle had a few red welts on her legs from the splatter, and both Michael and Ethan were crouched on the floor carefully applying ointment to her skin.
Julia wanted to leave but her feet felt rooted to the spot. All she could do was stand there and torture herself by listening to their conversation.
"Ms. Stone, my kindergarten is having a graduation ceremony tomorrow. Can you please come with me?" Ethan said.
Isabelle's face looked pale, and she shook her head weakly. "I'm just an outsider without any official title. It wouldn't be right for me to show up out of nowhere."
Ethan pouted unhappily and his entire face showed his displeasure.
"It's all her fault. I wish she would just die already. I want you to be my mom instead, Ms. Stone."
He kept going. "Today too. If she hadn't suddenly gone crazy, you never would've gotten hurt."
"Don't say things like that, Ethan. Julia is still your mother." Isabelle spoke gently to comfort him, and then she managed a brave smile even as tears welled up in her eyes.
"Besides, with my health condition, I'm just a burden. I'm not worthy of your father."
Michael tenderly wiped the tears from her face. "Don't say that. You deserve the best of everything. It's just a graduation ceremony. If you want to go, then go."
Isabelle looked up at him with hopeful eyes and a faint blush colored her pale cheeks, but then she seemed to remember something.
"Was Julia hurt too? You shouldn't have saved me. What if this causes problems between you and Julia—"
Michael cut her off, and his voice turned gentle. "She was being unreasonable. She attacked you over a simple photo. When she wakes up I'll make her apologize to you.
"You're fragile. No matter how many times this happens, I'll always choose to save you."
Ethan quickly chimed in to show his support. "Me too."
Julia didn't listen to anything else after that. She left in a daze and every step felt like walking on knife blades.
In the middle of the night she woke up gasping for air. Her throat was swollen and painful, and she couldn't make a single sound.
Julia bit down hard on her tongue and used the pain to stay conscious. She dragged herself up while gasping for breath, and within seconds her entire body was drenched in sweat.
She heard footsteps shuffling outside her door, and then Isabelle's voice came through with fake reluctance.
"Ethan, how could you do this to your mother? What if someone finds out?"
Ethan's voice came out harsh and full of contempt. "They won't. Dad has investments in this hospital. No one here would dare say anything.
"I've wanted her dead for a long time. I switched out her medication earlier. Let's see how she tries to control me after this. A housewife doesn't deserve to be my mother.
"And once she's dead, you can marry Dad. You can come to my graduation without hiding anymore, and I'll show all my classmates how amazing you are."
Julia's eyes went wide with disbelief as the footsteps faded away.
This was the child she had nearly died bringing into the world. The son she had cherished and raised with her own hands.
He had poisoned her just so Isabelle could attend his graduation ceremony.
Julia felt like someone had reached into her chest and torn her heart apart with their bare hands. Her whole heart had been ripped into countless pieces, and she was bleeding from wounds no one could see.
She used every last bit of strength she had left and pressed the call button with shaking hands.