Chapter 4
Daniel reached out, his hand sticky with crimson blood. A wave of dizziness crashed over him, and he collapsed in a pool of blood.
When Daniel came to, the sharp scent of disinfectant filled the hospital room. He lifted his hand slightly, and a sharp pain shot through the back of it, making him wince.
A nurse came in to change his bandage, gave him a dirty look. Just as Daniel was wondering what he'd done to deserve it, his phone rang.
It was his friend, Roman Hurst.
"Daniel, something's gone down. Your wife is throwing all the blame on you just to protect her brother," Roman said.
Daniel quickly opened WhatsApp and saw his name blowing up at the top of the trending topics.
It read, "Daniel, depressed after a car accident, tried to end it all but was rescued by Terrell Guzman."
Everyone in the comments was singing Terrell's praises.
[Word is, Daniel threw himself down the stairs on purpose just to set Terrell up. Terrell only grabbed his clothes to save him.]
[Daniel lands in the hospital three or four times a year. The guy can't even take care of himself. What a loser. And he still has the nerve to try and kill himself? If I were Valerie, I would've divorced him ages ago.]
[Pathetic. Can't even hold onto his wife, so he tries to pin it all on her brother. That's just nasty.]
There were crowds coming and going at the embassy that day, and everyone had their phones out, recording everything. Valerie was worried someone might post those videos online and make Terrell look bad, so she beat them to the punch and took action first.
Daniel's grip on his phone tightened. Just as he was about to turn it off, a news headline popped up.
It read. "Valerie Guzman bought a multi-million dollar sports car to cheer up Terrell Guzman."
Daniel quickly opened Terrell's Instagram.
He'd just posted something new.
Terrell wrote: [Valerie really is the best. She told me I deserve everything good in this world.]
The photo showed Valerie sitting in the passenger seat, gazing at him with a look of pure affection.
Daniel stared at Valerie's face on the screen, feeling like the five years he'd devoted to her were just a cruel joke.
Then Daniel called up Roman.
"Do whatever it takes to find anyone who filmed me and Terrell struggling that day," Daniel said.
That night, the video of Terrell deliberately pushing Daniel down the stairs blew up online, hitting #1 on the trending charts.
Valerie burst into the hospital room, fuming, just as Daniel was about to get some rest.
"Daniel, what are you trying to do? Are you trying to destroy Terrell?" Valerie demanded.
Daniel scoffed, meeting her glare.
"Did you ever think about what you were doing to me when you dumped all that blame on me?" Daniel shot back.
Valerie couldn't look him in the eye.
"Terrell didn't do it on purpose. Why are you so hung up on this? He's still just a kid!" Valerie insisted.
Daniel let out a cold, mocking laugh.
"Seriously? A guy in his twenties is still a 'kid'?" Daniel shot back.
Valerie's face went ghostly pale.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean? How did you get so impossible to deal with? It's honestly sickening," Valerie snapped.
"I already let him off easy by not calling the cops. But you two just keep screwing me over, again and again. So don't blame me for what comes next," Daniel said; his eyes darkened.
Daniel's eyes darkened.
Valerie paused, then her expression turned cold.
"Terrell was in the wrong this time. He knows what he did was wrong, and I've already punished him," Valerie said.
"Punished him? So buying him a multi-million dollar sports car to make him feel better is your idea of punishment? Is that punishment, or are you just rewarding him for pushing me down the stairs?" Daniel shot back.
Daniel thought bitterly, 'I was lying in the hospital, losing blood for three days, and she spent every minute with Terrell instead. Hell, she even jetted off overseas just to buy him a multi-million dollar sports car and make him smile.
'And after all these years married to her, she never even bothered to get me a real wedding ring.'
"So what do you want, exactly? Fine, when you get out, I'll hang around for a few days as some kind of compensation. But if you so much as touch Terrell, you'll regret it," Valerie said coldly.
Valerie gave Daniel a look like she was tossing scraps to a beggar.
Daniel gave a wry, bitter laugh.
"Don't bother," Daniel said, his voice cold.
'Don't bother, not now, not ever again,' Daniel thought to himself.
For the next few days, Valerie came by every day, but she barely sat down for ten minutes before Terrell would come up with some excuse to call her away.
Even on the day Daniel was supposed to be discharged, Valerie had just arrived at the hospital when Terrell called, saying he'd cut his hand.
Without a second thought, Valerie left Daniel behind and rushed off.
When Daniel got home, he saw Valerie babying Terrell, carefully sticking a Band-Aid on a practically invisible scratch on his finger.
"Valerie, my hand hurts so bad," Terrell whined.
Terrell clung to Valerie's waist, acting all needy and trying to get as much sympathy as he could.
Daniel noticed Valerie's eyes flicker, and she pushed Terrell away.
"Terrell, you're grown up now. You can't keep hanging onto me like this," Valerie said.