Chapter 3
I pulled out my phone and dialed the number of his mother, Mary Lewis.
It rang for almost a full minute before she finally picked up, her voice dripping with extreme annoyance.
"Hello? Emma, what the hell is wrong with you calling me in the middle of the night? I need my rest for a big card game tomorrow!" she snapped.
I completely ignored her tantrum. My voice was perfectly flat and monotone.
"David suffered a massive heart attack. He is currently in the ICU at Castle Hospital," I said.
The line went dead silent.
Three seconds later, an ear-piercing shriek exploded through the speaker.
"What did you just say? What happened to my son? He is perfectly healthy. How could he have a heart attack?" she shrieked hysterically.
"Emma! How the hell have you been taking care of him? I swear to God, if anything happens to my boy, I will destroy you!"
I pulled the phone away from my ear, waiting for her psychotic screaming to subside before bringing it back.
"The doctor said he needs immediate bypass surgery. It costs two hundred thousand dollars.
"But we don't have any money.
"David gave every single cent he owned to his ex-girlfriend."
I ended the call without another word.
I knew that a much larger storm was already brewing on the horizon.
Less than thirty minutes after I hung up the phone, the chaotic, frantic thud of footsteps echoed down the quiet hospital corridor.
Mary was leading the charge, with her husband, John Lewis, and their daughter, Sophia Lewis, hot on her heels.
The whole family surged toward me, aggressive and unhinged, as if they owned the place. It felt like they were ready to tear the building apart.
The second Mary spotted me, she lunged forward without a single word, raising her hand to slap me directly across the face.
I had been waiting for it. Before her hand could even make contact, I took a massive step backward, staring at her with icy eyes.
"You dare dodge me?" Mary shrieked.
Furious that her attack missed, she pointed a jagged finger an inch from my nose and started screaming, her rage boiling over into complete hysteria.
"Emma, you absolute curse on this family! What the hell did you do to my son?
"If he doesn't make it out of there, I will end you!"
Her shrill, screeching voice bounced off the sterile walls, causing every nurse and family member in the wing to stop and stare at us.
I looked at her with zero emotion. It felt like I was looking at a complete stranger throwing a tantrum on the street.
"He suffered a massive heart attack. He's in the ICU. The doctor said he could drop dead at any minute," I stated.
"What?" Mary screamed, the sheer shock finally registering.
Her knees buckled, and she nearly collapsed onto the floor. Sophia quickly grabbed her arm, propping her up.
"Mom, stop panicking! Let's just figure out what's actually going on first!" Sophia said, trying to soothe her mother while shooting me a highly suspicious, interrogating glare.
"Emma, what exactly happened here? David has always been completely healthy. How does a healthy man just suddenly have a heart attack?" Sophia demanded.
Before I could even open my mouth, Mary recovered her strength.
She violently shoved Sophia out of the way, lunged at me again, grabbed the lapels of my jacket, and started shaking me like a maniac.
"Where is the doctor? Didn't you say he needs surgery? Why isn't he in the operating room right now?
"Are you trying to murder my son? Listen to me very carefully! If my boy dies, you and that little brat of yours are going to pay for it!"
It was Adam she was calling a "brat," her very own grandson.
From the day I gave birth to him, Mary had constantly picked me apart and criticized my parenting, simply because Adam wasn't the exact mold of the "perfect grandson" she had demanded.
In Mary's twisted worldview, her son was a golden god, and her grandson and I were nothing but dirt under her shoes.
I reached up, grabbed her wrists, and forcefully peeled her fingers off my jacket, one by one.
Her manicured nails dug painfully into my skin, but I didn't flinch.
"Surgery?" I scoffed.
A cynical laugh escaped my lips as I stared at her rage-contorted face.
"The surgery costs two hundred thousand dollars in cash. You want him to get it? Go to the billing department and pay for it."
Mary paused, blinking in confusion before her self-righteous fury exploded again. "Pay for it? Why the hell would we pay for it?
"You marry into this family! Don't you hold onto every single paycheck my son brings home?
"You go down there and pay the damn bill right now! If you delay my son's treatment for another second, I will skin you alive!"
"Hold onto his paychecks?" I repeated, letting out a dark laugh.
What an absolute joke.
"Mary, did you somehow forget who actually runs our household?
"Yes, his main salary card is linked to our joint account. But he has a private account where he funnels all his massive corporate bonuses and side-hustle cash.
"And trust me, that private account holds the vast majority of our family's actual wealth."
As I spoke, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and opened up the banking app, pulling up the massive $300,000 wire transfer.
I shoved the glowing screen inches from Mary's face and spoke to her, enunciating every single word with lethal precision.
"Read it carefully.
"Your precious boy? Yesterday afternoon, he wired his entire life savings—three hundred thousand dollars, completely draining his account—straight to his ex-girlfriend, Jessica Grant.
"As of right now, if you combine every single bank account associated with our household, we have $3.41.
"That is literally not enough money to buy a coffee in the hospital cafeteria.
"So please, enlighten me. What exactly do you expect me to use to pay a two-hundred-thousand-dollar surgical bill?
"My life?"
My voice wasn't a scream, but every word slammed into the Lewis family like a sledgehammer.
Mary stared at the glowing phone screen, her eyes wide with horror as every drop of blood drained from her face.
Her lips trembled violently as she mumbled, "No... impossible... how could David..."