Chapter 5

"I've already found a nursing home in the suburbs. It's quiet, and they'll be well looked after."

The suburbs? That was at least forty kilometers away. My mother was in no condition to survive a trip like that.

"We're not going."

"Ma'am, this is Mr. Preston's wish." Sabrina looked me straight in the eye, no longer bothering to hide her contempt.

"You'd do well to cooperate."

"Mr. Preston's wish?"

I smiled.

"Sabrina, are you brave enough to call Adrian right now, in front of me, and let him tell me that himself?"

Her expression flickered.

Then, a second later, she composed herself and gave me a chilly smile.

"Ma'am, I was trying to spare you the humiliation."

She took a step forward and lowered her voice.

"But if you insist on pretending you don't understand, I'll spell it out for you."

"As long as I'm here, none of you will ever see him again."

"Mr. Preston is overseas. He's far away, out of reach, and I'm the only one by his side. Everything he needs to know, everything that happens here, goes through me. So you'd better all be good and do as I say."

My father finally snapped.

"You bastard!"

He lunged to hit her, but the two bodyguards grabbed him before he could reach her. One of them shoved him hard.

He stumbled backward into the headboard, cracking his forehead against it. Blood streamed down his face.

"Dad!"

I rushed over to steady him. My mother was crying on the bed, panicked and struggling to breathe. Her condition was getting worse by the second.

Sabrina stood over us, looking down as though we were nothing but ants beneath her feet. She took out her phone and started filming.

"Go ahead. Make a scene. The bigger the better. In a minute, I'll send these videos straight to Mr. Preston and tell him his in-laws were causing a scene and throwing punches in a public hospital, humiliating him in front of everyone."

I was shaking with rage.

Just then, the comments flooded my vision again.

[Hold on! Just three more minutes!]

[Adrian's flight has already landed. He's on his way here!]

[Three more minutes! Don't let your dad swing at her! Hold it in! Wait for him!]

I clung to my father, doing everything I could to hold him back.

"Dad, stop, just wait a little longer, just a little..."

His eyes were bloodshot. "Wait for what? Wait for her to bully us to death?"

"Wait for Adrian." I forced the words out, one at a time. "He's almost here."

Sabrina threw back her head and laughed, brazen and mocking.

"Wait for Mr. Preston?"

"Ma'am, you don't actually think he'd drop his overseas project and fly back for you people, do you?"

"Let me tell you something. Even if he does come back, I have a hundred ways to make him believe this is all your fault. That you're spoiled and unreasonable. That your parents are nothing but trouble. That you were never good enough for him. And I'll be the one he remembers as the woman who stood by him through his hardest times and cleaned up every mess without asking for anything in return."

She raised her voice again, making sure everyone in the room could hear.

"Mr. Preston got sick of your whole family a long time ago. Everything I've done, I've done on his orders. He wanted me to put you in your place."

She'd barely finished speaking when a man's voice rang out from the doorway, cold enough to freeze the room.

Just then, a familiar voice rang out from the doorway.

"I told you to?"