I nodded, confidently staring him down. “You have every reason to do so!”
His eyes narrowed into a livid glare. “If you believed what she said, then why didn’t you stab me instead?”
“You weren’t there at that time—but she was!” I spat the words boldly, challenging his indifferent stare with my own fearless one.
“Huh!” He snorted.
It was sudden and cold. He dropped my hand immediately, looking at me with a grey face of disappointment. “Have you ever trusted me? No wait, I should ask you if you even love me, Scarlett?”
Glancing at him, the thoughts ruffled in my head. Have I ever loved him? I didn’t know anymore. I couldn’t tell if what I felt for him was even love.
He stared at me for the longest time. There was some kind of deep and intense emotion lingering in his eyes as he waited for my answer.
Then, he snorted softly at himself as if he already knew my answer. He stood and said coldly to me, “You should head back. Before Rebecca gets out of surgery, it’s best that you stay home and not go out recklessly. The Moore family can’t do anything to you for the time being, not while I’m around. So just go home.”
I said coldly, “It’s alright. I’ll take responsibility for my own actions, so whatever punishment the Moore family decides is between me and them. It doesn’t concern you at all.”
He watched me without speaking. The indifference in his darkened eyes was enough to suffocate everyone around us.
Not long after, Cameron and Zachary dashed in. Anxiety overwhelmed Cameron’s bulging red eyes.
When they saw Ashton, they rushed over and frantically asked, “How is Rebecca? Is she okay?”
Ashton spoke with a deep solemn voice, “She’s still in the ER.”
With a steady composure, Zachary asked Ashton for the name of the perpetrator that hurt Rebecca.
Though calm, a murderous air radiated from Zachary. It made the hairs on my fingers stand straighter. Despite this, I approached the man and announced, “I did it!”
Zachary looked at me with a pair of narrowed, bloodthirsty eyes. A murderous growl sounded as he threatened me, “Ms. Stovall. You’d better pray that Rebecca is fine, else I’ll have your life to make up for hers.”
After hearing my confession, Cameron jumped at me with lethal claw-like fingers. Ashton rushed before me, blocking her attack. He warned them, “Best save the confrontation until after your daughter awakes, Ms. Anderson. If Scarlett has committed a crime, the law will punish her justly. There’s no need for the two of you to rush her punishment.”
Still seething with anger, Cameron glared viciously at me.
Then, the ER doors suddenly opened. A nurse appeared and called out, “Where are the patient’s family members? She needs a blood transfusion. We’ll need to run some tests on you, in case our blood bank doesn’t have enough of her blood type.”
Cameron and Zachary quickly trailed after the doctor for their blood tests. They returned soon after.
We waited outside the ER for a long time. Cameron paced back and forth anxiously, occasionally throwing nasty glares my way.
When the ER doors opened again, the nurse from earlier came out. She frowned at Cameron and Zachary before asking, “Are you two really the patient’s blood-related family?”
The two were taken aback for a moment, unsure of what the nurse was hinting at. “Yes, we’re her parents. What’s the matter with her?”
The nurse’s eyes scanned the two of them. She explained in a puzzled manner, “It’s impossible for a couple with blood type A and O to give birth to a child with type B blood. Could something be wrong with the test?”
Cameron and Zachary’s faces paled to a stark chalk-white. They stared wide-eyed at the nurse. “What are you talking about? We’re not blood related?”
The nurse stiffened in hesitation. She looked at the two and assured, “Don’t panic. Perhaps it’s just an issue with our test. Now, the patient needs two hundred ccs of blood and there’s an insufficient amount in our blood bank. Does anyone here have type B blood?”
Ashton looked at the nurse and spoke up, “You can use mine!”
Promptly, the nurse ushered him away to have his blood drawn. Cameron’s face froze grey and still with confusion at her husband. She kept mumbling, “The DNA test said that she’s our daughter. How could this be?”
Zachary’s face furrowed into a deep frown. He stilled for a second before consoling Cameron, “Don’t stress yourself out. Maybe the hospital made a mistake.”
A red shade had already tinged Cameron’s panicked face. She nodded at him, repeating over and over again that Rebecca was their daughter, that there was no way she wouldn’t be able to recognize her own biological daughter.
I pondered at the scene before me. What a dramatic irony. If Rebecca, the daughter they have suddenly reunited with, isn’t blood-related to Cameron… then where is her biological daughter?
Cameron had dirtied her hands doing many unspeakable things for Rebecca’s sake. It would be pitiful if Rebecca wasn’t actually her biological daughter.
Ashton returned shortly after. Seeing that I still sat motionless in the same chair, he approached my side and hugged me. “Everything will be okay. The doctor said she’s not in a life-threatening state.”
He was clearly trying to comfort me. I pursed my lips, not saying anything more.
About half an hour later, Jared and Joe arrived. It seemed like they were all up to date with Rebecca’s current situation.
Joe shot a threatening look at me, his face was tainted with gloom but he didn’t say a word. Maybe it was because of Ashton’s presence that Joe refrained from doing anything more.
On the other hand, Jared raised a brow at Ashton. “There’s some time till the surgery’s over. Care to join me for a smoke?”
Ashton glanced at him and nodded. Then, they left together for the stairway.
Cameron and Zachery were lost in a temporary daze. They were still hung up on the nurse’s earlier conversation about theirs and Rebecca’s incompatible blood types.
