Chapter 7
“Hold her down! The money’s gotta be on her! She’s doing this on purpose, doesn’t want Jack to live! Every minute we waste, Jack’s life gets more at risk. We can’t keep stalling like this!”
I shoved Olivia off me, collapsing onto the floor, coughing violently as my lungs burned.
“Jack’s illness is our business, not yours. What does it have to do with you?”
“I’m not even freaking out about my husband being sick, so why the hell are you more panicked than me? What’s really going on here? You and Jack… something inappropriate going on between you two?”
Olivia’s face turned as pale as a ghost. Before she could say a word, Mrs. Thompson rushed in, hands on her hips, ready to lay into me.
“How dare you question me? Look at what you’ve done! My son is just doing what’s right, taking care of his mother, but you’re making it sound like we owe you! What gives you the right to stop him from being good to me?”
“My son is a good man because I raised him right! So what if he used some of your salary? You make it sound like I stole your entire life savings! Seriously, is this necessary?”
“Now my son is lying in a hospital bed, and you want to take his life over some money? Marrying you was the biggest disaster for this family!”
“Five years together and not a single child! My son sticking with you? That was pure benevolence! My reputation in the village is destroyed! We’ve done everything for you, and now you’re trying to take this old woman’s life?!”
She bent over, letting out a loud wail, as the crowd rushed to comfort her, not a single one of them offering me even a shred of support.
I couldn’t hold it anymore.
“I can’t have kids? Maybe you should ask your son about that!”
“I got pregnant the first year we were married. But what did he do? He knew I was pregnant and still made my life miserable. Forced me to run errands in the dead of winter, when the ice was thick on the ground, but I still had to go out and buy stuff for your family!”
“I slipped, fell on the ice, lost the baby. When I called your son, he either turned off his phone or ignored me. By the time he showed up, it was too late. I spent three hours lying on the road in freezing cold temperatures. When I finally made it to the hospital, the doctor said I was close to hypothermia! If I’d been any later, I could’ve died!”
The crowd stuttered, their accusations choking in their throats. But Mrs. Thompson still wouldn’t let it go.
“You fell and lost the baby, that’s your fault! You can’t blame my son for that! He lost a child, too!”
“Don’t listen to this bitch’s lies, everyone!” Mrs. Thompson shouted, pointing at me. “She’s doing this on purpose! Now my son’s lying in there, no one can prove anything she’s saying! Who knows whose bastard child she was carrying?! If you don’t pay up today, don’t think about leaving this hospital!”
Right then, another nurse approached Olivia and whispered something in her ear.
Olivia’s face shifted, her expression turning troubled. Mrs. Thompson saw and her voice faltered.
“What happened? You said this was foolproof!” she snapped, grabbing Olivia by the shirt.
“What’s wrong with my son?” she demanded, panic rising in her voice. She ignored me now, focusing entirely on Olivia.
Taking advantage of the moment, I pulled out the divorce papers I’d prepared and tossed them in front of everyone.
“I can let everything go since there’s no evidence. But if you want me to pay? Not happening.”
“These are divorce papers. If Jack’s still alive, let him sign them. If he’s dead, just pretend I was never here.”
Mrs. Thompson’s face twisted with rage. She stormed up to me, grabbing my collar with both hands, her eyes blazing.
“I’m telling you right now, if my son dies, you’re not getting a single cent of his money!”
As the tension in the room thickened, a few relatives overheard the nurse telling Olivia that Jack’s condition was critical. They rushed into the hospital room, and the beeping monitors only made the atmosphere more charged.
The crowd’s fury turned from me to the situation at hand, and the chaos began to shift.
Everyone seemed to hold their breath. The moment of reckoning was closing in.
