“Compensate them,” Anthony spat. The word came out blatantly.
Jared sniggered, “You’d let both of the women who love you die? So having one dead isn’t enough for you? What a bold thought.”
Hearing this, I no longer cared about what they were saying. I shouldn’t have listened to their conversation in the first place. I already knew how this story would end. Yet, my brain insisted on confirming his thoughts and feelings again, even if it only brought more sorrow to me.
I left directly for the washroom. By the time I came out, Rylee had been transferred to the general ward.
Once the effects of the anesthetic wore off, Rylee awoke. All color had drained from her face as she shifted sluggishly on the hospital bed.
Seeing Cameron and Zachary, her lips parted slowly. She rasped, “Mom? Dad? Why am I here?”
Cameron held her hand and explained that she had gotten hurt, that Anthony had rushed her to the hospital.
Rylee stilled in a blur, probably struggling to recall what had happened earlier.
She looked around, taking in the hospital ward’s surroundings. Then, her gaze landed on Anthony. Her eyes tinted red as she cried out with a grating voice, “A-ash, it hurts!”
Plump teardrops glided down her face. Feeling pitiful and wronged, she reached out to pull Anthony closer. As she moved, the wound started to rip. It made a long and painful-sounding hiss.
Anthony reacted immediately, rushing up to support her lower back. His eyelids lowered slightly as he ushered her to stop. “You just had surgery. Don’t overwork your body with big and fast movements!”
Rylee latched tightly onto him. She shot a fierce glare my way and claimed, “It was Sienna, Anth! She’s out to kill me. This woman is terrifying and wicked. You can’t be with her!”
“Go away!” She pointed a spiteful finger at me and shrilled, “I don’t want you here. And I don’t want you in my sight at all. Leave!”
I watched her with a blank stare and my lips pursed uncomfortably. Seeing her lean into Anthony’s chest, a sharp, growing pain prickled in my chest.
Rylee’s attention turned back to Cameron and Zachary. She announced with a pitchy shrill, “Mom and Dad. I want to sue her for deliberately assaulting me. I want to sue her!”
Then, she scrambled for her phone.
For some reason, Cameron and Zachary didn’t reach for their phones. They just stood and watched her with a complicated gaze. This intensified as they looked over to me.
Even Anthony kept silent. His expression dimmed as he watched Rylee pull out her phone and dial in three digits.
“Hello, is this the police station? I’d like to file a report for attempted assault. That person has caused me serious injury.”
She speedily reported the hospital’s address.
I watched as Anthony’s face darkened, yet he still said nothing.
Jared glanced over at me. He paused slightly before saying, “Come on. I’ll drive you back.”
My lips pressed together into a thin line. Without the slightest care in the world. “I’ll wait for the police!”
Jared frowned. “Anthony’s here. He’ll handle everything, so come on, let’s get you home!”
My eyes remained on Anthony. I sneered, “If I leave with you now, what does that make me? A fugitive on the run? Might as well add a heavier sentence to my murder attempt.”
That shut Jared up. He turned to look at Anthony, waiting for some kind of signal or sign. But Anthony showed no intention of responding.
In the moments that followed, two young men in police uniforms came in. They froze in shock at the people in the room.
After all, these were some of K City’s famous and influential figures. They often made news headlines. Surely, these policemen must have read about them in the newspapers often.
The two policemen approached Rylee’s bed and asked, “Are you Ms. Lorraine? Did you call to report about an assault against you?”
Silence engulfed the entire ward. Rylee stared bewilderedly at Cameron and Zachary. She seemed surprised that they hadn’t said a single word at all.
But Rylee didn’t ponder on it for long. Both her furious gaze and accusing finger pointed directly at me. “It’s her. I want to sue her for attempted murder.”
The policemen came over to me and said, “Please come with us, miss.”
“It wasn’t her! She didn’t do it. Sirs, I can testify that Madam wasn’t murdering anyone.” Mrs. Eriksen had suddenly barged in from nowhere. She rushed before me and looked the two policemen in the eye. She said, “Madam didn’t murder anyone. Sirs, you’re arresting the wrong person.”
Rylee scoffed, “Not her? Are you saying that I stabbed myself?”
Mrs. Eriksen shot a wide-eyed glare at Rylee. She responded boldly, “That’s exactly what I’m saying. You did it to yourself so you could frame Madam on purpose!”
This upset Rylee, who hadn’t expected that Mrs. Eriksen would face her threat head-on. She glared back at the housekeeper and spat, “That’s not true!” Then, she turned towards Anthony and started whining, “You saw it, right? She hurt me. You saw it, right?”
Rylee’s eyes darted around agitatedly. “Aunt Sally was there, she witnessed it too. She can testify for me.”
Nervous, her fingers quickly dialed Sally’s number. Then, a phone rang immediately from the corridor outside.
It turned out that Sally had already been in the hospital since earlier, but was sat in the lobby waiting. She paced towards them after receiving Rylee’s call.
A frown creased on Sally’s face as she looked at everyone inside the ward.
Seeing this, Rylee burned a bright red and called out emotionally, “Aunt Sally! Tell these policemen that Sienna stabbed me. She was going to kill me, you saw it too! Tell the policemen what you saw, okay?”
Sally’s attention turned towards Anthony. His features dulled. Although his gaze was intense, there were no emotions on his face.
Sally struck a sideways glance at me. Her eyebrows knitted together as she uttered a simple response, “I was in the bedroom at the time. I don’t know what exactly transpired, but when I came out, Anthony had already carried you up to the ambulance.”
Shock stuck like lightning onto Rylee’s face. “Aunt Sally! You definitely saw the whole thing, why aren’t you telling them?”
The police shuffled uncomfortably. Their ears turned slightly red from being in an awkward situation. They were clueless as to what was going on, nor did they know what to do next.
Rylee tugged at Anthony’s arm, her teary eyes pierced like nails onto him. “Anth, you saw it! You witnessed it with your own eyes. Tell them that Sienna was trying to murder me, you have to tell them!”
But Anthony said nothing. His lips remained shut whilst his ominous eyes stared at me, they darkened to a chilling pitch-black.
When Anthony didn’t respond, a thick smog of awkwardness spread throughout the ward. It especially bothered the two policemen who said nothing out of respect for the famous figures in the room.
After a long pause, one of the policemen turned to me and said, “Miss. Come with us so we can record your statement. We’ll need to investigate more into the matter before determining the best course of action.”
I nodded. Standing in front of me, Mrs. Eriksen darted frantically to stop the policemen. “You can’t take Madam away without a shred of evidence. How can you solve the case by just relying on her testimony? Is this how you handle things?”
A touched sigh escaped my lips. Mrs. Eriksen was only worried that I would end up with a criminal record, that this tainted record would affect my life negatively.
I assured her that everything was fine, saying that I would just be giving a simple statement.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be okay.” I reminded her one last time before exiting the ward. There’s no escaping this. I knew this from the very moment I plunged that knife into Rylee.
As my foot stepped across the ward’s threshold, Anthony finally spoke up. “It wasn’t her!”
His words took me by surprise. I felt a stiffness as my head turned to face him.
Even Rylee was shocked at his unexpected interjection. Her eyes widened to the sides of her face, staring unbelievably at him. She protested with an ear-piercing screech, “Anthony! How could you say that? Are you even aware of what you’re doing right now!”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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