Chapter 4

"If anything happens to my dad, I will not let this go!"

He looked at the blood pooling and running across the ground, then panicked and moved to help me lift my father.

"I… I didn't see you here, I didn't know that was your dad, I…"

But the moment he took a step, Madeline cried out.

"My arm hurts."

Melvin let go instantly and swept her up into his arms.

"I'll get her to a doctor first. Whatever this is, we can deal with it later!"

Scarlett followed close behind.

"Shameless, the whole lot of them. They all deserve to die!"

I looked at my father's ghost-white face, and the tears came before I could stop them.

"Dad, hold on. I'm taking you to the hospital right now!"

Officers from a nearby patrol heard the commotion and drove the three of us to the hospital in their squad car.

Outside the emergency room.

I pushed my father's gurney forward.

"Save my dad, please, save him now!"

Melvin's voice came from behind me, that familiar voice.

"Wait, see her first. She's covered in blood."

Then he shoved his way in front of us with Madeline in his arms, blocking every doctor's line of sight.

I stared at him, unable to believe it.

"That's my father's blood on her!"

His eyes were red.

"He only hit his head. At worst it's a brain hemorrhage. Madeline is already unconscious, she's in danger, there's no time to lose! Don't stand here throwing a jealous fit and holding up her treatment!"

He pushed forward with everything he had, trying to shove my father off the gurney.

Thank god the doctors and nurses stopped him.

"This is the ER. A doctor will assess every patient. Stop shouting and disrupting the other patients!"

Then they wheeled my father into the exam room.

Another doctor took Madeline off to be examined.

The officers hurried in to ask what had happened, and stayed with us through the surgery until deep into the night.

My father already had high blood pressure. Madeline and Scarlett had worked him into a rage, and he was already showing the warning signs of a brain hemorrhage. Melvin's shove set the whole thing off.

He'd been brought in just in time. Any later and the outcome didn't bear thinking about.

When my mother saw him wheeled out, her legs gave and she sank to the floor.

"He's okay, he's okay. God, that frightened me."

They moved my father into the ICU for observation.

The officers, seeing there was nothing more to do, left.

My mother and I sat on the bench outside, staring at nothing, until dawn broke and my father was wheeled out of the ICU.

The harassing calls and texts on my phone hadn't stopped, one after another.

I opened my phone. Madeline had just posted a new video.

【Harassed by his ex, thank god he was there, otherwise I honestly don't know if I'd have lived to see the sun again.】

One photo of Melvin at the hospital, keeping her company.

One a screenshot she'd taken from another influencer's clip of us fighting at the hotel.

We'd been made into the shameless homewrecker and her brazen, savage parents.

The shot of my father knocking her phone away was blurry, twisted into a picture of a man losing his temper and hitting someone.

The comments called our faces ugly with malice, said we'd hurt her on purpose. Someone dug up my account, and people started urging every righteous soul to message him for my contact details.

Amid the flood of harassing calls from IP addresses all over the place, a message from Melvin popped up.

【Madeline's fine, she was just badly shaken, I was too worked up yesterday. How's her father, is he all right.】

I glanced at it.

【Thanks to you going easy, he's not dead. Brain hemorrhage. Still unconscious.】

He typed and deleted for a long while, then finally just called.

"I didn't handle this well. Once Scarlett goes back home, I'll come apologize to your father in person, I promise."

"Cut me some slack too. Explain it to your father for me. I only wanted to help her get her family off her back about marriage. Once this is over, we'll get married."

Listening to him, so high-minded and shameless, not even bothered by any of it.

I let out a cold snort.

"No need. The law will get us our justice."

His breath caught. Before he could say anything, a knock came from the other end of the line.

"Is this Mr. Melvin Henson, Ms. Madeline Sullivan, and Ms. Scarlett Sullivan?"

"We're officers from the police station. We received a report. The three of you are suspected of assault and of fabricating false information to maliciously incite online abuse against a citizen. Please come with us."