Chapter 4

The call was suddenly cut off, and when I called back, no one answered.

My heart lurched.

I remembered that my phone was linked to the real-time location on Nora's smartwatch.

I yanked out the IV needle and rushed out.

I found Nora by the lake in the park near the hospital.

A man was holding her up off the ground, cursing:

"Your dad is a lunatic. All I did was get a new haircut for work, and he decided I was hitting on your mom!"

"Not only did they fire me, they held back my severance too, so I couldn't pay my mother's medical bills and she died right in front of me!"

"He made me lose my family, so I'll throw his daughter down and drown her too!"

Nora's little face went deathly pale with fear, too scared even to cry.

I rushed over, phone held up:

"Put the child down!"

"I've already recorded what you did. If I hand it over to the police, you'll lose a lot more than just your job!"

The truth was my phone had died long ago; I was only bluffing him.

But luckily the man believed me, caught off guard by my sudden threat.

His head cooled down too.

He cursed me viciously for meddling, set Nora down, and ran off.

Nora cried and clung to my leg:

"Mr. Harding, he pinched me, it hurts so much..."

I rolled up her sleeve, and sure enough, there were several bruises on her arm.

She was, after all, a child I'd raised for years, and I couldn't help feeling for her.

"Nora, how could you go running off on your own? It's so dangerous!"

She wiped her tears, hurt:

"Didn't you say you didn't want to be friends anymore? I thought you wouldn't come..."

"But you're still my student, and for now my stepdaughter. If you're in danger, of course I'll come."

"I remember your dad is on your emergency contact list too. Did you call him?"

Nora shook her head and said quietly:

"He lied to me. I don't want to call him."

"And I didn't just run off. Mom said you were sick and in the hospital. I wanted to visit you, but Dad wouldn't let me. I still wanted to apologize to you."

"Dad's good friend works here. She's brought me a few times. She's the one who told Dad you were hurt."

"But I didn't know which room you were in, and then I ran into that man. He said he'd take me to find you..."

I instantly caught the key detail:

"So your dad already knew I'd had surgery?"

"Nora, what was the secret you wanted to tell me yesterday? Did you really send me that prank doll on your own?"

Before she could answer, a figure came charging over.

Morgan saw the bruises on Nora's arm, raised his hand, and slapped me to the ground.

"You bitch, framing my daughter wasn't enough? Now you lure her out here to abuse her on purpose?!"

"Are you trying to strangle her to make room for your future bastard? I'll beat you to death!"

My body was terribly weak, no match at all for Morgan in his rage.

He beat me like a madman, and Nora was so frightened she wailed:

"Dad, stop! Don't hit Mr. Harding..."

Seeing blood at the corner of my mouth, Astrid frowned and pulled Morgan off:

"That's enough. You've scared your daughter to tears. Take her to the hospital for a checkup right now!"

Still not satisfied, Morgan kicked me hard in the stomach again:

"You touch my daughter one more time and I'll end your life!"

He scooped Nora up and left.

Astrid started to help me up, but when she saw Morgan's resentful glare, she pulled her hand back.

And because of that kick, I felt the wound in my abdomen suddenly tear open.

What followed was agonizing pain.

Blood gushed out, staining the snow-white shirt red.

I called out to her helplessly:

"Astrid, my surgical wound has split open. Can't you take me to the hospital too?"

Morgan's eyes went red at once as he glared at her:

"Those were leather shoes, not a knife! He's just jealous, putting on a show with red ink! He's capable of kidnapping a kid, so what's faking an injury to him?!"

"Astrid, don't forget your promise to me. There are only eight days left for the fall trip. I've decided—we start right now."

"For these eight days, you stay with just me and our daughter. If you dare choose him today, I'll jump into the lake right now with Nora in my arms and drown, so we won't be in your way anymore!"

I defended myself weakly:

"I didn't..."

"Enough!"

Astrid looked at me with disappointment:

"Phineas, when you went after Nora, did you ever think about how much this would hurt Morgan? Getting jealous by pulling something like this is truly shameless."

"You'd better pray Nora is all right, and stay away from my daughter from now on."

They got into the car, and Nora cried and pounded on the window, as if she wanted to get out.

But Morgan yanked her back.

The car drove off right in front of me.

And then I completely lost consciousness...

...

Half an hour later, after the examination, the doctor said Nora was fine.

Only then did Astrid breathe a sigh of relief.

She remembered how Morgan had beaten Phineas, and that shirt almost entirely soaked red.

For some reason, something felt off.

That... was it really red ink?

The next second, Lena appeared, her face ghost-white, and grabbed at her in a panic:

"Ms. Henson, thank goodness you're here."

"Sir—the wound from his major hemorrhage surgery has torn open badly, and he's lost too much blood. They're trying to save him on the fourth floor right now..."