Chapter 2

Triggered by the nurse's words, Tyler exploded on the spot, pointing right at her nose and screaming.

“Who do you think you're talking to! Watch your mouth, or I’ll file a complaint against you!”

Instead of backing down, the nurse snapped back even harder.

“Sarah collapsed in her kitchen, and it was her neighbor who called 911 to get her to the ER! She was unconscious for twenty hours! Did any of you even notice?”

“If we had been just two hours later, she would have been dead!”

Tyler’s face flushed with embarrassment. He feigned ignorance, muttering,

“Well, I was busy at work. How could I have the time to watch her twenty-four-seven?”

Ethan immediately backed him up.

“Yeah, exactly.”

“Tyler and I are both swamped with work. You can't blame us for this. If we don't work, we starve. You should understand that, nurse.”

The nurse let out a cold laugh as she hung a new IV bag.

“Starve? You can fool Sarah with that crap, but you can't fool me!”

“When the EMTs went to Sarah’s apartment, the place was so tiny and dilapidated that we could barely fit the stretcher inside!”

“Look at the three of you—you’re all dripping in designer brands! Girl, that handbag of yours costs at least thirty thousand, doesn't it?”

“And you two brothers, the cars you parked outside are worth nearly a hundred grand each. Yet you can’t even scrape together fifty thousand to save your own mother’s life?”

Watching the young nurse stand up for me, a wave of bitter sorrow washed over me.

The children I had raised for thirty years had to be lectured by a complete stranger.

In their hearts, was I worth even less than a stranger?

Before I could speak, Ethan snapped angrily.

“Since when is our family business any of your concern?”

“If you're so damn heroic, why don't you pay her medical bills yourself? Easy for you to talk. I say this hospital is just a corrupt scam! You’re deliberately guilt-tripping us to overcharge us!”

“Let me tell you, I'm not playing your games!”

With that, he slammed the door and stormed out of the ward.

Seeing him leave, Tyler and Chloe quickly followed him out.

Watching their retreating backs, my heart felt like it was being shredded by a dull knife.

The metallic taste rose in my throat again, and another massive spray of black blood erupted from my mouth.

A violent spasm of pain in my lungs forced me to curl up on the hospital bed.

This pain had happened often in recent years, but I always brushed it off, telling myself it was just a minor issue.

After all, if I went down, who would take care of my children?

So day after day, I dragged my breaking body forward until I couldn't drag it anymore.

But compared to the physical agony, the pain in my heart was ten thousand times worse.

Staring at the blood covering the bed, tears of laughter streamed down my face.

“Sweetheart... am I going to die?”

The nurse opened her mouth to comfort me, but the next second, the medical monitors emitted a sharp, piercing alarm.

She glanced at the EKG and immediately hit the emergency button on the wall.

“Code blue! Patient’s blood pressure is crashing to 30! Prepare for emergency resuscitation immediately!”

Before I could even gasp, a wave of intense vertigo washed over me. Everything went pitch black, and I passed out.