Alia Garcia sat in the corridor with her son in her arms. When she heard the doctor’s words, she turned her head in shock.
Dentia?
Cerebral palsy?
Could Christopher Hart, a man so domineering and esteed, truly beco a victim of dentia or cerebral palsy? His intellect and cognition plumting to that of a child’s level?
Wasn’t this... even crueler than taking his life?
If he were to wake up with his senses intact, and learned of what he had beco, he would probably rather die.
Emma Carter couldn’t accept this conclusion either. She was stunned for a mont, then, coming to her senses, almost knelt as she grabbed the chief physician—
"Doctor! Doctor! I beg you, you must save my son! He’s still so young, he can’t beco an idiot! You must save him! Cure him!"
"Old Lady Hart, please get up! Get up!" The chief physician was so frightened that he quickly pulled her up, speaking with difficulty, "Even with treatnt, we have to wait until Mr. Hart is fully awake and we fully understand the damage to his brain before we can provide targeted treatnt. Right now... we can only try to preserve his life, anything else... is beyond our capacity."
Hearing the doctor’s words, Emma Carter couldn’t accept it, and she collapsed, crying into her husband’s arms, "Why does my son have to be so unlucky... Oh, oh, oh, an perfectly fine person, suddenly like this... Heaven is too cruel! I only have two children, why won’t they let have one that’s intact, why..."
A mont ago, Alia Garcia was berating Emma Carter, but now, hearing her crying and wailing, her heart softened with compassions.
Indeed, Emma Carter had only one pair of children, one of whom had been frail and sickly since birth, spending their years moving between hospitals and nursing hos, resorting to a wheelchair when the illness got severe.
And the other, who had been perfectly fine, now faced this sudden disaster, barely escaping with his life and potentially becoming vegetative or ntally incapacitated.
Such a blow would devastate any parent.
Suddenly not wanting to argue anymore, she took Noah by the hand and stood up, quietly walking away.
Benny Palr watched her pale, grief-stricken face, and followed her, worried, "Alia... you, you wouldn’t be despising Christopher after hearing what the doctor said, would you? Nowadays, dicine is advanced, and as long as he can wake up, if it can’t be treated dostically we can go abroad. There will definitely be a way."
Alia Garcia looked at him, forcing a smile with difficulty, "Young Master Palr, I divorced him a long ti ago. There’s no talk of despising anyone. For , he is just the father of my children, nothing more. Of course, I hope he is well, I hope the children still have a father. No matter what he becos, as long as he’s still alive, I will bring the children to see him."
Benny Palr didn’t know how to respond to her words.
He thought that in the face of danger, she had finally realized her deep-seated affection and reawakened the love that had been buried for many years.
He had even hoped that once his good friend woke up, the two would reconcile and the family would be reunited, turning tragedy into a blessing.
But her words ant she had not changed her mind.
The elevator arrived, and Alia Garcia walked in with her son and pressed the button to close the doors.
Benny Palr sighed helplessly and could only watch as they left.
Stepping out of the inpatient building, she looked up and saw Kane waiting at the entrance.
She approached him and asked in a low voice, "How long have you been here?"
"Not long," Kane replied. "I knew you were still upstairs, so I waited here."
After all, as an outsider, there was no need for him to go up and be in the way.
She smiled faintly, "Let’s go..."
On the way back, mother and son sat in the back, quiet and speechless.
Kane glanced at them several tis through the rearview mirror, his eyes full of concern.
After a while, he finally said, "Alia... do you think, maybe consider asking those people from the house to leave?"
"Hm?" Alia Garcia was taken aback, then ca to her senses, eting the man’s eyes in the rearview mirror, "Which people?"
She hadn’t yet realized what he was referring to.
After all, those bodyguards and the butler, after all they are...
After all, they are people of the Hart Family, now staying at ho to take care of the children. Isn’t that the sa as inviting the wolf into your ho?
What if, at any ti, they sneak the children away?
"Oh..." Alia ca to her senses, understood, but almost without hesitation, said, "No need, they obey Christopher and won’t follow orders from other people in the Hart Family."
Kane was sowhat surprised, "You’re that sure? After all, that person is in a coma now and even if he woke up, he might not be able to do anything in the future..."
His words did not shock Alia.
Perhaps he had just gone upstairs and heard the doctors.
Contemplating Kane’s concerns, she asked herself, why did she trust Christopher’s people so much?
She didn’t know.
But she was absolutely certain, that although the guy was extrely overbearing and infuriating on normal days, she inexplicably believed that he would not let his own people obey the Hart Family.
If he had agreed with Emma and the others, then Noah and Ethan would have been taken away by him a long ti ago to return to the Hart Family and acknowledge their roots.
With this thought, Alia’s heart suddenly felt sour, and her eyes began to burn with heat again.
It seed that it was not until this mont that she clearly realized—since their reunion, Christopher’s unique "protection" of her.
It appeared... only he allowed himself to tease and bully her recklessly, never permitting anyone else to offend her in the slightest.
And no matter how he angered her, he never crossed her bottom line.
Even though he claid he wanted to take the children away, he never took such action.
Unable to hold back her tears, she looked out the window and quickly raised her hand to wipe them away.
He must be sincerely repenting, earnestly trying to make ands...
But if only he had known this would happen, why did he ever start it in the first place.
————
When she returned ho, Ethan was still sleeping, and Fuller relayed the family doctor’s words.
"The doctor said, Master Ethan’s illness and fever are mainly caused by excessive fright, and he recomnds taking him to see a psychologist for a while to disperse the fear in his heart and prevent any psychological shadows," Fuller explained.
Alia looked at her younger son, his brows still furrowed in sleep, his eyes occasionally moving restlessly, clearly not at peace even in dreams, and nodded, "I understand, I’ll take him to see one when he’s feeling better."
"Um..." Fuller nodded, looked at Alia, hesitated for a long ti before asking, "How is President Hart doing?"
Alia turned to look at him, thinking of Kane’s concern, suddenly asked, "What are your plans with Aunt Harper if Christopher is no longer here?"
Fuller’s face stiffened, pain and panic flooding his eyes.
Alia knew he had misunderstood and quickly clarified, "Don’t worry, he’s still here, but the situation is still not optimistic. The doctors say that even if he wakes up, he may not be able to return to a normal state—so, I’m asking about your plans."
Fuller breathed a sigh of relief, "As long as President Hart doesn’t dismiss us, we will always serve him. Of course, with President Hart in this condition, we will follow your orders, ma’am."
"Following my orders?" Alia was slightly surprised.
"Yes, President Hart instructed us before to only listen to him and you, with everything centered around you and the children. As for the salary, Young Master Palr will take care of it, so you don’t have to worry."
After Fuller finished, Alia was silent for a while, her expression frozen.
Fuller knew her feelings were complicated and understood that he was not in a position to comnt on his employer’s love life, but after hesitating for a while, he still said, "Ma’am, President Hart has always had only you in his heart from the beginning to the end. He certainly made mistakes and hurt you, but now... isn’t he paying a heavy price? Considering how... pitiful he is, please forgive him."
Fuller didn’t want to describe his boss as "pitiful."
But that was the fact.
"The boss is so pitiable now."
Alia said nothing, sitting silently by the bed for a while before shaking her hand, signaling him to go out first.
Fuller nodded respectfully and turned to leave.
Alia sat quietly by the bed, her eyes on her sleeping, ill son, as mories of that perilous night flooded back into her mind.
Christopher Hart’s figure, lunging off the rooftop, refused to leave her sight; the thought brought an uncontrollable sharp pain to her heart each ti it surfaced.
If he hadn’t risked his life, Ethan would surely have been dood, and he wouldn’t be lying here beside her now.
"Baby..." she whispered, holding her son’s small hand, "Do you want to make up with Daddy too? Like your brother, do you want Daddy to lift you up high, to ride on his shoulders like you’re on a plane?"
The room was silent until the ring of a phone shattered the quiet.
Looking at the unfamiliar number, she frowned slightly. Who could this be?
"Hello..."
"Hey, sis! It’s Jacob!"
The voice on the other end was loud and familiar, almost presumptuous.
Alia took the phone from her ear to look at it, her frown deepening as she registered the na. "Jacob Garcia?"
"Yep!"
"How do you have my number?"
"I got it from Brother King."
"Brother King?" she asked, even more surprised. Which Brother King?
"Yeah! Lucas King! He’s my boss now, ntoring ."
"What?" Alia’s expression changed. She stood up with the phone and walked out of the bedroom, her tone returning to normal, "You’re saying Lucas King is now teaching you?"
"Christopher’s idea! He thought I should learn from Lucas King, learn so skills, even if it’s a bit boring, but I guess I don’t have much choice."
"Wait, I need to make a call." Alia was completely baffled and quickly hung up to dial Lucas King.
He answered with a respectful "Madam."
Alia wondered when these people started to automatically regard her as Christopher Hart’s wife but she didn’t have ti to dwell on that now. Speaking urgently, she said, "Lucas, what’s this about Jacob Garcia? He just called , said he’s working with you, ntioning Christopher’s intention?"
"Oh, yes. I was actually planning to inform you, but considering you’ve been busy these days, I thought not to bother you with this small matter."
"What exactly is going on?"
Christopher had decided that the kid wasn’t rotten to the core, and rather than letting him self-destruct, it would be better to extend a hand, to prevent him from going completely bad in the future and becoming another scourge of society."
This— Alia didn’t know what to think.
Did a person like Christopher Hart really have a humanitarian side?
Lucas knew what she was worried about and assured her, "Don’t worry, madam, I’m keeping an eye on him. Young Master Palr knows about this, too. He’s t the kid and said he isn’t bad at heart, just lacked proper guidance."
"And really, we owe him for that night, otherwise we would not have found the young master so quickly."
On hearing this, Alia beca alard, "He betrayed his own sister, and you still think he’s not bad enough?"
"Madam, this matter requires a nuanced understanding. The fact that he betrayed his own sister shows that he still has so sense of right and wrong."
"..." Alia was left speechless.
Not long after hanging up, the strange number called again, and she begrudgingly answered, "Why are you calling ?"
"Sis, you’ve talked it over with Brother King, right? Don’t worry, I won’t harm you guys. My mom and my sister are going to jail, Dad doesn’t care about , and I don’t want to live a miserable life, so I’m looking for sothing to do. It’s that simple."
"You’re looking for sothing to do, why not go to your family company?"
"Tch. What family company? Michael Garcia is struggling himself, selling off company assets. If I went there, wouldn’t I still be working for soone else?"
"If I’m going to work for others, I may as well choose a bigger, more promising company, right?"
"Sis, don’t worry, I won’t ask you for money anymore. I’m calling to tell you that from now on, you’re the only sister I acknowledge! If you need anything, just give the word. Your brother will do anything for you!"
With that, the line was abruptly cut, leaving Alia Garcia dumbfounded.
Later, she spoke about this with Snow Fitch, who analyzed, "Isn’t it easy to understand? The kid’s smart, a refined egoist! Knowing he can’t rely on his original family and not wanting to be down and out, he naturally clings to you."
Alia held her forehead helplessly, "I don’t even know where my future lies..."
The topic grew somber, and Snow sighed, "Be strong, whatever the outco, you’ve got three kids to look after. You can’t break down."
"I will, no worries... As long as the Hart Family doesn’t co to take my children away, I’m capable of raising the three of them."
After all, she had single-handedly raised two sons over the years and had done quite well.
Adding another daughter wouldn’t be an issue.
Fuller’s assurances had given her quite a bit of comfort.
————
After days of chaos, life sohow had to return to normal.
Ethan was not returning to kindergarten for now and was visiting a psychologist daily, but Noah and Hope kept attending school.
Fuller and Aunt Harper were responsible for ferrying them back and forth every day.
However, there was a new issue.
Her current house was too small; having a few more people around made it inadequate.
Fuller suggested she move with the kids directly to Imperial Garden, but after so thought, she found it unsuitable.
The Hart Family was already hostile towards her, and if she moved to Imperial Garden Villa so "shalessly," who knew how Emma Carter would react.
With her hands full and spread thin, she simply didn’t have the energy to deal with those conflicts.
Benny Palr, upon hearing this, imdiately arranged another villa for her.
"Don’t worry, it’s my property, not Christopher’s. Even if his people co looking, you can turn them away."
Alia was grateful, "What about the rent..."
"If I say it’s free, you’d never live there, so you just pay what you see fit."
"Alright, I’ll pay you the market rate."
Just before hanging up, Benny asked, "You haven’t been to the hospital in a few days, don’t you worry about Christopher?"
"I... have a bit of a cold, it’s been inconvenient, let know if there’s any news."
Realization dawned on Benny after her admission, and he advised, "Take care of yourself."
"Thank you."
Indeed, Alia had caught a cold.
Perhaps due to being physically weakened after donating blood and the excessive stress, the combination of low blood sugar and a cold forced her to stay in bed for several days, unable to visit the hospital.
It was this period of "lying in" that gave her the energy to seriously contemplate her future plans.
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