Lily Garcia went mad first thing in the morning, smashing the hospital room to smithereens.
"I knew it, I’m not your blood, you never really cared about !" Her cries were filled with indignation as she threw a pillow at her stepfather, Michael Garcia, accusing him furiously.
Michael Garcia caught the pillow, his face a picture of misery.
"Foolish girl! That’s five hundred million! Do you even know how much money that is? Following Christopher Hart, if he spends five million on you, that’s already impressive!"
"I don’t care! Not even for five billion! I want to marry him, I want to beco Mrs. Hart!"
Fiona Marshall stood by, her face a complex mix that was hard to describe.
It seed a mixture of anger and hesitation, both a sense of loss and a sense of advantage taken.
After all, it was five hundred million!
An amount of solid gold and silver they couldn’t spend in the rest of their lives!
Michael Garcia was at his wit’s end with his stepdaughter, so he could only look at his wife and whisper in consolation, "Say sothing, will you? She’s your blood, she’ll listen to you."
In her heart, Fiona Marshall wasn’t entirely opposed, but in front of her husband, she still had to stand by her own flesh and blood.
"Hmph! I think Lily is right, you never treated her like your own, so you wouldn’t decide for her."
Michael Garcia felt utterly wronged, "My conscience is clear! Ever since you and your daughter ca to the Garcia Family, have I ever treated you poorly? And yet you say these things."
"You didn’t mistreat us because my family had resources back then, and of course, you had to curry favor with . But now, as my family’s business is declining, you look down on us."
"When have I ever looked down on you?" Michael Garcia pleaded with his wife, nearly on his knees, "Think about it, five hundred million—with that money, the company can keep running, our son overseas can live lavishly, and you and your daughter... wouldn’t you be able to buy whatever you want?"
"The Hart Family, they’re all thousands of years old fox spirits who don’t spit out the bones they eat—you think Lily will have good days after marrying into their family?"
Fiona Marshall stubbornly said, "Lily is their benefactor; they wouldn’t dare to neglect her!"
"Don’t be foolish! You see if Christopher Hart puts your daughter in his eyes now? Ha! Not daring to neglect!"
When the discussion turned to Christopher Hart, Fiona Marshall was imdiately gritting her teeth, "That bastard! Such ingratitude!"
Michael Garcia sighed, and inadvertently spoke a harsh truth, "n, they are all like this, prone to novelty and bored with the familiar—it’s in their nature."
"What do you an by that? Are you getting sick of the old and seeking the new too, fancying so young thing on the side?" Fiona Marshall imdiately glared at her husband.
"No, no, no! How could I!" Michael Garcia quickly apologized and redirected the conversation, "Please persuade Lily. She’s of age now; why still believe in love?"
Eventually, Fiona Marshall was convinced by the argunt, thinking that if people aren’t caught, getting a large sum of money isn’t too bad.
Furthermore, her daughter hadn’t really... sold a kidney.
If they could distance themselves from the Hart Family sooner, it might even be for the best.
If she really married into the Hart Family and one day they were exposed—
She shuddered with fear, suddenly clear-headed, and asked her husband, "If we get the five hundred million, how much will you give us?"
"One hundred million?"
"What?"
Michael Garcia imdiately corrected, "Two hundred million—I’ll give you two hundred million, that should do, right?"
Fiona Marshall didn’t reply, just walked over to her daughter, picked up the quilt from the ground, and threw it at her.
"Enough of this fuss! If he doesn’t love you, what can you do? Your Father Garcia is right, money is tangible, with money, what can’t you have? Why make yourself miserable?"
"Mom!" Lily Garcia saw her own mother wasn’t on her side either and beca even more distraught, "How could you be blinded by money too! He didn’t stop loving , he’s just been montarily bewitched by that fox spirit!"
"Snap out of it! He never loved you in the first place!" Fiona Marshall finally exploded, trying to shake her daughter to her senses.
"No, that’s not true! He was always good to before. We had agreed that once Hope finished her surgery and recovered, he would marry ! It was all that fox spirit’s doing!"
Fiona Marshall held her forehead with one hand, looking at her foolish daughter, feeling completely helpless.
"You all only think of money! You don’t care about my happiness at all!"
Heartbroken, Lily Garcia suddenly flung off the quilt, grabbed her phone, and dashed out.
"Lily! Lily—"
————
Alia Garcia woke up on the couch and, seeing a thin blanket covering her, she frowned.
Who had covered her?
As she sat up, not fully awake yet, a clear and lodious male voice laced with sarcasm ca from the hospital bed, "Were you born to a pig? You’ve slept until now."
Alia Garcia gave him a sidelong glance but continued folding the blanket, not in the mood to engage him.
Last night she had tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep, worrying that once she did, he might stealthily rise and do sothing to her, so she was constantly on edge.
Only when dawn was almost breaking, succumbing to exhaustion, did she doze off for a while.
In total, she had only slept for about three hours.
Standing up and washing her face in the bathroom, she ca out and asked the man, "Are you okay now? Are you getting discharged today?"
No sooner had she spoken than the door to the ward opened—
"Mommy!"
Hope rushed in and threw herself directly into Alia Garcia’s arms.
Seeing her daughter, Alia Garcia’s face broke into a joyful smile, "Hope, what brings you here?"
"Daddy said he was in the hospital, and I was worried... I originally ca to take care of him, but he said, with Mommy here... haha, then I wanted to co even more!"
The little girl spoke with a vivacious and adorable voice, sweet as the tinkling of bells.
"Mommy, I’ve missed you so much... I even thought you didn’t want Hope anymore!"
Hope clung to Alia Garcia’s neck and buried herself snugly in her embrace, "Mommy, hug , hug please."
Who could resist such coquetry?
Especially since it was her own daughter, for whom she held feelings of guilt.
Alia Garcia imdiately picked up the little girl.
"Ah... what a happy day today is!" Hope exclaid with joy.
Christopher Hart sat on the hospital bed, his ego bruised as his daughter had entered without giving him a single glance.
"Hope, do you know what an ingrate is?" the man asked softly.
The little girl, held in Alia Garcia’s arms, turned to look at him, blinking her starry eyes, "What ingrate?"
"An ingrate, that’s what you are."
"No way! I’m a cute little darling, not so ingrate! Daddy’s the ingrate! The big bad wolf! Hmph!"
The little girl retorted indignantly, even making a face at him.
Christopher Hart: "..."
Alia Garcia watched his crestfallen face, barely holding back her laughter.
Out of the mouths of babes cos truth, and inadvertently correct—her father was indeed a big bad wolf.
With her daughter present, Alia Garcia didn’t bring up leaving.
Rembering Christopher Hart ntioning surgery the following week, she turned to look at the hospital bed, "Is everything arranged for the surgery? Does Hope need to be admitted early to prepare?"
Christopher Hart had a business laptop in front of him, its arrival unnoticed until now.
Hearing her, he glanced up, "I thought you were leaving? Why care about this?"
"Can’t I even ask?" she retorted, dissatisfied.
The door was knocked and Lucas King hurried in, "President Hart, there’s been an accident!"
Christopher Hart looked at him, his expression unchanged, as if the sky falling wouldn’t concern him.
"Lily Garcia says if you won’t marry her, she’ll jump off the building. She’s already on the rooftop now, and the police, firefighters, and the dia are all there."
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