“What happened? What’s wrong with Isla?” he demanded.
Hannah only shook her head again and again, tears streaming nonstop.
No one knew how long it took before the emergency room finally opened.
The doctor stepped out with a serious face. “The child had a severe allergic reaction that triggered acute asthma. Luckily, you brought her in fast enough. If you had been a few minutes later and her throat started swelling, she could have suffocated.”
Then the doctor turned a sharp look toward Hannah. “You’re the parent. How are you taking care of this child? You know she has a serious allergy history. Why did you let her come into contact with an allergen?”
Amelia, standing nearby with one hand on the wall and her lower back still aching, heard the doctor’s words – and a wave of fear rose in her chest.
Just as expected, the very next second, the crying and shaking Hannah suddenly lifted her head. Her red eyes locked onto Amelia like knives. She screamed, “Amelia, how could you be so heartless? Isla is allergic to mango! You knew that, and you still gave her mango juice. Were you trying to kill her?”
“You were the one who asked me to bring her that juice,” Amelia shot back coldly. “How is it suddenly my fault?”
“I didn’t!” Hannah denied instantly, crying even harder. “I was in the kitchen the whole time making her medicine. I never touched any juice! Everyone in this house knows Isla has a severe mango allergy. I already got rid of everything with mango. But the moment you came home, she had an allergic reaction. If it wasn’t you, then who was it?”
Ethan’s expression, already dark, twisted into something even heavier.
His sharp eyes cut toward Amelia as he demanded, “Amelia. Did you do this?”
“I did not.” Amelia forced her voice to stay
No Sex for Six Years Because of Her? I’m Done!steady. “I only came back to grab my seal. I was here for just a few minutes. Why would I target a child?”
As she spoke, she took out the personal seal from her bag, trying to show her reason for coming home was simple.
But Hannah’s eyes suddenly changed. She rushed forward like she’d lost her mind and slapped the seal out of Amelia’s hand.
“You planned this from the start!” she screamed. “Isla bumped into you before, and you’ve held a grudge ever since! That’s why you waited until I wasn’t watching and went after her!”
The seal hit the ground with a sharp, cold sound.
Amelia picked it up with a blank face and closed her fingers around it.
When she looked up again, her eyes were icy.
She stared down Hannah and snapped, “You’re the child’s mother, yet you didn’t protect her. Instead, you used her to set me up just to make me look bad. Aren’t you afraid she might actually get hurt? I honestly doubt she’s even your biological daughter.”
For a moment, panic flashed across Hannah’s face.
But it disappeared in an instant.
Then – she suddenly dropped to her knees. Right in front of Amelia. She grabbed Amelia’s pant leg and sobbed louder, “Ms. Harlow, I was wrong! I’ll take Isla and move out of the villa right away! We won’t bother you again!
“Please, I’m begging you, don’t hurt Isla. She’s just a child! I already lost my husband. I can’t lose her either. She’s all I have left!”
“Hannah, get up.” Ethan rushed forward, pulling Hannah to her feet and shielding her behind him.
Then he turned and glared at Amelia like she was a monster.
“Amelia, you’ve gone too far!” he snapped. “No matter how mad you are, you don’t take it out on a kid! Do you understand you could’ve actually killed her?”
People walking down the hallway had already stopped.
They looked at Amelia like she was something disgusting.
Amelia refused to let them paint her as a villain.
She straightened her back, lifted her chin, and in full view of everyone, she took out her phone.
“Fine,” she said. “Let’s call the police.
“We’ll check the security cameras. We’ll check purchase records. We’ll see if I bought a mango today. We’ll see if I brought anything into the neighborhood. And we’ll find out who made that juice.”
Hannah blanched. Her fingers tightened around Ethan’s arm.
Right then, a nurse came out of the room. “Which one of you is Isla’s family? She’s awake.”
“Isla!” Hannah let go of Ethan and rushed inside.
Ethan followed her, and Amelia walked in behind them, her face cold.
On the bed, Isla looked pale and weak, a small, fragile thing.
Hannah grabbed her little hand and asked gently, “Isla, tell me. Who gave you the mango juice?”
Isla’s eyes darted around the room, timid and scared.
Then slowly … very slowly … She lifted her hand and pointed at Amelia.
“It … it was Ms. Harlow … I told her I can’t drink it, but she made me drink it.
“She said if I didn’t drink it, she would hit me.”
Her tiny, trembling voice echoed through the room like the harshest accusation in the world.
Amelia froze. For one brief second, she actually felt like this was some kind of cruel joke.
She had thought all of this was only Hannah scheming to push her out. She thought Hannah was the one risking her own child’s health to frame her.
But now Isla was lying too.
So easily. So naturally.
A child so young … telling a bold lie just to help her mother.
A chill spread through Amelia’s whole body.
“Amelia!” Ethan finally snapped out of his shock. His face twisted with rage.
“I can’t believe you’re actually this vicious!”
Amelia looked at Isla – at her pale face, her trembling lips, her fake innocence. And her eyes went cold.
“I already told you, I didn’t do it,” she said again. “Believe it or not.”
“Believe?” Ethan yanked Amelia’s arm and pulled her to the side of the hospital bed. “The evidence is right in front of us. How am I supposed to believe you? You need to apologize to Isla. Right now.”
At that moment, Hannah – who had been playing the victim the whole time – suddenly became generous.
She wiped her tears and said gently, “Ethan, please don’t be like this. I … I don’t think Ms. Harlow did it on purpose. I was too worried earlier, so I said things without thinking. Ms. Harlow, please don’t take it to heart.
“It’s all our fault. Isla and I have been staying in your home for so long. It’s normal that Ms. Harlow feels unhappy. It’s normal if she wants us to leave … “
The moment she finished, Isla – pale on the bed – lifted her tiny face and whispered,
No Sex for Six Years Because of Her? I’m Done!
“Ethan … if I keep living here, will Ms. Harlow … will she make me sick again?”
A child’s innocent words hit harder than anything.
Ethan’s face changed. Guilt washed over him as he said softly, “No, don’t be scared. This was just an accident.”
Then he turned back to Amelia. His anger felt like fire burning straight through her.
“Amelia, I’ll say it one last time. You must apologize. If you don’t, I’ll freeze every card you have.”
But Amelia didn’t look scared at all. Instead, she let out a soft laugh.
“Go ahead,” she said, her voice calm and sharp. “Try it. Let’s see if I really can’t survive without you.”
She looked past him, straight at the perfectly coordinated Hannah and Isla, and added coldly, “Since you two love acting so much, keep it up. Maybe you’ll get what you want sooner – Ethan and I are getting divorced. Then you can finally play house as a real family.”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.