Chapter 16
Rhett felt as though he was meddling in matters that were none of his business.
“Mr. FitzGerald…” Seeing Rhett emerge from the examination room, the assistant panicked and started spraying alcohol as if he wanted to give Rhett a full–body disinfectant treatment.
Rhett was a bit of a clean freak and hated hospitals to the point where he barely wanted to set foot in one.
And yet, he carried that grubby woman into the hospital!
That was enough to keep the assistant shocked for days.
“Mr. FitzGerald, we’ve got the hotel’s surveillance footage. Do you need me to…”
“No need!” Rhett snapped back, clearly annoyed and losing his patience.
The assistant zipped it, knowing Rhett was pissed, and hurried after him. “Mr. FitzGerald. Ms. Turner may have been Mr. Vincent’s ex–fiancée, but their marriage has been canceled. She’s not part of the FitzGerald family, only a fake heiress. You shouldn’t bother yourself with her.”
Rhett didn’t respond.
“Plus, I’ve heard Kristin has a sketchy private life and even had a child. Look how skinny she is. God knows if she’s sick or something…” the assistant muttered.
But before the assistant could finish, he felt a chill down his spine.
Rhett’s gaze was icy as he took the tissue from the assistant and cleaned his hands with disgust.
“Don’t talk about things without evidence, and don’t trash–talk a woman carelessly.” Even though he found it disgusting. Rhett didn’t like hearing people gossiping about a woman behind her back.
The assistant kept his mouth shut.
In the hospital room, “A mild concussion. You need to stay in for observation,” Connor told Kristin, insisting she should behave and finish her IV drip.
“No… no need. I won’t undergo treatment,” Kristin blurted out in panic, her eyes wide with fear as she looked at Connor. “I… I don’t have any money.”
She was broke.
“Don’t worry about the money. Rhett has covered it for you,” Connor said with a frown, a flash of pity in his eyes.
But that was all. Connor just felt sorry for Kristin.
After all, everyone in Silvergrove City knew people like Kristin, those to be pitied, often had flaws that made them detestable.
She tried to be a swan among ducks when she was not born for it.
She made her bed, and she had to lie in it.
“Rhett…” Kristin trembled as she uttered his name, looking up at Connor nervously. “Doctor, how much is it?”
“Hmm?” Connor was busy jotting down notes and didn’t hear her.
“The medical bill… how much is it?” She didn’t want to owe Rhett anything, the medical fees and the money for the little cake.
“With the CT scan and all, it should be around eight hundred,” Connor said, trying to keep his
patience.
Kristin fell silent, not saying another word.
“Now, ensure you finish this IV.” Since Kristin had escaped last time, Connor made a point to
remind her this time.
Kristin didn’t reply. Without any more questions, she could stay silent the whole day without a word.
In prison, when those people bullied her, stripped her, and humiliated her, she learned to stay quiet and stop screaming.
They got bored when she didn’t react and eventually left her alone.
“Did you give yourself those injuries? Didn’t those people harm you?” Connor also found Kristin’s personality unlikable, too meek.
The police were there, and what was she afraid to say? That was why some people who got bullied only had themselves to blame.
Kristin clenched her fists and hugged her curled legs, still not speaking. © 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.
“You should try to fight back,” Connor said out of nowhere, then felt like he was meddling in the business of others and left the room.
“Fight back…” Kristin murmured. She didn’t dare to fight back, fearing worse humiliation and beating.
When she first entered prison, Kristin fought back, too, but then? The guards just watched as she got beaten, doing nothing to help.
No one would help her. Her resistance was feeble and insignificant.
How could she fight back with no one behind her?
She laughed bitterly and cleaned her tears. Did these pampered rich boys know what the living hell was like? They only knew the life of luxury.
14:47
CT TO
He told her to fight back, but did she have the means?
Pulling out the IV needle, Kristin ran away once more.
Summer was still with the FitzGerald family, and Kristin couldn’t rest easy.
Back at the FitzGerald Mansion, Kristin’s foot was swollen, and she hobbled as she walked.
Stumbling back to the villa as dusk approached.
“He broke my toy! He’s a thie!!”
“I’m not… I didn’t!”
In the yard, children were arguing.
Summer stood helplessly, surrounded by a circle of accusing servants.
Milo was pointing at Summer, shaming him. “You’re so dirty. You look like a garbage picker. You’re a thief.”
“He’s the son of a thief. What else could he be but a thief himself? It’s a whole den of them,” a, servant added fuel to the fire.
Summer’s eyes reddened as he defended himself fiercely, glaring at everyone. “I didn’t. I’m not a thief!”
“Your mom’s a tramp, stealing someone else’s life for over twenty years, and you claim you’re not a thief,” the nanny scoffed.
Summer’s small frame shook with anger. They could say what they wanted about him, but not
about his mom!
“My mom is not a thief! You all are the bad ones!” Summer lunged to bite someone but got kicked away by the nanny.
Curled up on the ground in pain, Summer didn’t cry.
He had to protect his mom. He had to keep her safe.