Chapter 19
When Joanna woke up in the hospital, she felt relieved that jumping out of the car had been the right choice.
She instinctively reached for her phone, but then remembered that after Henry knocked her out, she hadn't seen it again—he must have taken it.
Without her phone, she had no way to pay the hospital bills herself.
While Joanna's mind was racing, Angelo walked in carrying breakfast he'd just bought.
"How are you feeling?" he asked.
Joanna tried to nod, but even that small move tugged at the gash on her head, so she froze.
Angelo quickly came over to raise the hospital bed for her. "Don't move. Doc said when you bailed from that car, you got sliced up by glass. Your whole right side is messed up and needs time to heal. I only figured out what went down when I saw the video of you collapsing. The folks who brought you in said you were a bloody mess and they couldn't find your ID or phone on you."
"It was my dad." Joanna's face was also injured, so speaking was difficult. She explained in a soft voice, "He tied me up and was trying to take me back to Chris's villa. I didn't want to go, so I jumped out of the car."
Angelo's expression darkened. "Because of your brother's case?"
Besides that, Henry probably had nothing else he needed to ask Chris for help with.
Last time at the courthouse, Henry was pissed at Peter's lawyering. He probably wanted Chris to find someone who could actually get Chad out.
Angelo knew quite a bit about Joanna's family situation and that Henry cared only about Chad.
"What else could it be? He can't help Chad himself, so he wants to beg Chris!"
Hearing this made Angelo both angry and heartbroken. He handed Joanna the chicken soup.
"Eat something first. I need to go make a phone call."
Angelo left the hospital room and found a corner to lean against, then pulled out a palm-sized laptop from his suit pocket.
His fingers moved quickly across it, and soon the bar's surveillance footage was restored.
Angelo downloaded it and transferred it to his phone, then put the mini computer away.
Before, he'd always worried that getting too involved would affect Joanna's judgment about her marriage, but now it seemed that both Chris and Henry only brought her harm, so he had to step in himself.
Back in the room, Angelo gave Joanna the surveillance footage, who got extremely excited and asked where he got it.
Angelo explained he'd bought a backup from the bar owner. Joanna didn't doubt it, just figured the owner had thought she was poor before and didn't want to help.
The surveillance clearly showed that the person who killed the victim wasn't Chad at all, but someone else. Joanna immediately contacted Peter to arrange an appeal.
Joanna's body needed ten days in the hospital. On the eighth day, Angelo brought her old phone and ID—the ones Henry had taken.
Joanna was a bit confused. "Where did you find these?"
Angelo just smiled and said, "Someone dropped them off at the hospital, and a nurse brought them over."
Truth was, the guys he'd sent to mess with Henry had snagged them back.
Joanna didn't push it. She wasn't feeling too down, and she'd been talking normally again the past few days.
But when facing Angelo, she always felt she owed him too much, so most of the time, she didn't know how to express her gratitude.
"Thank you so much, Angelo. If there's anything you need my help with, don't hesitate to ask."
Angelo's eyes were gentle. "Okay."
Chad's case was scheduled for a Wednesday after Joanna was discharged.
Henry didn't come—probably too afraid to face Joanna.
She didn't care. With Peter's help, she calmly presented the facts.
The bar had been pretty rowdy that day. The victim, Allen, had been deliberately getting under Chad's skin, talking trash about how Chad was worthless and just lived off women's money. Chad got all fired up and started going at it with Allen.
With quite a few people trying to break it up and pushing around, the two of them got heated and grabbed bottles to fight.
But the fatal wound—the glass shard in the victim's neck—definitely wasn't from Chad. The surveillance video clearly captured the real killer.
An unremarkable guy who'd been timidly following Allen around, who even got slapped twice by Allen while trying to break up the fight.
After reviewing the evidence, the judge soon ruled to release Chad, with a fine of three thousand yuan for causing a disturbance.
Walking out of the courthouse, Joanna immediately spotted Henry waiting at the entrance.
So he hadn't skipped it—he just didn't want to see her alone.
Joanna laughed bitterly at herself, then turned to warn Chad, "This is the last time I'm helping you. Learn some real skills and stop messing around."
Chad was dismissive and rolled his eyes. "You're so annoying. My phone doesn't work anymore—get me a new one. And transfer me some money."
Seeing his attitude, Joanna couldn't say she was disappointed—she just felt tired.
She'd cleaned up after her father and brother enough times. She really didn't know when she'd finally be able to cut these two loose for good.
While Joanna was silent, Henry walked over, barely glancing at her, and said, "You ran away last time. Chris got pissed and pulled a project he'd given me. Since you got your brother out of jail, I'll let what happened slide, but you need to kiss Chris's ass as soon as possible, keep him sweet, and make sure he keeps the work coming."