Chapter 170
"Mr. Howard Morgan, Mr. Howard Morgan, please don't scare me."
One caregiver ran to get a doctor, while another hurriedly brought over a basin in case he vomited again. The hospital room instantly turned into chaos.
Jeremy was so scared that his hands were shaking. Howard's body couldn't handle this kind of stress right now.
Within minutes, the hospital director rushed in with several doctors to examine Howard. If anything happened to Howard in their hospital, the entire place would be done for.
Steven's family of three stood frozen in place. Things had developed completely beyond their expectations.
Sarah thought that even if Howard didn't like her, he'd just scold her a bit at most. She never imagined he wouldn't say a word and would just cough up blood. If William found out about this...
She was scared out of her wits.
Steven knew how to read the room. Seeing things going south, he quickly led Sarah and Nola out of the hospital room.
"Let's go, let's go now..."
If they made Howard sick today, his little company would go bankrupt in minutes thanks to William.
The plan backfired completely—he'd lost this bet. How was he supposed to know the old man was so fragile? Coughing up blood over good news—it scared him too.
William received Jeremy's call and rushed to the hospital without stopping.
When he arrived at Howard's room, Andrew and Michael were sitting on the bench outside, their faces looking grim.
As soon as Andrew saw William approach, he raised his hand and slapped him across the face.
"I've seen rich playboys mess around with women, but I've never seen anyone make their own grandfather cough up blood. You made this mess and don't know how to clean it up?"
They'd already heard the full story from Jeremy's report. Right now, Andrew was burning with anger. His son had always been headstrong since childhood, never listening to him.
And now he'd finally caused a disaster.
A father's failure to teach is his own fault. He blamed himself deeply now, hating that he hadn't disciplined this boy strictly when he was young, leading him to do something that disgraced the Morgan family's reputation.
Just a while ago, the internet was buzzing about Mrs. Morgan, and topics about William's secret marriage were trending on major websites. And now, just days later, there's an illegitimate child.
If this scandal got out, wouldn't the Morgan Group's stock price crash?
The slap was crisp and clear. William didn't even react in time to dodge it. Finger marks instantly appeared on his chiseled face.
After a few seconds, he asked, "How is Grandpa?"
Andrew put his hands behind his back and scolded,
"You have the nerve to ask? If I were you, I'd get rid of that woman right now. Why would you wait and leave behind this disaster?"
Michael, who had been sitting with his long legs crossed listening to Andrew's scolding, stood up to speak for William,
"Andrew, stop scolding him. That woman is carrying William's child. How do you expect him to handle his own child as a father? William can't bring himself to be that ruthless."
Instead of helping, these words just added fuel to Andrew's fire,
"You're a married man—you should understand. Even if you play around outside, it's just for fun. You can't actually marry that woman, can you? If you can't control yourself, you should take proper precautions. Do I need to teach you that?"
William took the scolding without a word. He had taken precautions. James had confirmed multiple times and personally watched Sarah take the morning-after pill.
But there are always exceptions. Sarah's situation now was that exception. Since she was pregnant, what could he do? The most he could do was report that morning-after pill until it was taken off the market, but that wouldn't change the outcome.
God knows how much he didn't want that child. But Sarah's condition was such that if she forcibly aborted the baby, she'd never be able to have children again.
What he didn't expect was that Sarah would have the guts to show off in front of Howard and make him so angry that he coughed up blood.
Howard still hadn't woken up, while the one who caused all this had gone into hiding.
At this moment, Sarah had returned with Steven and Nola to the house William had bought for her at SilkGrove Estates.
She realized how serious things were. Now she could only pray that Howard would be okay. Otherwise, forget being pregnant—even if she gave birth to the child, William wouldn't let her off easy.
She silently felt herself getting further and further from the position of Mrs. Morgan.
"Dad, look at the brilliant idea you came up with. What do we do now? If something happens to Howard, we won't be able to stay in Emerald City anymore."
She was almost in tears from anxiety.
Steven was just as anxious, but he was putting on a calm front in front of them,
"Don't panic. I asked someone at the hospital—they said Howard is fine, just sleeping now. He'll be okay once he wakes up."
Sarah scoffed, "Dad, do you think just because Howard is fine, we're safe? Is this your first day knowing William?"
With that said, Steven couldn't keep it together anymore,
"Sarah, you stay here. Your mom and I are going home first. Call if anything comes up."
Sarah was stunned by Steven's move. Was he abandoning her and planning to run away?
"Dad, you're just going to leave me?"
The idea was his, and now that things went wrong, he was going to walk away.
Steven paused, "Sarah, you're carrying the Morgan family's child. William won't do anything to you. If he finds out your mom and I were involved in this, he'll definitely bankrupt me. My company just got out of trouble and hasn't been profitable for a while—it can't handle William coming after it."
With that, Steven went to change his shoes.
Sarah chased after him and shouted, "Dad, how can you do this?"
Steven looked up and around,
"Sarah, look at this house. William bought it for you without blinking an eye. Deep down, he can't let go of you and the child. Don't worry, he won't do anything to you. Try to understand me—the Brown Group can't fall into crisis again. If William asks, just say this was all your idea and had nothing to do with me."
Sarah was so angry that tears came out. Back at the hospital, Steven had confidently sworn to her how much Howard wanted a great-grandchild and would definitely love the baby in her belly.
But now things turned out like this, and he wanted to run away as fast as he could, not caring about his daughter's life or death.
Steven finished packing and gave Nola a look, signaling her to leave quickly before William arrived, and they couldn't get away.
Nola snorted, "You go. I'm staying with my daughter."
At a time like this, how could she abandon her own daughter and run? If William came to kill someone, she'd trade her life for her daughter's happiness.
Steven was so angry that he cursed, "Stupid bitch!"
Back in the hospital room, the family kept watch until evening when Howard finally woke up.
After the doctor examined him and called Andrew out to give some instructions, the general message was that, fortunately, nothing serious had happened.
Howard looked around. The whole family was there, except for Ava.
She probably hadn't been notified yet. He thought to himself that it was just as well—the girl had caught a chill at the grave-sweeping this morning and shouldn't be put through more stress.
"Jeremy, get a pen and paper to write this down. Since everyone's here, let's make a will now."
When everyone heard Howard mention making a will, the atmosphere instantly turned heavy.
Andrew tried to comfort him, "Dad, it hasn't come to that. It's not necessary."
But Howard was thinking that who knows what "surprise" that boy would bring him next time—it wasn't impossible that that the shock would kill him.
Making a will was urgent. While he was still clear-headed, he had to settle this matter.