Chapter 194
Victoria's eyes widened in fury, anger stuck in her chest with no way to let it out.
She was breathing heavily in big gasps.
Martin leaned over her. Her fingers had no strength, struggling to clutch at the dark shirt under his suit jacket.
He was threatening her with her parents again.
"So if you want to die, then die! As long as you can bear the consequences, I don't care at all! Hayden should have kicked the bucket long ago. Your family of three can reunite and gather in heaven together. How wonderful! I'll order you three an extra-large custom coffin so you can lie together and hold hands on your way out!" Martin even laughed.
Her mother was his mother-in-law, her father was his father-in-law.
Yet Martin could say such outrageous things so lightly, with a smile on his face.
Victoria had no energy left to curse at him. She clutched his shirt tightly, gripping it so hard it became wrinkled.
Tears blurred her face again. She had been foolishly dreaming that he would help her, but what he was thinking was that if she died, all three of them would go together.
So what if she had a terminal illness? That day would come for her eventually anyway.
But what about Hayden? What about Aria?
Hayden had caused Martin's parents' deaths, so maybe he deserved to die. But what about Aria?
Aria had never done anything wrong. Just because she loved Hayden and married him, did that mean she deserved to die alongside them?
Victoria struggled to blink her tear-filled eyes.
Biting her lip, sobbing.
She couldn't die.
She couldn't be so selfish as to die. The Gonzalez family needed her, Hayden needed her.
Martin had said that as long as she could come out of the operating room alive, her father would be saved.
How ironic—she couldn't even control her own life.
A flash of heartache crossed Martin's eyes. Everything he said went against his heart. Actually, he just wanted Victoria to live, to stay alive with him, otherwise he would be very lonely by himself.
Words to comfort her swirled in his throat, but he swallowed them back down.
He couldn't soften, couldn't comfort her—she was best at taking advantage when given an inch.
He was still angry at her for getting rid of the baby.
Dealing with someone who only responded to tough treatment and not gentle persuasion gave him a headache too.
Martin knocked away her hand clutching his shirt and smiled coldly, "The choice is in your own hands. You decide for yourself."
He didn't want to see that angry, hateful look in Victoria's eyes, so he shifted his gaze and gave Terry a look.
Terry had the medical staff wheel Victoria into the operating room.
The operating room lights suddenly blazed bright.
Martin felt the air was unusually thin and oppressive.
His slender fingers unbuttoned his suit jacket, his hands on his narrow waist as he paced anxiously back and forth outside the operating room door.
Walking back and forth.
Although he had just spoken harshly and acted like he didn't care.
Only he himself knew that he was actually soft-hearted.
If Victoria was truly determined to die, he really had no way to stop her.
He also couldn't really send the Gonzalez family to their deaths. Out of his feelings for Victoria, he would treat them well.
But if he didn't say it that way, Victoria wouldn't be afraid and wouldn't listen to him.
Martin had tried being good to her before, like during her pregnancy.
He had turned down his most important work and career to travel with her, enduring no matter how much she acted up.
Making pregnancy meals for her, accompanying her shopping.
But facts proved it was useless.
The better he treated her, the less she took him seriously—running away with Aaron, hiding feelings for that mute boy in her heart, and secretly getting rid of the baby.
Martin didn't dare be good to her anymore.
If hatred could make her obedient, could make her docile.
What did it matter if there was a bit more hate or a bit less?
He and Victoria were doomed from the start. He had approached her for revenge in the first place. He shouldn't have foolishly tried to develop feelings with her, fantasizing about going back to how things were before.
Martin watched the light on the horizon gradually dim.
But the operating room door still hadn't opened.
Martin's heart was burning with anxiety.
Brian, having heard the news, rushed over too.
He brought takeout for him—Martin hadn't eaten much all day.
After learning the baby was gone, he had been in a state of anger and shock.
He had stomach problems. At first, his stomach would hurt.
Later it just went numb.
Martin glanced at the takeout box Brian handed him. He had no appetite at all.
He wasn't hungry, or rather, he had already been hungry and gotten past it.
Right now he just wanted to know how Victoria was doing.
Whether she was out of danger.
"Mr. Collins, you should eat something. You already have stomach problems," Brian said with concern.
Martin didn't take it. Instead, his eyes were fixed intently on the tightly closed operating room doors, not looking away for a second.
"Mrs. Collins is kind-hearted, she'll definitely be fine," Brian pressed his lips together.
Martin suddenly looked at him, "Do you think Victoria is sick?"
He remembered that Victoria had vomited blood in front of him several times.
Once she was in so much pain she knocked over things in the master bedroom, begging him to help find painkillers.
She told him she had late-stage liver cancer.
She even showed him a very thick stack of documents.
That stack of documents showed her condition was already very serious—two-thirds of her entire liver had rotted away, and most terrifyingly, the cancer cells had spread throughout her body.
The medical recommendation was conservative treatment—she didn't have many days left.
The first time he saw those documents, he couldn't sleep all night, afraid, shocked, and worried it might be true. So the next day, he took her to another hospital for a checkup.
But the medical report Terry gave him showed that Victoria's body was normal, with no diseases, and even the painkillers she was taking were just vitamin tablets.
Martin had always been certain she was lying to him, but when he saw Victoria lying in the snow today with blood all around her in the snow.
He started to worry again.
A normal person kneeling in the snow for just a few hours wouldn't vomit blood.
This showed Victoria's body was extremely weak.
Could she really be sick?
But what about the medical report Terry gave him?
Thinking about all this, Martin's heart felt extremely heavy, as if pressed down by a huge rock, filled with unease.
"Do you think Victoria might have cancer?" Martin spoke again, squinting at Brian.
Brian's eyelid twitched. He didn't know why Martin was suddenly asking this, but Mrs. Collins was a good person, and he had seen the medical report too—it was normal.
To comfort Martin, Brian said, "Mrs. Collins won't have cancer."
"But her body seems abnormally weak." Martin felt something wasn't right.
Brian thought for a moment and guessed, "Maybe it's because Mrs. Collins had a miscarriage, so it's normal for her body to be weak now. She's worried about Mr. Gonzalez's condition, and being consumed by anger is also reasonable."
This explanation seemed logical.
The doubts in Martin's heart were finally resolved. That's right, Victoria ate and drank well—how could she possibly have cancer? He had been confused, actually believing her lies.
Out of ten things she said, nine were false.
The operating room door suddenly opened.
Terry, wearing a white coat, rushed out in a panic, his expression tense and serious as he looked at Martin, "Mr. Collins, this is bad. Ms. Gonzalez has gone under and her vital signs are gone. We can't revive her!"