Chapter 196
Martin was already fraying at the edges. Brian’s words pushed him over. “Shut up.”
"Mr. Collins, I know you're devastated that Mrs. Collins has left you, but she's already gone. You should at least let Mrs. Collins leave with dignity. Send her to the funeral home, have her made up and dressed properly. Mrs. Collins loved looking beautiful when she was alive. She definitely wouldn't want to leave looking disheveled." Brian still mustered the courage to speak his mind.
Victoria had once been kind to him. She was the one who introduced him to his wife.
He didn't want Victoria to die either. Victoria was so kind, yet she ended up like this.
Whatever happened to good karma?
Brian’s chest tightened with despair.
Martin stood up from the floor, put Victoria down, walked over to Brian, grabbed him by the collar, and said through gritted teeth, "Who told you she's dead? She can't be dead!"
"Mr. Collins—"
Brian hadn’t expected this much denial. The man must love her beyond reason.
Martin let go, dragged a hand down his face, mind racing for any lifeline, any loophole.
He was trying to think of any way to bring Victoria back to life.
He needed a miracle. As a child he had heard stories—someone pronounced dead, left untouched for days, then inexplicably breathing again.
If it happened once, it could happen again. Why not to her?
Victoria clearly wasn’t listening to him anymore. His words had bounced off like rain on stone.
He needed someone she would hear.
Only two people had ever truly mattered to her: Hayden and Aria. Once he had been on that short list. Now Aaron probably occupied his place.
He wouldn't let Aaron come talk to her. He couldn't accept that, he'd be jealous.
Hayden lay useless in another room—trapped in a vegetative state, showing no flicker of consciousness.
That left only Aria.
Martin squared his shoulders and walked out of the operating room.
Terry had just finished his phone call and came back. Seeing Martin's cold expression, he didn't dare act rashly and could only comfort him, "Mr. Collins, should we contact the funeral home to send a car for Mrs. Collins?"
Martin’s glare could have cut glass. “You love funeral homes so much—why don’t you go?”
Terry swallowed."Mr. Collins, I know it's very hard for you to accept Mrs. Collins's passing. But the dead can't come back to life, and keeping her at the hospital won't help. If a body is left too long, it will develop liver mortis, start to smell, and decay."
“Keep the medication running, Keep her alive.”
Martin said, voice like steel wrapped in ice
“But sir, after the last injection—”
After that injection, there was no way she could wake up.
Martin narrowed his eyes, “If she flatlines before I return,” Martin cut in, eyes narrowing to slits, “prepare the burial.”
Terry exhaled silently. Easy enough: maintain minimal support until Martin came back. No one was coming back from this anyway.
"Don't worry, Mr. Collins, I'll do my best." Terry said submissively in a low voice.
Martin turned to Brian. “You stay. Watch every dose they give her.”
“Yes, sir.”
Leaving the hospital, Martin drove to the hospital room where Hayden was staying
Martin left the building and drove to Hayden’s ward.
Outside the door he heard crying—then Aria’s voice, low and venomous.
And Aria's cursing voice,“That man is a beast. Ungrateful. Vile. The way he treats us, treats the Gonzalez name, treats Victoria—”
“Why isn’t she answering her phone…?”
Martin stepped inside. Black leather boots clicked on tile.
Aria sat in a long dress,, still graceful, sitting on a stool, wiping tears while facing Hayden on the hospital bed.
Hayden was still a vegetable, showing no signs of waking up.
All the equipment and IV bottles that should have been connected to him had completely disappeared without a trace.
He looked exactly like what the doctors called him: a vegetable.
Aria kept dialing Victoria. Each unanswered ring tightened her voice.
She wanted to ask Victoria whether she had managed to contact Martin, and when they could resume Hayden's medication.
But Victoria wasn't answering, which made Aria anxious and angry.
“Victoria, what is this? Acting like a child now? Have you spoken to that monster Martin or not?”
She didn’t notice Martin standing behind her. “Looking for me?”
The voice was winter. Aria’s spine stiffened.
She slowly turned around and saw him in his black suit, glasses perched on his nose, hands in his coat pockets, looking like a well-dressed scoundrel, staring at her without a smile.
“Martin.” Aria’s voice cracked with fury. “Had your fun yet? Can we restart Hayden’s medication now?”
Martin didn’t answer. He caught her wrist and pulled. “Come with me.”
"Let go of me! Martin, I'm your mother-in-law, show some respect and keep your hands to yourself! And I'm not going anywhere! My husband is here, I need to stay with him!" Aria pushed Martin away and frowned.
Martin’s jaw clenched, veins rising at his temples. “Your husband. Always your husband. What about your daughter? Do you even remember you have one? The only time you ever call Victoria is when Hayden’s drip gets paused. Isn’t that right?”
"You..." Aria was immediately speechless. She seemed to really have no extra energy to care about Victoria.
Martin sneered, "Your daughter's life is hanging by a thread right now. If you're willing to come with me, then come. If not, forget it. But I'm warning you—if Victoria dies, you and your husband are both finished!"
Martin released her wrist and walked away.
Aria realized something was horribly wrong. She scrambled after him.
In the car she demanded answers. He gave her silence.
When they reached the operating room—
Victoria lay on the table, tubes snaking from her arms and chest. The monitor showed a nearly flat green line. Aria’s breath stopped. Then rage flooded in. She swung at Martin’s face with all her strength.
“You animal! What did you do to her? A few days—just a few days! She was fine! Did you have to kill her? Did you have to erase the entire Gonzalez family before you’d be satisfied?”
Her palm was centimeters from his cheek.
Martin caught her wrist without effort—old bodyguard reflexes, calm and precise. His eyes were glacial. “I didn’t bring you here to be slapped.”
"Nonsense? Martin, the Gonzalez family has really had terrible luck! Did our Victoria dig up your family's ancestral graves in her past life? Is that why you're treating her like this? My daughter. I never even had the heart to hit her or scold her, and you've tortured her into this miserable state! Don't you feel ashamed at all? Do you think you haven't done anything wrong? You're really a cold-blooded monster!" Aria's face turned ashen as she struggled with her wrist, trying to slap Martin again.