Chapter 191 A Hospital Showdown

Chapter 191 A Hospital Showdown

He gave a small nod, a strange light flickering in his eyes, then fell completely silent.

We arrived at the hospital shortly after, and the scene that greeted us felt bizarrely out of place.

Thalia was still in the emergency room receiving treatment, while Jane and Daniel paced anxiously outside the door.

It was the kind of scene that should have felt heavy and moving, but I couldn't bring myself to feel any of that weight.

I kept struggling to hold back a laugh, especially at the sight of William, Daniel, Jane, and Thalia all gathered in one place, each with their own hidden agenda. It was almost comical.

My rational side kept reminding me that this was a serious moment and I absolutely could not let myself laugh.

I even tried recalling painful memories to keep my emotions in check, but I still couldn't keep the corners of my lips from curling up.

Jane caught my barely-suppressed smile right away and immediately stormed over, shoving me hard.

"Eleanor, what are you smiling at?! You think you've won, don't you?! My mom is fighting for her life in there—are you happy now?"

That shove broke the last of my restraint, and I let out a quiet laugh.

William stepped forward immediately, pulling me behind him, his voice cold and protective. "If you can't control your emotions, go get that sorted out. I'm the one who asked Eleanor to come."

"William..."

Now that her affair with Daniel had been fully exposed, Jane no longer had the nerve to play the victim with William. All she could do was cry and try to explain herself.

"Why did you bring her here? She's the cause of all this! If she hadn't deliberately provoked my mom, my mom never would have tried to kill herself!"

"What gives you the right to blame me?" I stepped forward and pushed back against her twisted logic. "You and Daniel are the ones who chose to cross that line. You and your mother are the ones who started a scene at City Hall and got physical. Every consequence here is something you brought on yourselves. What gives you the right to shift all the blame onto someone else? You're shameless."

"Eleanor! You've gone too far!"

With all the evidence laid out in front of William, Jane had nothing to say. All she could do was glare at me, seething with resentment.

"Eleanor." Daniel spoke up then, his tone deliberately moralizing. "You used to be so sensible and well-behaved when Madison was alive. How did you become so sharp-tongued? Do you really need to tear this whole family apart before you're satisfied?"

All I felt was contempt.

After being publicly dragged through the mud online, these two still had the nerve to pin everything on me.

One family, one playbook. Remarkably consistent.

My divorce from William was already in motion, which meant I no longer had any reason to keep up the pretense of respect for Daniel. At his core, he was simply a man without integrity or limits.

A cold laugh rose in my chest and I was about to fire back when William spoke first, his voice ice-cold and certain.

"This has nothing to do with Eleanor."

"No one owes you an apology for the choices you made. You crossed every ethical line, and now you want to blame my wife instead?"

Daniel had always been a little afraid of his own son.

After Madison passed, William took over everything in the Spencer family, and Daniel's day-to-day expenses were all covered by William. On top of that, this whole situation wasn't exactly something Daniel could defend in the open. The moment William called it out directly, Daniel went silent, completely unable to respond.

William's stance in that moment set the tone for everything—he was done with both Daniel and Jane, completely, once and for all.

"William..."

Jane couldn't accept that William had turned on her so completely. She grabbed his arm with both hands, tears streaming down her face.

"William, I know I was wrong, I really do. That night, someone slipped something into the drinks my father and I had. That's why we lost control. It wasn't us."

"William, I'm telling the truth!"

"Enough."

William's face went stone cold. He yanked his arm free, his eyes filled with pure disgust.

He peeled off the suit jacket Jane had touched and tossed it straight into the hospital trash can.

At this point, it wasn't just her actions he couldn't stand—it was her, as a person.

"Excuses won't get you anywhere." William's gaze swept over them both, cold and cutting, as he pressed for answers. "Everything you said at City Hall—accusing Thalia of being the other woman—I want the whole story. Not what you think sounds good. The full truth."

Jane went pale. She dug her fingernails into her palm, her eyes darting around, her words stumbling out. "I... at the time, my mom hit me in front of everyone. It was humiliating. I snapped. I just wanted everyone else to feel as awful as I did, so I made it up."

I knew the full truth, and I nearly fell for her performance anyway.

Jane understood exactly where she stood. She'd given up all hope of marrying William. All she wanted now was to keep her place in the Spencer family.

If she got pushed out, her entire life would collapse.

Thalia, still lying in that emergency room, was the only card she had left to play.

If the whole truth came out, she'd have nothing left to fall back on.

William turned to Daniel, his eyes narrowing, the weight of his presence filling the room. "Your turn. Explain yourself."

"What is there to explain?" Daniel lifted his chin, forcing defiance into his voice. "If she really had been the other woman, why would I have waited years after your mother's death to remarry? Now that you're in power, you insist on digging up the elders' buried past."

"I had no interest in digging into anyone's private life. You're the ones who made it public."

William didn't flinch. He came back with a sharp, quiet reply that stripped away what little dignity Daniel had left.

The moment the words landed, the emergency room doors swung open.

William walked over to the doctor immediately, his voice tight with urgency. "Doctor, how is she?"

"Mr. Spencer." The doctor pulled down his mask and wiped the sweat from his forehead, his voice still carrying traces of relief. "She lost a significant amount of blood, and her vitals were critically low. Fortunately, she was brought in just in time. A few more minutes and there would have been nothing we could do."

"Thank god."

The tension drained from William's body, and the weight on his face eased.

I couldn't shake the suspicion. This mother and daughter had always operated at extremes.

Jane used to resort to minor self-harm just to get sympathy. Now Thalia had taken it to the next level.

Downtown General Hospital was under the Spencer family. I couldn't help but wonder whether this whole dramatic episode had been staged.

I stayed at the hospital and waited. By evening, a nurse finally came out to tell us Thalia had regained consciousness.

The nurse reminded us the patient was weak, had just stabilized, and needed rest—we should keep conversation to a minimum.

The moment we walked in, Thalia saw William and her eyes filled with tears on cue, her distress on full display.

Her performance was flawless—every emotion perfectly timed, the fragility and wounded feeling utterly convincing, as always.