Chapter 178 Settling Accounts
"Atlas, which eye of yours saw me hurting her?"
Zane on the hospital bed was so angry he almost jumped up.
"Look at my head, it's been cracked open!"
I was somewhat surprised to see Zane complaining to Atlas like a wronged child.
"Is that so?"
Atlas expressionlessly placed his hand on Zane's head and pressed down hard.
"It hurts.!"
"What are you doing? Atlas, are you crazy? Let go!"
Hearing Zane's cry, Yvonne frantically beat Atlas's back with her bag.
"Mom, Mom, don't be impulsive!"
Amy cried out, pulling at Yvonne's hand while yelling at Atlas, "Atlas, let go, let go now!"
The hospital room descended into chaos. Evan, who had just walked in, saw this scene.
"What's going on? Atlas, let go!"
Evan rushed into the room, reaching out to pull Atlas's arm. After several attempts, Atlas didn't budge an inch.
Evan instantly flew into a rage. "Atlas, what the hell are you doing!"
Hearing this, Atlas finally slowly released his hand.
The moment he let go, Zane clutched his head and started rolling around on the bed.
"It hurts so much!"
"Zane, Zane!"
Yvonne threw herself onto the bed. Seeing Zane wailing, she shouted toward the door, "Quick, get a doctor, get a doctor!"
A flurry of footsteps immediately sounded outside. Soon, several doctors in white coats rushed in.
"Stop the bleeding, quick!"
The bleeding from Zane's head was quickly stopped. Yvonne looked at Zane, who was now bandaged up like a mummy again, and tears instantly welled up in her eyes.
"Doctor, how is he?"
The lead doctor glanced at Zane with a subtle look and said, "His injury isn't serious, but if he keeps getting hurt repeatedly like this, it could easily get infected and leave scars. Please take good care of him."
"Yes."
After seeing the doctors out, Yvonne turned around and raised her hand to slap Atlas across the face.
Atlas dodged to the side, avoiding her palm.
After steadying himself, he looked at her coldly. "You know I never hit women, but if you want Zane to stay alive, you'd better behave yourself."
"Do you even see me as your mother!"
Yvonne's screaming was hysterical, without a trace of a noble lady's composure.
"Aren't you just asking for humiliation with such an obvious question?"
Atlas looked at her with ice-cold eyes, devoid of any warmth.
"Someone like you, dreaming of being my mother—who gave you the nerve!"
"You!"
Seeing that she couldn't win against Atlas, Yvonne could only turn to Evan with pleading eyes.
"Honey, are you just going to watch this bastard beat Zane and bully me like this?"
Seeing Yvonne crying pitifully, Evan frowned deeply and stared at Atlas. "You bastard, do you have to turn this house upside down?"
"Dad, that's really unfair of you to say. Who exactly is the one making this house a mess?"
Atlas glanced at Zane on the bed. "Why don't you ask him why he went and provoked my girlfriend for no reason?"
"You bastard!"
Evan cursed viciously, then turned to Zane on the bed and yelled, "Idiot! You're more trouble than you're worth, you idiot!"
"Why did you provoke Ms. Lockwood? Don't you know Ms. Lockwood is Atlas's girlfriend?"
Being scolded harshly, Zane clutched his freshly bandaged wound, his eyes falling viciously on me through the crowd.
"Of course I knew, otherwise why would I introduce her to a client? But what does she do? She smashes a bottle on my head!"
Zane pointed emotionally at his head. "Dad, I'm your son! Look at how I've been bullied, and instead of getting revenge for me, you're scolding me. Am I even your real son?"
Hearing this, Evan became even more furious. "You introduced Ms. Lockwood to a client? The Lockwood family needs you to introduce clients? I think you're just stirring up trouble!"
"Dad, why won't you believe me? I really was introducing her to a client—Thaddeus, who's in the mining business!"
Seeing that Zane didn't seem to be lying, Evan turned to me. "Ms. Lockwood, is what he's saying true?"
Everyone's eyes instantly fell on me. I stepped out from the crowd and looked at Evan. "Yes, what he said is true. I did meet Thaddeus today."
"Then why did you still...?"
Evan's gaze fell on Zane's head, dissatisfaction rolling on his tongue, but he held back from saying it.
I didn't speak. I just took out my phone from my bag and replayed that recorded audio.
After listening to the part where Zane pressured me to drink, Evan's expression instantly darkened.
"You bastard!"
"What do you have to say for yourself? Do you understand anything about business, or do you think Ms. Lockwood is one of those prostitutes you usually meet?"
This time Evan didn't defend him, directly scolding Zane into silence.
Seeing Zane get scolded, Yvonne was unwilling to accept it and said tearfully, "Honey, Zane must have meant well. You know he's always lived abroad and doesn't really understand the complexities of business. Besides, he brought such a big deal—what's wrong with asking Ms. Lockwood to have a couple of drinks?"
Like mother, like son indeed.
I laughed coldly. "Sorry, Yvonne, but if the Lockwood family's business can only be secured by me drinking, what would that look like?"
"We're legitimate businesspeople. We don't need to grovel and please everyone!"
"Ms. Lockwood, I'm not saying you have to drink. I know Zane was reckless this time, but his intentions were good, right?"
Yvonne wiped the tears from her eyes and quickly seized on the key point.
"But you injured his head like this—how do you plan to handle this?"
"Want to talk about how to handle it? Talk to me!"
Seeing Atlas adopt a shameless rogue attitude and take over the conversation, Yvonne's eyes showed indescribable disgust.
"Atlas, I know you're dating Ms. Lockwood and it's a sweet time for you, but Zane is your brother. His head is injured like this—don't you feel bad?"
"Aren't you afraid that when word gets out, people will call you cold-blooded and heartless?"
Hearing this, Atlas laughed coldly. "Stop trying to guilt-trip me. That doesn't work on me!"
"How the world talks about me and sees me is their business, but today's incident was Zane provoking Helena first. How should we settle this?"