Chapter 101: Swearing Not to Involve Others
Hearing this, the gentle mask on Rufus's face completely vanished. A terrifying violence churned in his eyes, enough to devour everything.
However, the thunderous rage she expected didn't come.
Rufus just stood there, staring hard at her, at that face made unusually vivid by defiance.
After a long while, he actually smiled.
"Sell blood? Beg?"
He repeated her words, his tone icy and mocking.
Cecilia stuck her neck out, staring back at him fearlessly. "Yes, even if I have to sell my blood or beg, I won't ask you again! Rufus, don't even think about controlling me with money anymore!"
"Control you? Ms. Martinez, you think too highly of yourself." Rufus stepped forward, closing in on her, his voice full of contempt.
"How much do you think your blood is worth? A thousand dollars? Ten thousand?"
"Or are you planning to kneel on the street and tell every passerby that you need five hundred thousand dollars to save your father's life?"
"You!" Cecilia felt a sharp pain in her chest from the harshness in Rufus's words.
"Me what?" The smile on Rufus's lips deepened, growing colder. "Let me guess—after you finish your sob story, passersby will give you a hundred dollars at most, then tell you to 'stay strong.' Five hundred thousand dollars? Amelia, are you living in a dream?"
Rufus added slowly, "Besides, you seem to have forgotten—acute myocardial infarction requires surgery right away. By the time you scrape together the money, there might not even be room in the morgue."
Cecilia's body swayed, all color draining from her face.
After a moment of silence, her lips trembled as she bit down hard on her lower lip, almost drawing blood.
"I'll give you time to think."
Rufus methodically straightened his slightly disheveled cuffs, resuming his superior posture.
"I'll take care of things at the hospital, make sure they use the best medicine to keep him alive."
"But the surgery won't start until I get your call."
He was using a dying man's life to set a countdown for her!
Cecilia felt all the blood in her body flowing backward, nausea rising in her throat.
Rufus—always so despicable, so shameless!
She forced down the curse almost escaping her lips and squeezed out words through clenched teeth.
"I need to go to the hospital."
"Fine." Rufus agreed surprisingly readily, gesturing to Owen waiting in the distance. "Arrange a car."
Owen responded respectfully, "Yes, Mr. Chapman."
Rufus's effortless permission was itself a silent declaration.
He allowed her to go, so she could go.
All her actions were still under his control.
On the way to the hospital, Cecilia didn't say a word. Outside the window, neon lights flashed and flew backward.
Lifeline Health Services, Cardiac Surgery Department.
As Cecilia approached the hospital room, she heard muffled crying from inside.
Her steps faltered, her heart clenching sharply as she hurried forward.
The door to the room wasn't fully closed, leaving a gap. Cecilia instinctively lightened her steps and looked inside through the crack.
On the bed, Amelia's father Robert lay with various tubes attached, his face ashen, eyes tightly shut.
Beside the bed, gray-haired Mabel was slumped over the edge, her shoulders shaking violently, her crying filled with self-blame.
"It's all my fault, all my fault," Mabel's voice was broken and desperate. "Robert, I've wronged you. I should have listened to you and closed the noodle shop to go back home, but I insisted on saying we needed to save money for Amelia, to help her get established in this city. I said there were more opportunities in the city, that Amelia was capable and shouldn't go back to the countryside. Now look—you've collapsed, and we're still burdening Amelia."
"I shouldn't have told Amelia. She just started working, making so little each month. Telling her this—aren't I just adding to her troubles? Five hundred thousand dollars—when could she ever earn that much? How could I be so foolish, so useless?"
Robert on the bed seemed to hear his wife Mabel's crying. His eyelids trembled, but he didn't even have the strength to open them.
Outside the door, Cecilia's body went rigid.
So that's how it was?
They'd worked themselves to the bone running a noodle shop in Harmony City just to give Amelia, their long-lost daughter, something to rely on, some security.
These people truly loved "Amelia."
A heavy sense of responsibility, mixed with a bittersweet warmth, struck Cecilia's heart.
She owed Amelia a life.
She couldn't just stand by and watch this simple, profound parental love end because of money.
She composed herself, gently pushed open the door, and walked in.
"Dad, Mom."
Mabel's head shot up. Seeing her, she stumbled to her feet and grabbed her arm.
"Amelia! You're finally here! Your dad—the doctor just came by again, saying they can't delay any longer! The surgery fee—what are we going to do about the surgery fee, Amelia!"
"Mom, don't panic." Cecilia steadied her firmly, soothing her. "Sit down first and listen to me. I'll figure out the money. Don't worry about anything—just take good care of Dad."
Mabel froze, staring at her blankly. "You'll figure it out? How? That's five hundred thousand dollars!"
"Mom, trust me." Cecilia's eyes were unusually determined. "Either way, I won't let anything happen to Dad. Your most important job right now is to take care of yourself, okay?"
The Amelia before her still had that familiar face, but the calm and resolve in those eyes seemed completely different.
Cecilia said no more. She walked past Mabel to the bedside.
Through the oxygen mask, Cecilia saw worry and guilt filling Robert's cloudy eyes. He opened his mouth, making a weak sound.
"Amelia, don't... don't worry about me..."
"Stop talking nonsense!" Cecilia cut him off, bending down to tuck in his blanket. "You're my dad—if I don't take care of you, who will? Don't listen to Mom's rambling about being a burden. We're family—there's no such thing. Don't think about anything now. Just focus on getting better. Leave everything to me."
Tears slid down Robert's cheeks, his lips moving as if trying to say something more.
"Okay, Dad, stop talking. Save your strength." Cecilia held back her tears and forced a smile. "When you're better, I still want to eat your noodles."
After leaving the room and handing the crying Mabel over to a nurse, Cecilia walked alone to the end of the corridor.
Five hundred thousand dollars.
The figure made it hard to breathe.
Rufus's arrogant face surfaced in her mind, along with his words: "Just say yes."
No.
A shiver ran through her body.
In her past life, she'd compromised once for Patrick, only to watch him die indirectly at Blair's hands.
Rufus's promises were poison wrapped in sugar! Once swallowed, there'd be no redemption.
Absolutely not!
Cecilia's nails dug deep into her palms.
Overwhelming grief and helplessness nearly tore her apart, until a gentle figure unexpectedly entered her mind.
Charles.
The person she'd sworn never to involve again.
But now, besides him, who else could she turn to?
Cecilia leaned against the cold wall and slowly slid to the floor, burying her face in her knees.
Why...
Why did she always have to face such cruel choices?
After a long while.
Cecilia finally lifted her head, pulled out that old phone from her pocket, her trembling fingers searching through the contacts.
That name she'd deliberately ignored but knew by heart lay there quietly.
She took a deep breath and pressed the call button.