Chapter 250 Repentance
Anna moved too fast, too suddenly, with a desperate resolve to drag everyone down with her. No one had time to react.
Dione was just reaching the landing on the stairs, facing away from the hall, completely unguarded.
A vicious force slammed into her from behind.
"Ah!"
Dione screamed in terror, her body instantly losing balance as she pitched forward straight toward the hard staircase.
"Mom!"
Stefan roared, his pupils shrinking sharply.
He was too far away and could only watch helplessly as Dione fell, his heart stopping in that moment.
Robert and Mabel also turned pale with fright, crying out in alarm.
It felt like time slowed to a crawl in the restaurant.
Just as Dione's body was about to hit the steps, a figure faster than anyone else's reaction rushed forward with fierce determination.
It was Cecilia.
The moment Anna stood up, she had sensed a sudden, dangerous vibe.
She was closest, and almost by survival instinct, ahead of conscious thought, she reacted.
It was too late to pull Dione back.
The only option was to use her own body as a cushion.
It was an extremely dangerous decision.
Cecilia did not hesitate for a second, throwing herself forward, getting under Dione before she could fall.
A heavy thud — flesh and bone hitting the solid wooden steps in the first impact.
Then a series of sickening rolling and crashing sounds echoed continuously through the silent restaurant.
The two bodies tangled together, tumbling down the stairs.
Throughout the violent tumbling, Cecilia kept her arms locked tightly around Dione's head and neck, holding her securely in her embrace.
Her back, shoulders, arms, and even her leg bones absorbed every impact against the sharp edges of the stairs.
Each impact sent pain deep into her bones.
Finally, they rolled onto flat ground with a tremendous crash.
That was the heaviest and most fatal sound of all.
It was Cecilia's head, having lost the last of her strength, slamming hard against the cold, hard marble floor.
As the sound faded, the world went completely silent.
This silence was more terrifying than any scream.
Everyone was frozen in place by this bloody and horrific scene, unable to move.
Time froze for a full three seconds.
Then it was completely shattered by a heart-wrenching roar.
"Amelia!"
Stefan rushed over.
His running was stumbling, completely losing his usual composure, his face drained of all color in an instant, leaving only boundless terror and rage that could burn everything.
Dione snapped out of her intense fear.
She pushed herself up. Apart from some scrapes on her arms and knees and being extremely frightened, she had barely suffered any real injury.
She looked down in confusion.
The next second, she froze.
Cecilia lay beneath her, eyes closed, her once vibrant and beautiful face now deathly pale without a trace of color.
Warm, sticky liquid was rapidly flowing from her body.
Bright red blood quickly pooled on the floor, then kept spreading, stinging the eyes of everyone present.
"Amelia..."
Dione's voice shook uncontrollably. She reached out with trembling hands, wanting to touch Cecilia, but the moment her fingertips touched the other woman's cheek, she recoiled in horror.
That warm, slippery sensation... was blood.
Blood shed by this Amelia, whom she had constantly made things difficult for and looked down upon, to save her.
Enormous fear and crushing guilt gripped Dione's heart like a landslide and tsunami, making even breathing difficult.
What had she been doing just now?
Just minutes ago, Dione had been secretly pleased that Cecilia had publicly put Anna in her place.
She had even been planning how, once they sat down in the private room, she would use her position as an elder to give Anna, her future daughter-in-law, a subtle warning about the Hensley family's rules.
But in the blink of an eye.
This girl, who had been planning to "warn," now lay in a pool of blood, unconscious, having saved her, the difficult mother-in-law.
"Ambulance!"
Stefan dropped to his knees, carefully gathering the blood-covered, unconscious Cecilia into his arms.
He roared at the crowd still standing around in a daze, like a wild beast.
"Call an ambulance!!"
The restaurant erupted into chaos.
Women's screams, men shouting into phones, chairs being knocked over — all mixed together.
Robert and Mabel finally snapped out of their extreme shock, rushing over with cries.
"My daughter! My Amelia!"
"Amelia! Wake up! Look at us!"
And the one who caused all this, Anna, still stood at the stairway, motionless like a puppet.
Anna stared blankly at the disaster she had created, at the ever-spreading pool of blood, then at Stefan's eyes blazing with rage, ready to tear her apart alive.
Anna's mind went completely blank.
She had only wanted to push Dione a little.
She had only wanted Dione to taste pain and humiliation, too.
She had not meant to kill anyone...
She especially had not expected that damn Amelia would rush out so recklessly...
Survival instinct made her instinctively turn to flee.
"Grab her! That crazy woman's trying to run!"
A diner who had witnessed everything roared, and several young men full of adrenaline rushed forward, pinning the dazed Anna to the ground.
The ambulance siren grew from distant to near, soon arriving with a wail.
Paramedics rushed into the restaurant, quickly securing Cecilia to a stretcher and loading her into the vehicle.
"Patient has intracranial bleeding, blood pressure falling, heart rate racing! Prepare emergency treatment immediately!"
Stefan and Dione got into the ambulance too.
Robert and Mabel were taken by the police, who arrived shortly after, to give statements at the station.
Inside the ambulance, the cramped space felt suffocating.
Stefan gripped Cecilia's ice-cold hand tightly, pressing it against his own cheek.
Over and over, in a voice only he could hear, he called her name softly.
"Amelia... wake up... please..."
Stefan's eyes were fixed on the weakly jumping line on the heart monitor, not daring to blink, afraid that if he blinked, that fragile line would become a flat line of despair.
Dione huddled in the corner, her body shaking violently and uncontrollably.
Dione looked at the unconscious Cecilia, at the paramedics working on her, then at Stefan looking utterly lost, as if his entire world had collapsed.
How ironic.
How ridiculous.
All her life, Dione had prided herself on being shrewd, a good judge of character.
She had carefully selected Anna for Stefan, someone she saw as a perfect match, the ideal daughter-in-law.
But it turned out she was a malicious, unhinged woman.
She had looked down on Amelia's background in every way, despised her, humiliated her.
But it turned out that at the most dangerous moment, it was this girl she looked down on most who had risked her life to save her.
Dione suddenly remembered what Mabel had said to her on the cruise.
"As parents, we don't ask for much else, just that our children can be happy and live well together."
Yes.
What had she been seeking?
For that ridiculous class prejudice, for that empty dignity, she had nearly ruined Stefan's future.
Now, Dione had caused her future daughter-in-law to lie here, between life and death.
If...
If Amelia really died... how would she face Stefan? How would she face that simple, kind couple from the Martinez family?
Dione closed her eyes in pain, two burning tears of regret finally sliding down silently.
Only in this moment did she truly understand.
How absurd, how completely wrong she had been.