Chapter 138
Richard's POV
The steady beep of the heart monitor filled the sterile hospital room like a metronome counting down our family's destruction. Dad lay motionless in the bed, his once-commanding presence reduced to a shell of flesh and bone. The stroke had hit him hard - massive brainstem infarction, the doctor had said with clinical detachment. His eyes could track movement, but everything else was gone. Speech, movement, the iron will that had built Harrison Group from nothing.
I sat in the uncomfortable plastic chair, watching Mom's tear-streaked face as she clutched Dad's unresponsive hand. Her usually perfect appearance was disheveled, makeup long since washed away by endless tears.
"The family needs you," she whispered to his still form. "You can't leave us now, Holden. Not like this."
Jesus, what a fucking mess we've become.
The sound of heels clicking down the hospital corridor made my stomach clench. I knew those footsteps - Laura's hurried pace. Perfect timing, as always.
"Richard?" Laura's voice carried false sweetness as she pushed through the door. "How is Dad?"
Mom's head snapped up, her grief instantly transforming into rage. The temperature in the room dropped twenty degrees.
"What is she doing here?" Mom's voice was barely controlled venom.
Laura straightened, her chin lifting with that defiant tilt I'd seen too many times. "I'm his daughter-in-law. I have every right—"
"You're the woman who destroyed this family!" Mom exploded, lunging toward Laura with surprising speed. "Everything that's happened is because of you! You manipulative home-wrecker—"
"Stop it!" Laura's face flushed red as she stepped back. "The person who started all this was Grace, not me! She's the one who's been deceiving everyone! She ruined everything!"
At the mention of Grace's name, Dad's hand began trembling violently against the hospital bed rail. The blood pressure monitor started beeping frantically, numbers climbing dangerously high.
"Look what you've done!" I snapped, moving to Dad's side. "He can hear everything!"
But the damage was done. Dad's eyes were wide, filled with rage, his body's only response to the chaos erupting around him.
Grandmother's voice cut through the tension like ice. "Richard, This isn't the place for family drama."
Laura sat in the corner chair, pointedly ignoring Mom's glares as she peeled an apple with deliberate precision. Every few minutes, she'd check her phone, scrolling through messages with complete indifference to the man fighting for his life ten feet away.
"Could you at least pretend to care?" I hissed under my breath.
Laura looked up with mock innocence. "I'm here, aren't I?"
Mom's laugh was bitter. "Some people showed real devotion when they were part of this family. Others just pretend."
"Are you talking about Grace?" Laura's voice sharpened. "Are you seriously suggesting I'm not as good as her?"
The apple slice she was eating seemed to stick in her throat. Her face contorted with sudden fury.
"Grace is good? She's the one who destroyed Harrison Group! She's the one who turned this family into a laughingstock! That manipulative, vindictive woman - and you think she's good? She doesn't deserve anything!"
"Enough!" I grabbed Laura's arm, hauling her toward the door. "We're leaving. Now."
I dragged her through the corridors, past curious nurses and concerned visitors, all the way to the parking garage. Laura stumbled in her heels, trying to keep up.
At my car, I threw the keys at her. They bounced off her chest and clattered to the concrete.
"Drive home. Don't come back."
Laura's composure finally cracked. Tears spilled down her cheeks as she bent to retrieve the keys.
"Your family has been bullying me from day one! Can't you see that? Why do you always protect them instead of me?"
Because they're my family, I wanted to say. Because you and I have turned this family into chaos.
"If you feel so mistreated, you never have to step foot in Harrison property again. I won't force you."
"Your heart is full of Grace now!" Laura's voice rose to near-hysteria. "After everything she's done to you - are you just a masochist? Is that what you are?"
Maybe I am, I thought. Maybe I've always been addicted to punishment, to wanting what I can't have.
The truth was, I couldn't stop thinking about Grace. Mom hadn't been any kinder to Grace either. She'd endured just as much.
But Grace had taken it all. She'd smoothed over every conflict, apologized for things that weren't her fault, made herself smaller to accommodate our dysfunction. Grace had loved me enough to sacrifice pieces of herself, and I'd been too blind to see it until she was gone.
Too fucking blind and stupid.
When I returned to the hospital room, Mom's demeanor had shifted completely. She sat up straighter, her tears dried, watching me with calculating eyes.
Dad's gaze immediately locked onto mine, desperate and searching. I knew what he wanted to know - the company, always the company.
I couldn't tell him the truth. Harrison Group was finished. Grace had systematically dismantled everything he'd built. Our stock was worthless, our reputation destroyed.
"The company is stable, Dad." The lie tasted like ash. "I'll get the company back."
Dad's expression didn't change. No relief, no acknowledgment. Just those hollow eyes staring at me.
Mom pulled me aside in the hallway, her grip surprisingly strong on my sleeve.
"Richard, tell me the truth. Is the company really okay?"
My silence was answer enough. Her face crumpled with understanding.
"God," she whispered. "Is it really over?"
I couldn't meet my mother's eyes. We both knew the truth.
"I should have encouraged you to make it legal with Grace from the beginning," Mom said bitterly. "I should have insisted you get a real marriage certificate."
My throat tightened. Too late for regrets now.
"A woman doesn't hate this intensely unless she once cared deeply," she analyzed, her voice growing stronger. "If Grace felt nothing for you, why would she be so angry? Why would she care enough to destroy us?"
I'd tried, God knows I'd tried. Phone calls, emails, showing up in front of her. Grace had rejected every attempt, her coldness absolute.
Mom's eyes hardened with determination. "You need to divorce Laura immediately. Then find a way to win Grace back. Whatever it takes."
Whatever it takes.
The words echoed in the sterile hallway as I watched my mother transform from grieving wife to calculating strategist.