Rona Langdon was fuming when she left the hospital. In her mind, she viciously cursed out Grandma.

’I’ve never been one to take a loss lying down, but this time I feel like I’ve been completely screwed over. This is absolutely intolerable!’

But Grandma was an elder, after all. If she openly brought people to beat her up, she’d be condemned by everyone.

Rona Langdon may have been a brute, but she wasn’t a fool. She knew she had no choice but to swallow her anger for now.

When she got home, Cara Preston was in the middle of cooking. She was shocked to see Rona return in such a sorry state and rushed over. "Mom, what happened to you?" 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

She would never admit to something as humiliating as getting beaten up by Grandma, so she directed all her anger toward Vera Xavier. With a cold expression, she snarled, "That worthless bitch Vera Xavier is so shameless! She’s out there hooking another man! If she dares to come back, I’ll break her legs!"

The moment Cara Preston heard that, she knew her mother had failed to achieve her goal for the day. She had clearly gotten the worst of it.

Cara inwardly scoffed at Rona. ’She always acts so tough, but she’s really just a coward who’s all bark and no bite!’

Of course, she would never say that to Rona Langdon’s face. Instead, she chimed in, "Mom, you never should have taken Vera Xavier in. She’s a total jinx! How dare she raise a hand to you? She has no respect for her elders!"

The memory of what had happened filled Rona Langdon with rage. She frowned, her eyes blazing with anger, and said to Cara Preston, "Your dad is hospitalized at First People’s Hospital. Go check on the situation later."

In truth, they had planned to go to the hospital yesterday to "visit" Zachary Preston, using it as an excuse to sling mud at Vera Xavier. However, Zachary had been in surgery when they arrived, so they hadn’t been able to find him in his room.

Cara Preston grew nervous the moment she heard Zachary Preston was in the hospital. She quickly asked, "Mom, why is Dad in the hospital?"

Rona Langdon said begrudgingly, "Your grandma said he had a cerebral hemorrhage. I didn’t see him, so I don’t know the details."

When Cara Preston heard it was a cerebral hemorrhage, she was stunned. She had more common sense than Rona Langdon and knew just how terrible the condition was. She also knew that most people who suffered from it were left with lasting complications.

She frowned. "Dad isn’t even fifty, and he’s in good health. How could he have a cerebral hemorrhage?"

It was precisely because Zachary Preston had always seemed so healthy that they hadn’t taken his illness seriously when it first started.

"You’re asking me? Who am I supposed to ask?" Rona Langdon snapped. "He’s so useless. I just said a few things to him, and he goes and has a cerebral hemorrhage. It’s infuriating!"

Cara Preston immediately grasped the gravity of the situation. She knew full well that Zachary Preston was the Preston family’s source of income. If he was truly sick, it meant he would have to step back from his job, and might even lose it entirely.

Furthermore, patients with cerebral hemorrhages were often left with complications, and the subsequent rehabilitation and care would be a significant expense.

Cara Preston had been raised by Rona Langdon, and she had learned her mother’s coldness and selfishness to a T. The idea of her taking care of Zachary Preston was out of the question!

Her first thought was about herself. ’What am I going to do now?’

She knew that while Zachary Preston’s salary was decent, Rona Langdon was obsessed with keeping up appearances and living extravagantly. The family had practically no savings.

Now that Zachary Preston was sick, she was afraid that what little money they had wouldn’t even be enough to cover his medical bills.