After shouting, Rona Langdon added, "And you, you worthless thing! I gave birth to you, yet you show no gratitude at all. You’re always helping your father bully me. Do you even have a conscience? If you still consider me your mother today, then get out of my way. Otherwise, I’ll just pretend I never had you!"

Vera Xavier bit her lip and said, "My dad is lying in a hospital bed, unable to move or speak. Can you tell me how he’s bullying you?"

Rona Langdon froze. Vera Xavier continued, "I was adopted by another family right after I was born. After I returned home, search your conscience and tell me—how did you treat me? For a woman as morally corrupt as you, I’d rather you weren’t my real mother! Since you refuse to acknowledge me today, then I don’t need to acknowledge you either. After all, you have never once fulfilled your duty as a mother for a single day!"

As she said this, her gaze hardened, and she declared loudly, "Aunts and uncles, everyone here, I ask you all to be my witness today! My mother is trying to drive my father to his death. Because I won’t allow it, she wants to disown me. I don’t want a mother like this! Starting today, I am severing our mother-daughter relationship! From this day forward, we are strangers!"

"Alright!" a patient’s family member shouted. "I’ll be your witness!"

Jason Langdon said viciously, "You got a death wish? How dare you meddle in my family’s business!"

His face was already brutish and fleshy, his expression savage. The roar carried a genuine menace, and the man who had spoken was so frightened he shrank back. No one else dared to say another word.

Rona Langdon had always known that she and Vera Xavier weren’t close. But she felt that no matter what, she was still Vera’s biological mother. ’Vera should treat me well. She should be a dutiful daughter!’

Rona Langdon glared at Vera Xavier. "Fine! If that’s how you feel, then I won’t acknowledge you either! You still want to go to college, don’t you? In his current state, your father can’t possibly pay for your education. I’d like to see how you’re going to afford college! You’re doomed to be a worthless country bumpkin for the rest of your life!"

"Even if I’m doomed to be a country bumpkin my whole life, I would never, for my own selfish benefit, disregard whether my own father lives or dies!" Vera Xavier declared. "As long as I’m still breathing, I will find a way to get my dad’s illness treated. I will never abandon him!"

Rona Langdon was livid. She said with a cold sneer, "I never would have guessed you were so dutiful. Aren’t you afraid he’ll be a burden for the rest of your life?"

"How could taking care of one’s own father possibly be a burden?" Vera Xavier retorted loudly. "A father is like a mountain. He’s my rock. From now on, we will depend on each other to survive. If anyone dares to pressure or harm him, I’ll fight them with everything I have!"

At that moment, tears streamed down the face of Zachary Preston, who lay in the hospital bed. He had heard the entire commotion outside, clear as day.

’After Cara Preston and Rona Langdon had angered him to the point of a cerebral hemorrhage, he had been disappointed in them both. Still, he felt that he and Rona had been married for so many years; they had history, and there were feelings between them. And Cara had always been such a well-behaved child; what she’d said that day was probably just words spoken in a fit of anger.’

’But after he fell ill and was hospitalized, Rona Langdon and Cara Preston had barely visited him at all. It would be a lie to say he wasn’t disappointed.’

’Still, he tried to make excuses for them, telling himself they were just busy and that’s why they hadn’t been able to visit yet.’ 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

’Yesterday, when his mother returned, she had a grim look on her face and had tentatively asked if he wanted to divorce Rona Langdon. He’d known right then that something was wrong. Recalling Rona’s consistently callous nature, he guessed that something must have happened, but he never imagined...’