Chapter 4

The team of specialists was due to arrive at 8:00 am on Thursday.

As Livia wheeled Jennie into the examination room, Cindy tossed an envelope at me and said, "Joshua, your sister has been lying in the hospital for three years, and you've spent all three years by her side. Tell me, do you even think that she's ever going to wake up?"

She took a menacing step closer to me and said, "You're clinging to someone who'll never wake up while dragging my daughter and the Fox family down. Don't you think you've dragged this on long enough?

"This is 300 thousand dollars," she said, pointing at the envelope. "Take the money and leave with your sister. The Fox family has no obligations whatsoever to keep a vegetable alive in the hospital for the rest of her life.

"You and your sister have both taken too much money from the Fox family. If you're really being considerate of your sister, then you should just let her rest in peace."

I stared at the envelope, but I didn't reach out to take it.

"I won't take the money," I said flatly. "The Fox family doesn't need to pay a single cent for Jennie's medical costs, and you also don't need to kick me out like this. I will automatically leave after her checkup today."

Meanwhile, Leroy stood at the other end of the hallway.

Livia came out of the ICU and went to gather the specialists to prepare for Jennie's checkup. The door was open by a slit, and I saw Jennie lying inside on the bed, her ventilator still beeping softly and steadily.

I followed Livia and took a few steps toward the exit.

Suddenly, Leroy made his move. He walked right past me, brushing his shoulder against my arm. When I looked back, he'd already pushed the ICU door open.

I rushed in after him at once and saw him standing next to Jennie's bed, reaching for the ventilator's plug point.

"Leroy! No!" I yelled, rushing over to him at once. I reached out to try to stop him from pulling it out, thinking of shoving him aside, but he was too quick. In an instant, he'd pulled out the power cord, and the ventilator stopped beeping.

The ECG monitor screen flickered for a bit and let out a series of loud, urgent, intermittent warning beeps. The wavy line on the screen jumped. Then, as it continued to the right, the waves began flattening out and slowing down.

"No!" I screamed, rushing over quickly to try and wrench the plug from Leroy's hands, wanting to reconnect the power. But just before I could touch it, another hand grabbed at mine and pinned me to the ground.

It was Cindy.

She pinned me down to the floor with such strength that I forgot for a moment that she was an elderly woman. I struggled hard against her hold, but I couldn't manage to shake her off.

She then tightened her hold on me and began dragging me back out of the room.

"Behave yourself and let your sister go, Joshua."

"No! Let go of me!" I yelled, reaching out with my other hand to try to reach for the plug again. But she also grabbed it and pinned it back down on the floor just as I managed to brush my fingertips against the plug. Yet, I failed to grab it.

By this point, the ECG had completely flatlined on the monitor screen, emitting a long, continuous warning tone.

Leroy said indifferently, "Your sister is spending my wife's money now. If she were truly considerate of us, she should have died much sooner.

"You're only staying by her side because you can't bear to lose the Fox family's money. Now that she's dead, there's no reason for you to stay anymore."

"Shut up!" I roared at him hoarsely, no longer sounding like myself.

Just then, Kristen walked in. She looked at the monitor screen first, then at me on the floor. Then, she went over to Leroy and stood next to him.

His eyes were reddened as he looked at her pitifully. "Kristen… I-I feel terrible…"

He then clutched his stomach and slowly crouched over as though he were in great pain. "I think… I think I might be sick…"

Kristen immediately gathered him into her arms, helping him stand, before turning to look at me.

"I'm taking him to the doctor. You can stay here and keep an eye on your sister for now."

When Cindy heard that Leroy might be sick, she immediately let go of my hands and rushed over to help Kristen bring Leroy out, her eyes filled with immense worry.

I immediately got up from the ground and rushed over to the ventilator at once, plugging it in. The machine started up again with a whirl, but the ECG on the monitor didn't move again and continued flatlining.

I pressed my forehead against the side of the bed. Jennie's hand slid down and dangled from the sheet. Her fingertips had begun to grow ice-cold.

I scrambled to my feet and rushed out of the ICU. But there was nobody in the hallway, and the nurse station was also empty. The doors leading into the doctor's office were wide open.

I ran all the way to the end of the hallway and pushed open the door to the examination room, where Kristen was standing next to the exam table with Leroy leaning against her.

I exclaimed, "Jennie's ventilator stopped! I need a doctor now!"

Kristen looked up, but she continued flipping through Leroy's health report in her hands. "I'll arrange for a doctor immediately."

"Now… Right now… It's stopped… You called the doctors away…"

I couldn't even get a full sentence out. The stuffy feeling in my chest only continued getting worse.

"I said that I will arrange for it."

She then went over and spoke to Dr. Riley. "Go have a look."

I ran back to the ICU. The ECG on the screen had flatlined for a long time. Dr. Riley just walked up to Jennie's bed, looked at her, and said, "My condolences."

I sprinted back to the examination room, grabbing a syringe from the nurses' station on the way before lunging at Leroy, thrusting the syringe at him.

"You murderer! You unplugged Jennie's ventilator! You killed her! I'll make you pay with your life!"

The hatred twisted my facial features into a menacing scowl. But just as the tip of the needle was less than a few inches from his face, Kristen grabbed my wrist and twisted it.

The needle stopped right above Leroy's shoulder. Kristen's grip on me was so firm that I wasn't able to move at all.

She frowned at me and said, "He would never do anything like that."

"Never?" I yelled, struggling wildly. "He pulled the plug out! I watched him do it myself!"

Kristen didn't answer and just loosened her grip slightly. I ended up jerking forward violently and driving the needle tip into her skin. Blood seeped out and trickled down her arm.

I let go of the syringe, letting it clatter to the ground where it rolled in a half-circle. A heavy tightness seized my chest, and I couldn't stop myself from coughing up a mouthful of blood.

I wiped the corner of my mouth and turned around. Then, I walked out without looking back.