Chapter 4

Timothy's dad hung up, then crossed his arms as he eyed me with clear arrogance. "My wife will be here any second now. If you get on your knees, apologize, and beg me for forgiveness now, I can still persuade her to go easy on you.

"She's quite hotheaded. It'll be the end of you and your son once she gets here."

Meanwhile, Timothy was losing his patience as he soaked in the pool. He emerged from the water, padded over to the edge of the pool, and jabbed a finger in Damian's direction as he snarled, "Pretty thick-skinned of you to show up here every day to use my pool, freeloader!

"Don't think I don't know what you're up to! You're trying to show up everywhere I am to get my attention because you know my mom's a CEO.

"You're not even worthy of carrying my shoes! The water in this pool is contaminated because of your freeloading, asthma-carrying cooties! I'm breaking out in allergies because of you!"

As Timothy continued denigrating Damian, he gave the latter a rough shove. "I felt sorry that you couldn't afford to use public swimming pools, so I let you watch from the side out of the kindness of my heart.

"But you just had to push it and have your dad come over to cause a scene!"

Damian was already extremely weakened from the asthma attack and exposure to the cold. A rough shove from Timothy was enough to send him staggering back a few steps. Fat teardrops rolled down his cheeks.

"I'm not a freeloader…" Damian sobbed. "Dad built this pool for me…"

My heart cleaved painfully at the sight of Damian's tears of resentment and pale little face.

"Shut up!" I thundered, closing in on Timothy to pull him away from Damian.

But my gesture infuriated the boy. "You dare yell at me?"

He let out a strange cry, and as if going mad, he grabbed Damian by the collar. Before anyone could react, he twisted his arms and shoved Damian into the deep end of the swimming pool!

"Damian!"

My eyes widened as I rushed to the edge of the pool like a maniac, wanting to jump in to save him. But at that moment, I felt someone on either side of me, pulling my arms and restraining me—Lionel and Timothy's dad.

They worked together to pin me by the pool.

"Let me go! Damian doesn't know how to breathe when swimming! He has asthma!" I struggled to break free from their hold, roaring.

Damian was splashing around violently in the water, his arms clawing and breaking through the surface at a frantic pace. The splashes got smaller and smaller.

His asthma was acting up again.

I could see him gaping in agony under the water as air bubbles escaped his mouth, but he couldn't get any oxygen into his lungs.

"Oh, calm down." A wicked smile split Timothy's dad's face as he gripped my shoulders and kept me from moving. "Your son has always wanted to swim in the pool, right? I'm feeling generous today, so I'll let him swim in my private pool to his heart's content!"

Lionel chimed in apathetically from the other side, "Yeah, what's choking on a few mouthfuls of water going to do to him, anyway? Think of this as a lesson he'll remember!"

I was no match for their restraint. Desperation nearly overwhelmed me as I watched Damian's movements grow weaker in the water.

Just then, the doors of the entrance swung open, and a woman hurried in. She was none other than the safety officer who hadn't responded when I'd tried to call earlier, and who received a ten-thousand-dollar monthly wage from me.

Timothy's dad turned toward the sound at the door, his eyes lighting up when he got a good look at the woman who'd entered. He immediately released his grip on my shoulder and enthusiastically met the safety officer halfway, grabbing her hand.

"Honey, you're finally here!"