Chapter 3

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Grace suddenly woke up from yet another terrifying dream, sweating and gasping for air. Her body jerked as she sat up in the hospital bed, her heart beating too fast, like it was trying to escape her chest.

For a moment, she didn’t even know where she was. Then it came back. The hospital. The accident and her parents.

Her eyes moved quickly around the room, searching, but it was empty.

In a state of panic, she called out for them.

“Mom… Dad…” No answer.

Her breathing got worse. “Mom! Dad!” she shouted this time.

Still nothing.

The door suddenly opened, and nurses rushed in. Her father’s secretary was standing behind them.

Mrs. Hail.

Grace froze.

“Mrs. Hail… Where are my parents?” she asked quickly, almost cutting her own breath.

But rather than answering, Mrs. Hail's eyes were filled with sadness, and Grace bit her lips; she didn’t want to see what was right in front of her.

“No…” he whispered, shaking her head slightly. “No, no... They’re okay, right? They’re just in another room. Just like me. They’re being treated too, right?” Her voice started breaking apart. “Please… tell me they’re okay.”

Tears filled her eyes again, falling before she could stop them.

She kept shaking her head like she could refuse reality out of existence.

But Mrs. Hail didn’t say anything. What could she even say at this point?

"Not speaking made everything worse," Grace’s voice snapped. “Tell me!” she screamed. “Where are my parents?!”

Before anything else could happen, the doctor walked in.

“She’s right, as the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Bush, she has every right to know about her parents’ situation,” the doctor said, turning his gaze from Mrs. Hail to Grace. “We are sorry for keeping this from you all this while, Miss Bush; about your parents’ situation….”

“Wait,” she said, then turned to Grace. She placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Grace, I am sorry for not saying anything. I wanted to make it easier for you, but it was not my place to say.

I just need you to be strong, okay? What you are about to hear will not be easy, but I am here for you.”

Grace looked at her calmly and nodded.

“Okay.”

For some reason, she was calm. Maybe it was because she already knew something was wrong. Maybe deep down, she already knew what they were about to tell her.

But even then, she never imagined it would be this bad.

Nothing could have prepared her for what she was about to hear.

The doctor, Mr. Mark, explained what happened after the accident. According to him, some strangers who witnessed the crash brought them to the hospital.

The truck driver responsible for the mess was under the influence, and he too didn’t leave unshattered.

Efforts were made to reach her family, but they could not get to anyone.

Only Mrs. Hail responded to the hospital call, and that was how she came to know about the accident.

Grace stared at the doctor for a while. She was relieved about the information, but the one thing she wanted to hear most was still not being said.

“…Okay then, what about my parents? How are they doing?”

“Well, about your parents…” The doctor paused for a moment, glancing from Mrs. Hail to Grace. “Your mother is somewhat okay. She is in intensive care right now.”

“Ah…” Grace let out a breath she did not even know she was holding. Her mother was okay. That meant her father would be fine too, right?

But then the doctor’s words came back again in her mind.

Her mother was “somewhat okay.” What did that even mean?

Grace turned to the doctor again. “What do you mean, my mother is somewhat okay? What about my father? How is he doing?”

“Your father...” the doctor began.

What he said next changed Grace’s life forever.

She learned that when her father was brought to the hospital, he was barely alive. The injuries were too severe.

The metal pole that pierced his chest could not be removed, and as he lay there fighting for his life, he kept asking about his wife and daughter. He begged the doctors to save them and not worry about him.

Her mother had woken up shortly after being brought in, but the moment she was told that her husband was gone, the shock was too much for her to bear. She collapsed and slipped into a coma.

The doctors could not even tell if she would wake up again. They did not know if her body was strong enough to recover from such a terrible shock.

Grace survived with only a few scratches because her father had shielded her with his own body.

She already knew that.

When help arrived at the scene, he was found lying on top of her.

Hearing that she had lost almost her entire family in just one day, the eighteen-year-old girl nearly lost her mind.

The trauma was unimaginable.

She cried and cried until there were no tears left to shed, but even then, she did not stop calling for her parents.

She fainted from the overwhelming pain, woke up, and cried again when she saw her mother’s condition. But nothing could bring her father back or wake her mother from her coma.

She cursed. She screamed. She begged.

More than once, she wished God would turn back time. She wished she had died instead of her father. But no matter how much she cried or prayed, nothing changed.

Her father was gone.

And her mother remained trapped in an endless sleep.

It was a miracle Grace was still in the hospital because if they had released her then, there was no doubt she would have taken her own life.

As if that misery was not enough, none of her relatives showed any concern. Not from her mother’s side or her father’s side.

They all went silent.

Even when her father was buried, it was only Grace, Mrs. Hail, her family, and the doctor who attended the funeral.

The uncles and aunts she had grown up knowing were nowhere to be found.

Not one of them came. Not until her father’s will came to light.

According to the will, whoever took care of Grace on his behalf would manage his wealth and company until she was old enough to handle everything herself. The moment she came of age, everything would be returned to her.

But Grace was not in the right state of mind to manage anything, not even herself.

So she decided to entrust everything, including her father’s firm, to Mrs. Hail, at least until she was old enough and knowledgeable enough to handle it herself. Of course, this angered her relatives, especially her uncles. They suddenly began hanging around her, trying to convince her to change her mind.

But Grace refused.

Eventually, the court had to step in to make sure they did not try to harm her or interfere with her father’s wishes.

After that, a series of things happened that only made her trauma worse.

She could barely remember most of it and did not want to think about it.

She could hardly remember what happened after that. The schools she attended, the university she went to, or even how she graduated.

She only went because it was necessary. One day, she would have to take over the empire her father had built.

Mrs. Hail was doing a good job managing the company, but Grace still had a lot to learn, so she chose to focus on that more than anything else.