Chapter 6: He Ran This Way!

Reclining in the bathtub, Allison turned her head and looked at her calmly. “I didn’t take it. Go ahead and report me.”

Ella was taken aback. She hadn’t expected Allison to be this bold.

She knew Allison had a mental illness, and crazy people couldn’t be trusted. If she caught Allison red-handed, she could report it to Nigel and earn some favor. Once Allison was labeled a thief, anything that went missing in the future could be blamed on her. After all, she was the crazy one.

But to make the accusation work, she needed solid evidence. Earlier, she had checked the surveillance footage, but there was nothing showing Allison taking her phone.

Even so, she was sure Allison had stolen it. The bathroom was so big. Where could she have possibly hidden it?

Ella yanked Allison out of the bathtub. When she didn’t find the phone on her, she started searching the whole bathroom. The moment she tried to open the toilet tank, Allison rushed over and pressed the flush.

When Ella saw the nervous look on Allison’s face, she reacted fast and lifted the toilet lid. But inside, there was only rushing water. Nothing else.

Did the phone just get flushed away?

Ella immediately took advantage of this, pointing at Allison with an arrogant expression.

“Stealing? Mr. Nigel won’t let you off for this!” She ran outside excitedly to report it.

Nigel was in his room, feeling restless. He couldn’t shake the feeling that Allison had changed ever since she returned. She didn’t seem as close to him as before. Feeling anxious, he stood up and took out a necklace he had prepared for her.

The year their father died, Allison lost interest in everything except this necklace. But back then, he and Toby had been busy taking care of the family matters, and no one had time to fulfill even her small wish.

Nigel murmured to himself, “If she still refuses to be nice after accepting this gift, then she’s just being ungrateful.”

Just as he was about to go find Allison, Ella rushed over, looking like she was about to say something. But before she could speak, Ruth grabbed Nigel’s arm in a panic. “Nigel, hurry! Go check on Sherrie, she’s having another attack!”

A moment later, the hallway was filled with hurried footsteps and Ruth’s sobbing. After a few minutes, everything was silent.

Allison walked out of her room with her hair still wet and her bare feet on the cold floor. The whole villa was silent that she could hear her own heartbeat. She knew that tonight, no one would care that she had come back. Sherrie always did this. Whenever something important happened to Allison, Sherrie would have an “episode” and take all the attention.

During Allison’s college entrance exam, Sherrie spilled water on her admission ticket, panicked, and had an asthma attack.

To rush Sherrie to the hospital, they pushed Allison out of the car, and she nearly missed the exam.

At Allison's coming-of-age ceremony, Sherrie was so “happy” for her that she had another attack. Allison was left alone at the banquet, forced to face all the stares and whispers by herself.

Even on the second anniversary of their father’s death, Sherrie made a scene. She knelt in front of his grave, slapped herself, and cried that she was the one who ruined the family. Then she fainted from grief. After that, Toby and Ruth decided they wouldn’t hold any more memorials, saying it was to avoid bringing up painful memories.

Allison let out a cold smile. No wonder the grass on her father’s grave had grown so tall. While she was sent to the psychiatric hospital, no one bothered to take care of it. And now, today, Sherrie had another attack, just to show that nothing had changed, even after Allison returned.

Ruth’s reminder earlier that they were still a family left her with a deep, aching feeling. What a joke.

During her time in the psychiatric hospital, dark thoughts often filled Allison’s mind. What if Ruth had never brought Sherrie back? What if Ruth had never been saved in the first place?

But as time passed by, love faded, and even hatred became dull. In the end, she no longer wanted Toby, or Nigel, or Ronan. She only wanted to leave that hospital and keep the few things her father had left behind.

But first, she had to survive.

Allison looked up at the second floor, where her old room used to be. Her expression darkened.

****

At the pawnshop.

The clerk slid a bank card through the window quickly. “Dead pawn, three months. No extension. There’s $300,000 in the account, no password.”

Allison took the card and held it tightly in her hand.

This was a black-market pawnshop. They didn’t require an ID and never asked where things came from. She brought something, and they pawned it.

She had pawned a bracelet, one of her father’s keepsakes. In three months, she would need $500,000 to buy it back.

Toby had tampered with her household registration and replaced her fingerprint records with Sherrie’s. So even if Allison went in person to renew her ID, she wouldn’t be able to do it.

Without an ID, she couldn’t even open her own bank account. This $300,000 was the only real money she had.

After securing the card, Allison wrapped her scarf around her face and asked, “Have the Alphasirox pills been sold yet?”

The clerk pointed to an alley behind the shop. “They’re still at the back.”

Allison thanked him and ran toward the dark alley. Alphasirox pills were excellent for treating internal injuries, but since they were still in the testing period and not yet on the market, they were incredibly hard to find. The only place to get them was through the black market.

As she turned the corner in a rush, she unexpectedly bumped into someone.

With her frail body, she lost her balance from the collision, and the card in her hand flew out of her grasp.

Startled, she reached out to grab it, but a pair of strong hands caught her arms. Before she could react, her back slammed against the rough brick wall. Pain shot through her entire body, forcing a sharp breath from her.

At that moment, heavy footsteps echoed through the alley.

“He ran this way! That cripple surely hasn't gotten far!”

Allison froze and instinctively looked up at the man holding her against the wall. He quickly took off his jacket and threw it into a dark corner.

She then felt something hard pressing against her lower abdomen. It was a metal cane.