Chapter 7

It was the first time Ryan had ever cried like that. He sobbed loudly, wrapping both arms tightly around Amelia's neck.

Through his tears, he spoke in broken sobs. "Great-grandpa said… it was because of you. He said I'm so stupid because your genes aren't good. But he's wrong! It's not because you have bad genes, Mommy. It's not your fault. It's me. I'm not smart. I can't learn things. I can't do them right."

Amelia held Ryan tightly, tears spilling down her own cheeks. What kind of life had her son been living at Chapman Manor? How could they bring themselves to hurt such a young child? Were their hearts made of stone?

She was furious and heartbroken all at once. She had never imagined that the son she had gone through hell to give birth to would be treated like this.

So this was what the Chapmans meant when they said they were grooming him to be the family's heir?

Standing on the side, Lucinda was wiping away her own tears as she comforted Ryan, "Ry, your great-grandpa was just talking nonsense. Your mom is very smart, and you're very smart too. Both of you are smart!"

Ryan continued to cry miserably, all the emotions he had been suppressing at Chapman Manor finally spilling out with his illness.

"I'm sorry, Mommy. I'm too stupid. I wanted to prove that I was smart. I didn't want them to bully you or look down on you. I wanted to make you proud, but I still couldn't. I'm not as smart as Uncle Justin. I'm sorry, Mommy. I'm sorry. It's my fault. I'm too stupid. I just can't learn anything…"

Amelia's heart felt as though someone was stabbing her repeatedly in the heart. She gently consoled Ryan, "You did nothing wrong, Ry, and neither did I. They're the ones who are wrong. They're the ones at fault."

She drove while Lucinda sat in the back, taking care of the feverish, groggy Ryan. The three of them headed to the hospital together.

After they left the villa, Amelia called Jason. The call connected, but before Amelia could say anything, a bright female voice came through.

"Hello? Who is this?"

Amelia instinctively glanced at the contact name on her screen. She hadn't called the wrong person, so she immediately knew who had answered.

"Maria, put Jason on the phone."

"Jason is currently taking a shower."

Amelia swiftly dropped the call and called Simon.

Simon's voice was slightly hoarse, but still gentle. "Amelia, what's wrong?"

"Sorry to bother you, Uncle Simon," Amelia said rapidly as she drove. "Jason's grandpa used corporal punishment on my son. He's covered in injuries, and I'm taking him to the hospital now. If I want to fight for custody, do I have to report it to the police, or will the hospital records be enough?"

"You have to report it to the police and leave an official record. You'll also need an injury assessment."

Amelia understood. "Okay. Then I'll call the police now."

Simon asked, "Which hospital are you going to? I'll meet you there."

Amelia felt bad about bothering him. "You don't have to. I've already troubled you enough."

His tone was gentle but firm. "Amelia, I'm your divorce attorney. It's better if I'm there when you give your statement to the police and have the injuries assessed. I'm more familiar with police procedures and methods. That way, you won't be taken advantage of."

"Okay." Amelia didn't stand on ceremony. "I'm heading to the hospital where Tiana works."

She ended the call with Simon, then called the police.

…

At the hospital, Tiana was covering a shift for a colleague that evening. The hospital wasn't particularly busy, so after receiving Amelia's call, she went down to the parking lot to wait for them.

"Ry? Ry!" Tiana opened the car door, her face filled with concern. "Oh, my poor baby. Let your godmother hold you."

"Aunt Tiana." Ryan opened his arms and weakly collapsed into Tiana's embrace, obediently letting her carry him out of the car.

"Such a good boy." Tiana kissed him on the forehead.

Amelia locked the car. "I'll do it. You've already worked all day, and you're still on call."

"I've got him." Tiana dodged her hands. "I've been dying to hold my favorite godson."

The group hurried toward the emergency department, but neither of them expected to run into Maria and Jason there.

Jason carried another boy, about four or five years old, roughly the same age as Ryan.

For a moment, time seemed to stand still.

No one spoke.

Ryan's sickly eyes suddenly lit up. His weak voice was filled with surprise. "Daddy!"

But the next second, he saw the little boy in Jason's arms and frowned.

"Daddy, who is he? Why are you carrying him? Daddy, I want you to carry me. I—"

Before he could finish, Huxley Ludwig, the little boy in Jason's arms, suddenly burst into heart-wrenching sobs. "It hurts! It hurts so much…"

Jason withdrew his gaze and looked down at Huxley, patiently consoling him with the gentlest tone.

Anyone who didn't know better would have thought that was his own son.

Amelia's eyes flashed mockingly.

"Daddy…"

Every inch of Ryan's body hurt. He wanted his father to hold him too. He wanted Jason to comfort him. With that thought, he said aggrievedly, "I'm also—"

But Jason cut him off without hesitation, not even letting him finish. His tone was urgent as he said, "Ry, your friend here isn't feeling well. I'll take him to see the doctor first. We'll talk later."

The light in Ryan's eyes slowly faded.

He wanted to tell Jason that he was also sick and in pain, but Jason refused to listen to him. His father was too busy worrying about another child. Why wouldn't his father listen to him?

As Amelia's best friend, Tiana naturally knew about Jason's affair. She also knew how Ryan had gotten those injuries. She simply couldn't stand watching this any longer, nor did she want her godson to be mistreated.

Scoffing, she remarked, "You really are something, Jason. Your own son comes to the hospital sick, and you don't even bother asking about him. But when someone else's son feels sick, you get all anxious, playing the devoted father. What's this supposed to mean, huh? Is he your illegitimate son?"

"Tiana!" Jason snapped, his entire body bristling. "Watch your mouth! Don't make accusations you can't back up!"

Tiana knew that Jason suffered from severe asthenozoospermia. She was the one Amelia came to for the tears back then.

She had said those things partly because she found the whole thing ridiculous and disgusting, and partly to test Jason's reaction.

Truth be told, she hadn't expected him to react so strongly to it. Could that boy really be his illegitimate son? Or did he simply believe the boy was his?

If it were the latter, things were certainly getting interesting.

Tiana raised an eyebrow, her eyes filled with obvious mockery. "I'm not making accusations. I'm making a perfectly reasonable guess. After all, what normal man abandons his own sick son in the middle of the night and runs off to accompany another woman and her child to the hospital?"

Jason finally caught the key point in her words. His brows furrowed. "What happened to Ryan?"

Now he remembered to check on Ryan? Well, it was too late. No one bothered acknowledging his supposed concern.

Tiana looked at him with contempt. "If it's going to take you this long to show your concern, you might as well save it. Ryan doesn't need it. You can accompany your precious illegitimate son instead."

Ryan looked at Jason weakly but didn't speak again. He obediently let Tiana carry him into the examination room.

Only then did Jason seem to notice that something was wrong with Ryan. He looked feverish and listless, his face flushed red.

Amelia felt as though her heart was being torn apart. She could accept that Jason didn't love her, but she couldn't tolerate him ignoring their son.

She followed Tiana toward the examination room with a cold expression.

Jason grabbed Amelia's hand and frowned. "What exactly is wrong with Ryan? Does he have a fever?"

Amelia turned her head and looked at him, her eyes as cold as ice.

"Drop the act. If you really cared about him, you would have noticed the moment you saw him. But you were too blind to see it. You didn't even ask if he was okay. You didn't even let him finish speaking before you cut him off without caring about what he had to say. My son doesn't need some other kid's leftovers, Jason."

Jason frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You can save your concern. My son doesn't need it. Get it now?" Amelia repeated herself clearly.

Maria stepped forward and "thoughtfully" tried to smooth things over.

"Amelia, I understand that as a mother, you're anxious because your child is sick and in pain, but you can't blame Jason without even asking what happened. Jason is just—"

"Shut up." Amelia cut her off with an icy retort. "This is between me and him. Who said you had the right to speak?"

Huxley began screaming in Jason's arms again.

"She's so scary! Is she a witch? Is she going to hit Aunt Maria? Get away, bad woman! You nasty witch! I'm scared…"

His shrill cries stabbed painfully into Amelia's eardrums, making her frown.

"Either shut him up, Jason, or let go of me."

Huxley kept wailing as he shouted, "Let her go, Mr. Chapman! She's a crazy, nasty witch! She'll hit people! I'm scared she'll hit my aunt and me! She's so bad! I don't like her! I hate her! I'm scared…"

Amelia was already anxious enough because of Ryan's condition. Then she saw the way Jason had completely ignored Ryan despite his illness. And now, this brat was screaming in front of her, calling her a nasty witch.

Since his own parents didn't bother teaching him any manners, she was going to do it for them. Out of the corner of her eye, Amelia spotted a flash of blue nearby.

Smirking, she looked at Huxley and said, "Go on. Cry as hard as you can. The police love catching children like you—children who scream louder than a slaughtered pig."

Huxley's cries stopped for a beat. "You're lying! You nasty woman!"

He began wailing even more loudly.

Maria looked heartbroken. "Amelia! You're a mother, too. How can you scare a child like that?"

Jason looked at Amelia disapprovingly as well. "How old are you, Amelia? Why are you arguing with a child?"

He patted Huxley's back, gently comforting him. "Don't be scared, Hux. She's just trying to scare you."

But Amelia snorted. "I'm not trying to scare him. Look. The police are already here."

As she spoke, Simon approached with the police officers.

The officers looked at everyone before their gazes finally settled on Huxley.

"Is this the child?"

Huxley's face went pale with fright. He clung tightly to Jason's neck and shook his head frantically.

"It's not me! It's not me!"

Smiling, Amelia replied, "That's him, officers. Please take him away and teach him a lesson. He's been screaming so loudly that it's practically noise pollution. His parents seem to have gone deaf and aren't doing anything about it.

"You might as well take him away and teach him what a public place is and what it means to disturb the peace with excessive noise, especially in a hospital, where people need to be able to rest in peace."

Huxley trembled with fear, but he still glared viciously at Amelia. Through his tears, he kept crying that he was in pain and urged Maria to take him to the doctor.

The police seemed to realize that this wasn't the child they were looking for. They looked at Simon, who smiled and shook his head.

Jason didn't think much of it, nor did he suspect anything. He merely assumed that Simon happened to have a case at the hospital and that Amelia was deliberately using the police to scare Huxley.

But of course, Huxley didn't know that, so he thought it was real. He continued to cry, though his voice was much quieter than before.

Maria glanced at Amelia before saying to Jason, "Jason, why don't you take Hux to see the doctor first? He looks like he's in a lot of pain."

Although Jason was displeased by Amelia's behavior, he thought of Ryan and still said, "I'll check on you guys later."

He carried the sobbing Huxley into another examination room with Maria.

Amelia watched his hurried retreat with a mocking smile on her face. She entered the examination room with Simon and the police.

Coincidentally, Tiana had a patient to attend to, and a nurse came to summon her. As she hurried out, she didn't forget to remind the newly arrived Simon, "I'm leaving my best friend and my godson in your hands, Uncle Simon. Take good care of them."

Simon smiled and shook his head. "Watch where you're going. Don't be so careless. Seeing you like this, I'm worried for your patients."

Lucinda handled the hospital registration paperwork and made the payment while Simon and the police accompanied Amelia through the examination and consultation.

The police documented the injuries, took photographs as evidence, retrieved the medical records, and took down everyone's statements. They questioned Ryan, Amelia, and Lucinda separately.

Finally, Simon carefully reviewed the police statements with Amelia. Whenever he found anything inaccurate, he pointed it out and had it corrected immediately. Only after everything was confirmed did he have Amelia sign the report.

Simon also helped Ryan apply for a formal injury assessment and obtained a referral letter for an injury examination. At the same time, he also helped Ryan apply for a personal safety protection order and a warning notice.

The injury assessment had to be conducted at a designated forensic appraisal center, so they could only go there the next day.

After seeing Simon off, Amelia returned to the ward. Tiana had finished dealing with her patient and came back to check on Ryan.

Ryan was receiving an IV drip. His eyelashes fluttered as he drifted in and out of sleep.

Out of nowhere, the door flew open with a loud bang.

Ryan's drowsiness instantly vanished, and Tiana and Amelia looked over in annoyance, expecting to see some careless young nurse.

Instead, it was Jason and Maria.

Scoffing, Tiana cursed, "Oh, look. It's the cheating scumbag and his mistress."

After cursing them, she glanced over and saw that Ryan was looking at her. Only then did she remember there was a child beside her. She raised her hand and slapped herself several times around the mouth.

"Shoot! Me and my filterless mouth."

She quickly covered Ryan's ears. "You didn't hear anything. You mustn't say those words either."

"Come outside, Amelia," Jason demanded curtly.

Amelia remained seated in the chair beside the bed. "If you have something to say, just say it."

Jason glanced at Ryan, then hardened his tone. "I told you to come out."

Lucinda had already gone home, so Amelia asked Tiana to keep an eye on Ryan for her.

However, since Tiana was still on call and could be called away at any moment, Amelia only came out of the ward without stepping any further away.

"What is it? Out with it."