Chapter 6

When the nurse came in to take her temperature, Whitney learned that her procedure was scheduled for the following morning.

She had less than twenty-four hours.

The nurse had barely left when her phone rang. The call was from the nursing home.

"Mrs. Graham, your mother's condition suddenly took a turn for the worse. She's receiving emergency treatment. Please come immediately!"

By the time Whitney arrived at the nursing home, the emergency treatment had just ended.

Victoria lay in bed, her face ashen, her body hooked up to a tangle of tubes.

Whitney asked the doctor what had caused Victoria's sudden episode. The doctor said she might have suffered some kind of emotional shock.

She turned to the caregiver.

The caregiver said a woman had come to visit that morning. Shortly after she left, Victoria suddenly fell ill.

Whitney checked the security footage from Victoria's room. There, she saw Winona showing her a news story on her phone about reporters swarming around Winona.

The headline read: "Wife or Mistress? The Truth Behind a Scandalous High-Society Marriage."

Victoria's face grew visibly red, and her breathing became increasingly labored.

Five minutes after Winona left, Victoria rolled out of bed and collapsed onto the floor.

Whitney was trembling from head to toe.

She wanted nothing more to do with Winona.

Whether Winona wanted to rekindle things with Lennox or make him the father of her unborn child, Whitney didn't care.

But she should never have provoked Victoria.

When Whitney returned to Victoria's room, she stopped outside the door.

Through the narrow gap, she saw Nola sitting beside the bed, clumsily peeling a banana and holding it up to Victoria's mouth.

"Grandma, you have to get better soon. I can't stay with Mommy forever, so you have to stay by her side. Always."

Whitney clapped a hand over her mouth and sank to the floor beside the doorframe, sobbing silently until her whole body convulsed.

She got to her feet, wiped away her tears, and turned to leave.

The bodyguards tried to stop her, but the wild, almost desperate look in her eyes made them hesitate.

When she pushed open the front door, Winona was lounging on the couch, painting her nails.

Whitney strode over, raised her hand, and slapped Winona hard across the face.

The slap knocked Winona's head to the side. She clutched her cheek and stared at Whitney in disbelief.

"Have you lost your mind? How dare you hit me?"

Whitney's hands trembled, and so did her voice.

"I told you, if you want Lennox, take him. I don't care. But you should never have laid a hand on my mother."

Winona froze for a moment, then burst out laughing.

"That old bag of yours isn't dead yet, is she?"

Whitney grabbed Winona by the hair, yanked her off the couch, and dragged her toward the door.

"You're going to apologize to my mother right now!"

Winona screamed, clawing wildly at the air with both hands.

Lennox appeared at the top of the stairs. "Whitney, let her go."

Whitney snatched a small knife from the coffee table and pressed it against Winona's throat.

Winona's screams cut off abruptly, and she froze.

Lennox's eyes widened. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"She went to the nursing home to provoke my mother!"

Whitney's voice broke. "She showed my mother the news claiming I was the other woman, and it triggered her episode!"

Winona burst into tears on cue.

"I only went to visit Mrs. Westbrook. How is that supposed to provoke her?"

Lennox turned to Whitney, his voice turning cold.

"Stop making a scene, or I'll have your mother's treatment stopped right now."

Tears welled in Whitney's eyes. She bit down hard on her lip, forcing herself to swallow the sob rising in her throat.

"Neither of you is going to hurt my baby or my mother. Lennox, call them and cancel the surgery right now, or I'll kill her."

Lennox didn't move.

He pulled out his phone, dialed a number, and put the call on speaker.

"Stop all treatment for Whitney's mother."

The voice on the other end hesitated. "Mr. Graham, if we turn off the machines and stop her medication, the patient won't survive more than ten minutes."

"Do as I say."

Whitney's hand trembled, and the blade sliced a thin line across Winona's neck, drawing blood.

Lennox stood in the middle of the living room, phone in hand, his face livid.

"Whitney, are you really willing to trade your mother's life for Nona's?"

Whitney released Winona, and the knife clattered to the floor.

Winona went limp, and Lennox stepped forward to catch her.

"Resume her treatment!" Whitney screamed at him.

Lennox glanced down at his watch, his tone flat.

"The doctor said she wouldn't last ten minutes. I'll have them resume treatment at the ninth minute. Consider it your punishment."

Whitney's tears finally spilled over.

At the ninth minute, he spoke into the phone. "You can resume treatment now."