Lahat ng Kabanata ng One Lock between Life and Death: Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 10

I had just helped the doctor carry my mother-in-law, Kelly Hawkins, downstairs when I saw four heavy wheel locks blatantly clamped around all four tires of the ambulance.I'd only just gotten home from work when Kelly came over. She'd barely made it upstairs when she suddenly collapsed. If I hadn't gone back down and discovered that my own car had been clamped, I wouldn't have panicked and called for an ambulance.It couldn't have been more than five minutes from the moment Dr. Goldberg went upstairs to when we carried Kelly downstairs together. And in that period of time, the ambulance had been clamped.My expression darkened as I turned toward the security guard standing nearby—Jake Gould."Jake, that's an ambulance! Don't you know that even police cars have to yield to an ambulance on the road? And you have the nerve to clamp it? Are you out of your mind? Remove them right now!"Jake glanced at me and said, "I know all that, Mitch. But this is a residential complex. And here, w

My heart sank, and suddenly, I didn't feel like arguing with Jenna anymore.It wasn't about the money—I had plenty of it. What angered me was Jenna and Jake's attitude.Even though Kelly wasn't my mother, she had always treated me well. I gritted my teeth and stepped forward to transfer another 600 dollars to Jake."Can you unlock the clamps now?"Jake gave me a small smirk, then quietly leaned in close to my ear and mocked, "See? You should've done this from the start, but you just had to go against me. Did you really think Jen would take your side?"I felt something bubble inside me, but Kelly's condition mattered more. I didn't want to waste another second arguing with him, so I hurried back to the ambulance.Kelly was Jenna's mother, after all, so I urged her, "What are you standing there for, Jen? Hurry up and get in!"She shot me an impatient look. "You can just go by yourself. She's making such a big fuss over a little illness. She only knows how to trouble people.""We

Over on the other side, Jake was still trembling as he fumbled with the lock.Jenna, who had been so indifferent just moments ago, frantically rushed forward, snatched the keys from his hand, and quickly opened the gate herself.By then, I'd already jumped back into the ambulance.The next second, Trevor slammed on the gas, and we sped straight out of the complex.The whole way there, my heart was in my throat as I watched Dr. Goldberg perform CPR on Kelly without stopping. Thankfully, she eventually regained a faint breath.15 minutes later, the ambulance arrived at the hospital. The emergency room doctors hurried over and, together with Dr. Goldberg, wheeled her straight into the ER.Thanks to the information communicated during the ride over, the ER doctors had already prepared oxygen and quickly hooked Kelly up to it.As I watched some color return to her face, a doctor began examining her. Only then did I finally feel the tension in my chest ease.It was then that I realiz

Jake let out a terrified scream just as the car was about to hit him. His legs gave out, and he fell to the side.And here I thought he actually wasn't scared at all. I shot him a look of disdain and drove off.As I exited the garage, I heard Jake's trembling voice behind me."Sir, that guy is way too arrogant. He doesn't respect you at all. If you let him continue like this, how will you be able to do your job in the future? What authority will you have left in this community?"We have to call the police! Report him to the cops and have them arrest him and teach him a lesson!"I wasn't concerned about it. After all, I hadn't done anything wrong here.That night, Jenna didn't come home. She was probably at the hospital taking care of Kelly.…The next morning, Saturday, I was still asleep when loud knocking woke me up.I glanced at the time and saw that it was only 6:00 am. I wondered if it was Jenna, though it was still quite early.I got up, opened the door—and froze. Stand

I hadn't planned on going, but then I thought that since we had already reached this point, surely Jenna wouldn't ignore what the police had to say.So, I got out of bed and headed to the police station.When I arrived, Jenna was already waiting for me at the entrance. The moment she saw me, she rushed over, grabbed me, and dragged me inside."Hurry up and explain everything to the police. Jake is just a part-time security guard, and he was just following his superior's orders. None of this has anything to do with him!"I let her pull me along while listening to her until she stopped abruptly. I looked up and realized we were already at the door of the interrogation room.Jenna pushed the door open and dragged me inside. Before the officers could say anything, she blurted, "Officer, was it Mitch McLaren who made the report? I'm his wife, and I can testify that this has nothing to do with Jake. Mitch is just jealous of how nice I am to Jake, and so he's deliberately retaliating."