Vanessa barged into the ER, certain that her grandmother was already receiving treatment.
Her heart slammed against her ribs like it wanted to escape from her chest.
She scanned the room, but she couldn’t find her grandmother anywhere.
Her blurry eyes didn’t make things any easier.
“Vanessa,” she heard someone call.
It was the nurse who had called her earlier.
The woman quickly approached and held onto her.
“What happened to her?
Is she still okay?
What’s going to happen to her?” Vanessa fired question after question at the nurse, who struggled to find the right words to answer her.
“I don’t know how it happened, but I think your father forgot to pay for her treatment.
That’s why her oxygen mask was removed.”
Vanessa froze as if a bucket of ice-cold water had been poured over her.
“What?” She da whispered, unable to believe her ears.
“Her condition has gotten even worse now.”
“So if the payment is made, the oxygen mask will be given back to her, right?” Vanessa asked, desperately shaking the nurse for an answer.
“That’s right,” the woman answered with a shaky nod.
Vanessa glanced around, and her eyes landed on her grandmother, who was lying on the bed with her eyes closed.
She looked as though she were asleep, but Vanessa knew it was only a matter of time before she died.
And there was only one person who could help.
Her father.
“You can put the oxygen mask back on her.
I’ll convince my father to make the payment,” she said hurriedly before zooming off.
There was no time for her to stand around and do nothing.
She knew exactly what her father wanted, so she was going to give it to him as long as it meant her grandmother would stay alive.
While hailing down a cab, Vanessa called Alex, her father’s secretary.
“Is Father in his office?” she questioned immediately.
“Don’t you have manners?” Alex questioned, inspecting her newly manicured fingers.
“You know I’m older than you.
Didn’t your mother teach you to greet your elders?”
Vanessa’s teeth gnashed together so hard her jaw nearly hurt.
“And why do you care?” Alex sang, her eyebrows furrowing when she noticed one of her nails was crooked.
Vanessa’s grip on her phone tightened so much that she could almost break it.
Just like at home, her father’s employees didn’t respect her as the youngest daughter of the Voss family.
Making a mental note to deal with Alex another day, Vanessa hung up.
It was obvious Alex wasn’t going to tell her where her father was, so she decided to call him instead.
“Father,” her voice came out soft and desperate.
“Where are you?
I need to talk to you.”
At the Voss mansion…
Vanessa found her father in the living room with her mother and Noelle, laughing about a movie.
When they noticed her presence, they only spared her a side glance before returning to their laughter like hyenas.
“Father,” she called, but he didn’t respond.
“The hospital called me.
They told me that my grandmother is in a serious condition and needs urgent care.
I think you forgot to pay for her treatment this month…”
“Forgot to pay?”
He looked up at her with lazy eyes, one eyebrow raised.
“I never forgot to renew the payments.
You know exactly what I want you to do.
If you do it, I’ll gladly renew the payment so they can continue treating your grandmother.” He leaned back against the couch.
“What I’m asking you to do isn’t difficult at all, Vanessa.
Just agree to marry Matteo and do whatever I want you to do.”
By whatever he wanted her to do, Vanessa was certain he meant killing Matteo for him.
And if she didn’t, her grandmother would die.
“She’s your mother,” Vanessa reminded him, tears pooling in her eyes.
“Don’t you want your own mother to stay alive?”
Mrs.
Voss hissed in irritation.
“You do realize there’s no time to be asking such stupid questions.
If you want her to stay alive, then you better agree to do what you need to do.”
“I’ll do everything you want me to do.
I promise.”
Vanessa pleaded with her hands clasped together, tears streaming down her face.
Mr.
Voss finally looked at her as though she had earned his full attention.
“See?
It wasn’t that hard.”
“But how can we be sure that she means it?
What if she’s just bluffing?” Noelle suddenly asked.
“Father, I suggest we make her do something.
That way, we can be absolutely sure she’s going to take your threats seriously from now on.”
Mr.
Voss turned to his eldest daughter with a smile on his lips.
“What do you suggest, my dear?”
Noelle turned toward Vanessa with the kind of grin that screamed trouble.
“I want her to wash my feet and then drink the water,” she responded softly.
Vanessa’s eyes twitched.
She thought she had heard wrong.
Maybe the tears were starting to affect her hearing.
But Noelle repeated herself as though she had heard Vanessa’s thoughts.
“If she drinks the water, she’ll never back out because she’ll be too ashamed of herself.”
Her mother instantly nodded.
Then her father did the same.
“Servant, get a bowl of water that Vanessa can use to wash Noelle’s feet,” her mother instructed, as if she couldn’t wait to watch Vanessa disgrace herself by drinking her daughter’s dirty foot water.
The servant quickly brought the bowl and placed it directly in front of Noelle before retreating to join the other servants, who were already watching and waiting for the drama to unfold.
“You want us to believe that you’ll actually listen to father and do everything he wants you to do?” Noelle started, a subtle smile playing on her lips as though she had won something Vanessa wasn’t even aware they were competing for.
“Drink my foot water.”
She stepped her feet into the warm water, her grin widening.
Vanessa stood stiff.
Her ears weren’t deceiving her at all.
“There’s no time to waste, Vanessa,” Mr.
Voss reminded her.
“Your grandmother’s treatment needs to be paid, or don’t you want that anymore?”