Chapter 5

Victoria's ears were ringing, and her vision blurred for a moment. Before she could react, cold sweat broke out on her forehead.

Aria wasn't satisfied yet and slapped her again.

Victoria nearly fell, but a kind nurse quickly steadied her.

As her vision gradually cleared, she saw Aria glaring at her furiously, shouting in rage.

"You ungrateful daughter! I told you not to do it, but you insisted! What did I tell you back then? Martin wasn't good enough for you, Martin approached you with ulterior motives! I picked out men from good families for you, but you refused! You just had to have an orphan, a bodyguard!"

"Now look what happened! How did he treat you? How did he treat us? The Gonzalez family's business, all because of you, all because of you, ruined by your own hands!"

Still not satisfied, Aria's face flushed red as she raised her hand to slap again, but the medical staff stopped her.

Victoria covered her stinging face and opened her mouth, but couldn't get a single word out.

Besides shedding tears of regret, she couldn't do anything.

A sound came from the gurney.

"Hayden, Hayden, what's wrong? What are you trying to say?" Aria screamed, leaning close to Hayden's face, crying and trembling.

Victoria saw Hayden look at her through his tears, then at Aria, shaking his head with difficulty.

Victoria also moved closer to him.

Hayden shakily reached out his hand to wipe away her tears. The warm blood from his palm, mixed with her tears, left marks on her cheek.

Hayden shook his head again, his voice urgent.

"Hayden, I know what you mean. I was just so angry that I slapped her. She's our only daughter, I don't blame her." Aria covered her mouth, tears dripping onto Hayden's blood-covered face, sobbing uncontrollably. "I'm just heartbroken, heartbroken that our precious daughter was treated so badly! Heartbroken that our family business was stolen! Victoria is my precious baby, I couldn't bear to hit her or scold her even once, and now it's come to this!"

Before Hayden even entered the operating room, Aria fainted from crying.

Self-blame, remorse, and guilt intertwined in Victoria's heart.

The doctor rushed to check Aria's condition—fortunately, it was just from excessive grief.

Victoria gave the nurse some money, asking her to help look after Aria. The nurse took the money and told her to focus on getting the surgery fees for Hayden.

She owned a villa—her and Martin's wedding house.

Worth a billion dollars, she was now selling it cheap for a hundred million.

She contacted a real estate agent, who smiled and patted his chest confidently, "Ms. Gonzalez, with such a great location, this house will definitely sell quickly."

Four whole hours passed.

The villa's price dropped from a hundred million dollars to five million dollars, and not a single person even asked about it.

Victoria sensed something was wrong. The agent hemmed and hawed, and when pressed, he finally admitted with a red face, "Ms. Gonzalez, there's no way anyone will buy your house."

"What do you mean?"

A bad feeling grew in Victoria's heart.

He lowered his head, pursing his lips, stammering, "Your husband, Mr. Collins, has put out the word—whoever dares to buy it is going against him. If you really need money, you'd better ask him."

Those words were like an axe, carving a hole in Victoria's heart.

Her last hope was gone too.

Victoria gripped the edge of the table, forcing herself to stay calm.

There had to be a way. There's always a way out.

The phone rang again demanding money, but this time it was the nurse calling, "Ms. Gonzalez, your dad is dying! Where's the money? He's your father! If we don't get the money by tonight, by tonight, he won't make it."