Chapter 6 - The Visitor in Room 402By ten o'clock the next morning, the story had broken across major news outlets.
“Billionaire Tech CEO’s Daughter Hospitalized After Assault at Cancelled Island Wedding.”
Photographs of Ashley being led away from the luxury resort in handcuffs—wearing her torn, dirt-stained Vera Wang gown—were plastered across the front pages of every tabloid in the country. The Montgomery family had already issued a public statement officially severing all ties with the Reed family and announcing the immediate cancellation of the engagement.
I was sitting in the armchair beside Lily’s bed, watching her eat a bowl of warm oatmeal, when a quiet knock came at the door of Room 402.
Vance stepped inside, his expression grim. “Boss, your parents are in the lobby downstairs. They’ve been begging the security team for three hours to let them up.”
I wiped a speck of oat from Lily’s chin with a napkin. “Tell them I’ll see my father. Alone. Mom stays in the lobby.”
Three minutes later, Richard Reed walked into the room.
In less than twenty-four hours, my father looked as if he had aged ten years. His expensive suit was wrinkled, his hair was unkempt, and the arrogant, commanding posture he had maintained his entire life was completely gone. He walked in with his head low, stepping carefully, as if the floor beneath him were made of thin glass.
He stopped at the foot of Lily’s bed, his hands trembling as he looked at my daughter’s bandaged forehead.
“Lily...” Richard choked out, his voice hoarse. “How... how is she feeling?”
Lily shrank back against her pillows, gripping my sleeve tightly. She didn't say a word; she just stared at him with big, fearful eyes.
“Leave the room for a minute, sweetie,” I said gently to Lily. “Vance will take you to the play center down the hall to watch cartoons.”
Vance stepped forward, gently lifting Lily into a wheelchair and wheeling her out, closing the heavy wooden door behind them.
The silence in the hospital room became heavy and suffocating.
Richard collapsed into the plastic chair across from me, burying his face in his hands. “Claire... please. You have to drop the charges against Ashley. She’s sitting in a county jail cell right now! They set her bail at five hundred thousand dollars! We don't have that kind of money!”
I leaned back in my chair, crossing my legs, watching him with absolute detachment.
“Five hundred thousand dollars is a bargain for a felony assault charge, Dad,” I said smoothly. “She’s lucky the prosecutor didn't charge her with attempted murder.”
“She’s your sister!” Richard cried out, raising his red-rimmed eyes to look at me. “She made a mistake! She was stressed! It was her wedding day!”
“She threw an eight-year-old child off a balcony!” I snapped, my voice cutting through his excuses like a blade. “And you carried my bleeding, unconscious child into a dark hallway to hide her from rich people so your precious family reputation wouldn't be spoiled!”
Richard winced as if I had struck him. “I... I didn't know she was hurt that badly! I thought she just bumped her head!”
“You saw the blood on your own collar,” I pointed out coldly. “You didn't care about Lily. You have never cared about Lily, or about me. For ten years, ever since I built my company, you treated me like an embarrassment because I refused to give you free shares in my business.”
Richard swallowed hard, his hands tightening on his knees. “Claire... if Ashley goes to prison, our family is ruined. The Montgomerys canceled the wedding settlement. The bank called in our mortgage this morning. They are foreclosing on our house!”
“I know,” I said, pulling out the thick leather folder Vance had given me the night before. “I bought your mortgage from the bank three hours ago, Dad.”
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Richard gasped, his eyes widening in complete shock. “What?”
“I own your house,” I said, opening the folder and sliding a legal document across the table toward him. “And I am evicting you and Mom on Monday morning.”
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