Gradually, I couldn't catch my breath. My whole body convulsed, and I passed out face-first onto the cake.
When I woke up, it was the next morning.
I forced myself up despite the pain, determined to get to the attic and take my father away.
I grabbed my phone—and froze. Kyle had texted me last night.
[Alex, while you were in the hospital, Serena and I kissed and touched in every room of the house~]
[Oh right, you haven't been to the attic yet, have you? The trash up there probably hasn't been taken out~ I wonder, with all the noise we made, if your crippled dad could hear it. Maybe he got so mad he woke up on the spot~]
Ice gripped my heart.
I rushed to the attic and threw open the door. A pungent, rotten stench hit me in the face.
I looked at the overflowing trash can by the bed.
One, two, three… too many to count.
The pain in my chest doubled me over. I dropped to my knees beside him, drowning in guilt.
"Dad, I'm sorry. Your son trusted the wrong people. That's why you're like this—why you had to endure this humiliation."
"I'm taking you away. Right now. This home? We don't need it anymore."
I unlocked the casters on his hospital bed and pushed him toward the door—only to find Kyle blocking the doorway, smirking.
"Alex, think I can completely replace you today?"
Before I could answer, he threw himself backward and tumbled down the stairs.
I stood frozen.
He clutched his stomach, groaning in pain, and Serena rushed over. The moment she saw him, her eyes went bloodshot.
"Alex! Have you lost your fucking mind?!"
"How far are you going to take this? Do you have to torment our baby until it's gone before you're satisfied?!"
Before I could speak, Kyle was already crying.
"Serena, he said since he can't have kids, he's going to make sure our baby dies with him…"
Serena's face twisted with rage. The look she gave me could have killed.
I knew she'd already sentenced me. It didn't matter that I hadn't done anything.
She stood and walked toward me. My heart went dead. I closed my eyes, bracing for the blow.
It never came.
When I opened my eyes, she had stopped beside my father's bed.
My chest seized. When I spoke, my voice shook.
"Serena, don't—"
"You know I have no one left. I'm begging you, don't hurt him. He only ended up like this because he saved you—"
She cut me off, her voice ice-cold.
"I gave you a chance, Alex."
"But you hurt him again and again. Since you won't repent, someone else will pay the price."
She shoved my father's hospital bed toward the stairwell.
"NO—!"
I lunged after it, but the wheels were already careening downward. The bed picked up speed, and my father was flung from the second-floor landing.
I scrambled down and gathered him in my arms, sobbing uncontrollably.
Serena walked past me without a backward glance, Kyle leaning against her side.
Two hours later, the doctor emerged from the emergency room. He shook his head.
I ran inside like a madman.
The EKG was a flat line.
Everything I'd buried these past days—every wound, every betrayal—and the grief of losing my only family crashed over me like a flood.
I couldn't hold it in anymore. I clutched my chest and wailed.
Through the haze, a cheerful voice echoed down the hallway:
"Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert—it's twins!"
I froze. The day I lost my entire family, Serena Gilbert welcomed her own children into the world.
How absurd.
With trembling hands, I dialed a number I hadn't called in years.
Two hours later, I carried my father into the Maybach that had been waiting outside.
On the way, a text came from Serena:
"Is everything okay with Dad? I'll have someone order the newest nursing bed from overseas."
I clenched my fists and closed my eyes.
A month later, when the babies turned one month old, Serena brought them home to an empty house.
She was reaching for her phone when her assistant rushed in:
"Ms. Gilbert, the hospital just mailed over a payment notice. Sir's father... he passed away. Some time ago..."
