I frowned.
“What proposal? I have no idea what you're talking about. You're not welcome here. Get out!”
Alberta tucked Wilfred behind her and fixed me with a cold stare.
“Nathan, didn't I tell you before? You're not allowed to touch anything to do with the company. So why did you steal the proposal?”
“Don't tell me you're jealous of Wilfred. Bothered that I've been getting close to him? Why are you being so unreasonable?”
“I'll give you one chance. Hand over the proposal, and I'll forgive you.”
I'd never laid eyes on this so-called proposal. How was I supposed to hand it over to her?
I looked at Wilfred. The smug satisfaction on his face told me everything.
“I didn't steal any proposal. Wilfred is framing me. Call the police if you don't believe me.”
But Wilfred didn't panic in the slightest.
He spoke with absolute certainty.：
“Alberta, the proposal went missing only a little while ago, so it has to still be in the hospital……I'm betting Nathan hid it right here in this ICU!”
My mother lay on the bed, struggling to call out Alberta's name.
“Alberta……Nathan didn't steal any proposal……you have to trust him……”
I quickly urged Alberta too.
“I would never steal something like that, Alberta. Take your people and leave. My mother isn't well. You're disturbing her.”
I thought Alberta would trust me, just this once.
And even if she didn't, surely she wouldn't push this hard. My mother was lying paralyzed in that bed, after all.
But all it took was for Wilfred to say,：
“Alberta, maybe we should just let it go.”
“I know the team and I pulled three straight all-nighters to finish that proposal, but it's fine. We can just make another one.”
Alberta's expression changed in an instant.
She shot me a glance.
“So you won't hand it over? Then I'll just have to have it searched out.”
She gave the order to the bodyguards behind her.：
“What are you standing around for? Search every inch. Find the proposal Wilfred worked so hard on!”
The two bodyguards started tearing through the room at once. All I could do was keep my body between them and my mother.
I hadn't taken the proposal, so no matter how thoroughly they searched, they came up empty.
In the end, their eyes settled on my mother's bed.
I held my mother tight and turned to Alberta for help.：
“Alberta! I've said it a hundred times. I didn't steal anything, and there's no way I'd hide a proposal here with my mother. Take them and go!”
A flicker of hesitation crossed Alberta's face.
Before I could feel any relief, Wilfred suddenly pointed beneath my mother's pillow.
“Alberta, look. What's under the pillow?”
A bodyguard rushed over and yanked the pillow up hard, pulling a folder out from underneath.
On the cover, in plain sight, were the words “Project Proposal.”
Alberta's voice went ice-cold.
“Nathan, didn't you say you didn't steal it? Then what is this?”
But I didn't hear a word she said. I leaned in to check on my mother. When that bodyguard ripped the pillow up, he'd torn out the IV needle still feeding into her.
Blood was pouring from her neck, fast.
“Nathan, I'm talking to you. Are you deaf?”
Alberta grabbed my arm.
In that moment, my loathing for this woman hit its limit.
I swung my hand and slapped her across the face.
“Get out! Take your people and get out!”
Alberta had never seen me treat her with such open contempt. Her pupils shrank, her eyes full of disbelief.
I had no time for her. I brushed past her and ran out to find a doctor.
By the time the doctor stopped the bleeding and pulled my mother back from the edge.
