Hazel woke up and found herself in a hospital bed. She survived. Someone pulled her out of that basement. For a moment, she thought maybe it was Vincent—that perhaps he’d softened and, with some lingering feeling for her, had rescued her.
But when she turned her head, she saw her father sitting beside her, a thick bandage wrapped around his head. Only then did she realize it hadn’t been Vincent. It was her father who had risked everything to drag her badly injured body out of the basement.
He even knelt before Milena, taking the blame for himself. Only then had Vincent finally relented and agreed to get her to the hospital.
Hazel closed her eyes, pain ripping through her. She couldn’t bear to look at her father’s wounds, afraid that the next second she might lose control and kill Vincent.
It took a long time for her to steady herself. When she finally opened her eyes and looked at her father, she whispered, “Don’t worry. Five days from now, I’ll get you and Sadie out of here.”
But just as she finished her words, the ward door was flung open.
Vincent’s brows furrowed slightly, his tone tinged with a panic he wasn't even aware of.
“Out of here? Where are you going?”
Hazel hadn’t expected him to come. She clenched her fists, nails digging into her palms, but her expression remained calm.
“Just out for a walk. What? You can’t even let me have a little freedom?”
Hearing this, Vincent breathed a sigh of relief. “Of course not. As long as you don’t hurt Milena, I’ll give you whatever you want.”
“I came to ask you to help record a video,” he said.
The footage from the dart room had been leaked online by someone with ulterior motives. Milena’s personal information had been exposed and netizens were attacking her relentlessly.
They weren’t just calling her a murderer—they were labeling her as “Vincent’s mistress.”
Vincent had wiped the trending searches seven times but still couldn’t stop it. He had no choice but to ask Hazel, as the older sister of the victim, to record a video, clearing the situation.
“I want you to tell everyone it was you who sent your sister to be the target, that you deliberately caused her to lose her balanc and get hurt,” Vincent said, eyes narrowing. “Only then will people believe it was your jealousy of my attention toward Milena that drove you to set this trap—and stop the online attacks.”
Hazel, sitting on the hospital bed, grew paler by the second. She stared at him, a wave of sorrow washing over her.
To clear Milena’s name, he was willing to throw all the dirt onto her. This was the same Vincent who had once treated her like the center of his world, who had feared she would suffer even the smallest grievance.
But Hazel knew resistance was useless—it would only bring more trouble to herself and her family.
“I can agree to record the video, but my sister’s surgery has to start now. She can’t wait.”
Vincent didn’t hesitate. He ordered the surgeons to begin Sadie’s operation right in front of her.
Slightly relieved, Hazel mustered her remaining strength and got out of bed to record the video.
As expected, once the video was released, the internet’s anger shifted entirely onto her.
Not only her private phone number was exposed and people constantly harassed her, some even showed up at the hospital, leaving funeral wreaths and cursing her and her sister to die.
Exhausted, Hazel turned her phone off for a full day, too afraid to check it.
That evening, Vincent arrived after hearing about disturbances at the hospital There was a rare look of pity on his face and he gently wiped away Hazel's tears. “Don’t be afraid. I’ll assign extra bodyguards to protect you.”
“As for the online attacks, Milena’s just come out of the storm. The truth can’t be cleared yet. In three days, I’ll hire a PR company to restore you and your sister’s reputation.”
But what was the point of vindication so delayed?
Hazel refused to look at his hypocritical face and silently told herself, “No need for that.”
