James was pleased to see her capitulate. "Don't make trouble. Remember, Carlos isn't around to protect you. Killing you and your baby would be like squashing ants underfoot," he continued threatening her.
Debbie cursed through gritted teeth, "You bastard!"
Now that he had gotten what he wanted, James was as happy as a clam. He didn't react to her cursing. He even said, "When you wake up, you can see him one last time," as if he were merciful.
Debbie closed her eyes, ignoring him. He didn't mind and left the room with his minions before Debbie fell into a dreamless sleep.
When Debbie woke up, she found out that she was in a room next to the ICU. She changed into scrubs and a mask, then dragged herself into the ICU weakly.
A nurse followed her inside, watching her like a hawk. The moment Debbie saw Carlos, grief overwhelmed her.
She grabbed his hand tightly. "Old man, it's me, your wife. Wake up! Look at me. Look at me."
His hand felt icy cold, like he truly was dead. Debbie put it to her lips with trembling hands and kissed it gently. "Old man, I miss you so much. I'm worried about you. Open your eyes and look at me, all right?"
But Carlos didn't respond at all. He was indeed as quiet as a dead man.
Just when Debbie felt his forehead, the nurse reminded her, "Your minute is up, miss. Please leave."
'My… minute? ' Debbie realized that she had traded her marriage for a single minute with Carlos. "Can you give me a few more minutes? I need more time,"
Debbie pleaded.
However, the nurse wouldn't budge on this. She shooed Debbie out of the ward.
Once she stepped out of the ICU, Debbie sat on the bench dejectedly. Till now, she still couldn't believe Carlos was gone. It had to be a trick. James was behind it.
But it still didn't feel real. Debbie left the hospital temporarily. She borrowed a phone and called Jared.
When it all went down, Jared had gotten blind stinking drunk and was crashing at a friend's place. His phone was dead. When Debbie called, he had just gotten home and put his phone on the charger. It was not until he got her call that he knew something horrible had happened.
He unplugged his phone and called Damon immediately. "Damon, is Carlos Huo really… dead?"
"Yeah. Tabitha told me. I'm on my way to the hospital." Wesley was on a mission for the military and they couldn't get a hold of him. Curtis and Colleen were on their way home, returning from abroad.
'Damn it! What about Debbie and the baby?' Realizing how serious the matter was, he hopped in his sports car and zoomed to the hospital.
He didn't stop for anything. Narrowly avoiding being hit, he rounded the last corner for the hospital. When he saw Debbie, she was crouching in a corner, dejected, as if her wits had left her
"Hey Tomboy. Sorry I wasn't around last night. I was out drinking with friends. I just woke up."
Debbie stood up dully and walked over to the car. "Give a girl a ride home?"
Jared nodded, "No problem. You okay?"
Debbie shook her head. After getting in the car, she asked, "Did you call your brother?"
"Yes, I did. He said… Carlos' mom confirmed it."
Debbie gnawed at her lower lip and remained silent. On the way to the manor, she changed her mind.
She asked Jared to take her somewhere to eat first. They got some nice spicy takeout. Afterwards, they drove on toward the manor.
When the car came to the entrance to the manor, three security guards stepped in the way, blocking the car from going any further. Debbie rolled the car window down and said, "It's me."
The original security guards had been replaced. She had never met any one of this new batch. One of them seemed a bit embarrassed when he said, "You divorced Mr. Huo, so you're not Mrs. Huo. You're not allowed inside."
James was pretty thorough!
"I need to get my stuff."
Another security guard responded immediately, "Miss Nian, your things are already packed up. I'll get them for you."
He went inside the manor. In a couple minutes, he walked over with a suitcase.
"My boss says everything you had was bought with Mr. Huo's money, so they don't belong to you."
Debbie smiled bitterly. "Okay, thanks."
Jared punched the wheel and cursed, "That old son of a bitch!"
On the car ride over, Debbie let him know she signed the divorce agreement. When he heard that, he was so angry that he had wanted to drive back and find James and have him killed. But Debbie stopped him.
It was the same story at East City Villa. The security guards stopped her and told her she wasn't allowed inside.
'James is quite ruthless, ' she thought. Jared pulled over.
"What do we do now?" he asked her.
Debbie was silent. This was the first time she had been in a situation like this. She didn't know what to do either. "I don't care about all this. I just want to know if Carlos is really dead."
Nothing else mattered.
Jared nodded. Once again, he rang up Damon. "Hi Damon, been to the hospital yet? What did the doctors say?"
Half a minute later, Jared's face turned pale. He hung up and looked Debbie in the eye.
"Is… is it true?" She looked at Jared expectantly.
It took Jared a long moment before he responded with a nod. "Listen to me, Tomboy. I know you're hurting, but you have to pull it together. You have a baby to protect."
Debbie shook her head. "I don't believe it."
She didn't believe Carlos had died just like that.
Then she asked Jared to call Curtis. But Curtis' phone went straight to voicemail. Maybe just as Damon said, Curtis was on a plane bound for Y City.
Debbie pressed her head against the car window, mumbling, "Damon never liked me. I don't trust him. I'll ask Mr. Lu when he comes back. He's a good guy, and wouldn't lie."
However, a few minutes later, another big news item shocked the entire city.
It was about Debbie. And it had gone viral. The headline read: "Mr. Huo injured in accident. Wife files for divorce and gets abortion." Reading further, the subheader detailed how his assistant died at the scene and she cheated on him. Jared clicked on the link to read the details.
It claimed that after Carlos' accident, the CEO went to the ER. Debbie ignored him and cheated on him with another man. She even filed for divorce. Later when she found out that she was pregnant, she went to the hospital and had an abortion.
As proof, the article had pics, which stunned Debbie.
One of them was taken when she was in bed. She was sleeping in a stranger's arms, with bare shoulders. The last one was taken when the doctors walked out of the ward where she had been forced to sign the divorce agreement.
Those doctors had told the press that Debbie had come to the hospital willingly to have an abortion.
