Chapter 556
Chapter 555:
Elouise looked up. Her sunken eyes locked onto Jocelyn.
A flash of desperate recognition sparked in them. She took a trembling step forward, leaning heavily against the wall for support.
“Jocelyn…” Elouise rasped, her voice weak and reedy.
Jocelyn did not move. Her face transformed instantly into a mask of absolute, freezing indifference. The warmth of the ultrasound vanished, replaced by a wall of solid ice.
Gaston felt the shift in her posture. His arm tightened around her waist. His dark eyes locked onto Elouise and flared with instant, lethal hostility.
Elouise shuffled closer. She looked terrified of Gaston, but desperation pushed her forward regardless.
“Please,” Elouise begged, stopping a few feet away, her hands shaking violently as she reached into her purse. “I know you hate me. I know I deserve it. But I have nowhere else to go p>
She produced a crumpled medical document and held it out with a trembling hand.
“Robert cut off my insurance when he threw me out,” Elouise sobbed, tears spilling over her hollow cheeks. “The doctors here just told me. It is stage four lung cancer. It has spread to my lymph nodes p>
Jocelyn stared at the shaking piece of paper. She did not reach for it.
𝗗𝗼n’𝘁 𝘮𝗂𝘴ѕ n𝖾w 𝘳e𝘭еа𝘀е𝘀 o𝗇.с𝗈𝗺
“If I don’t receive the targeted immunotherapy, I will be dead in six months,” Elouise cried, her voice cracking. “Please, Jocelyn. I am your mother. I just need the money for the treatments. I want to live p>
Jocelyn looked at the pathetic, dying woman in front of her. She searched her own heart for a shred of pity — searched for the little girl who used to cry in the dark attic, begging for her mother to come save her from Aspen’s cruelty.
She found absolutely nothing. The well was completely dry.
Jocelyn lifted her chin. Her eyes were flat and still.
“You want to live,” she repeated. Her voice was terrifyingly calm, each word landing cleanly in the quiet hallway.
Elouise nodded frantically, hope flaring in her sunken eyes. “Yes. Please p>
“Did you care whether I lived when you let Aspen lock me in that dark attic for two days?” Jocelyn asked. The words were precise and sharp, cutting through the air like a scalpel. “Did you care whether I survived when you sold me out to Robert to keep your credit cards active p>
Elouise flinched as though she had been struck. “I… I didn’t know it was that bad. I was trying to keep our family together p>
“You didn’t have a family,” Jocelyn said, her upper lip curling. “You had a bank account. And now it is empty p>
Gaston stepped forward, placing his massive body squarely between Jocelyn and Elouise.
“You are upsetting my wife,” he growled, his voice low and vibrating with dark, controlled menace. “If you take one more step toward her, I will have security put you out on the pavement p>
Elouise shrank back in terror. Her pleading eyes found Jocelyn over Gaston’s shoulder.