TO
Sandu’s hospital called, and Pat rushed back immediately
A fragile thread held his composure together, but it snapped the moment he stepped into the psychiatric ward at Harrelton Hospital
The woman on the bed had unkempt hair, her once–lively face now lifeless and hollow Yellowish stains of unknown ongin marred her clothes. The sight made Par’s eyelid twitch with fury
“Tara, is this how you take care of people?”
The woman cleaning the balcony heard his voice and hurried into the ward, visibly nervous. She glanced at the disheveled figure on the bed and froze in shock
“It wasn’t met she stammered “She did this to herself”
Pat cut her off, his voice cold and impatient “Tara, if even this small task is beyond you, pack your things and go back to your father’s house. His drug den would suit you better!”
Tara fell to her knees, her cries echoing in the room. “No, Pat! Please, I beg you! I’ll take better care of her. Don’t
send me back! My father will kill mel
As she reached out to grab his trouser leg, he kicked her away without hesitation.
“Afraid of death, are you? Did you think about that when you and Sandra conspired to kill my and Stacy’s child?” The mention of the word child sent Sandra spiraling. She clutched her ears and screamed uncontrollably, thrashing about in her distress.
The day Tara was cast out of the Taylor family was also the day the Wiley family delivered grim news–Sandra had descended into insanity. Her ramblings were incoherent, but one name was always clear: Stacy. Nightmares haunted her, and she would often wake, screaming the name in her sleep.
Sandra had feared Stacy as a threat. Chosen as Alfonso Taylor’s granddaughter–in–law, Stacy’s position was unassailable. If Stacy became pregnant again, Sandra’s dream of becoming the mistress of the Taylor family would
crumble
Consumed by jealousy and fear, Sandra unraveled, her fragile mind unable to bear the weight of her schemes.
It was through Sandra’s crazed words that Pat discovered Stacy had been in a car accident–and that she had been pregnant When Pat interrogated Tara, the truth finally emerged the night of the wine party, he had been. drugged It was Stacy who saved him.
Everyone in the family had known, including Jeanie. Everyone but him
From that moment, Sandra’s mind fractured completely. The doctors diagnosed her with hereditary mental illness, and the Wiley family promptly abandoned her.
10.11 AM
But Pat, unable to fully sever his ties to the past, arranged for her care at the hospital and assigned Tara as her
caregiver
Yet the thought of his unborn child being robbed from him was a wound that refused to heal. His fury boiled over, and he kicked Tara again, harder this time.
*Tara, you remember how you tormented Stacy while she was in the Taylor family? Save your begging–it’s useless. You’ll need all your strength to face your father later!”
Pulling a handkerchief from his pocket, he wiped the spot where she had touched his leg and tossed it aside with visible disgust.
Tara, trembling with rage and humiliation, staggered to her feet. The tears she wiped away were replaced by
defiance.
“Pat” she spat, her voice hoarse, “you blame me for hurting Stacy, but what about you? Are you any better?”
Her face reddened with fury as she shouted, all pretense of decorum abandoned. “When Stacy was here, didn’t
you turn a blind eye to everything I did to her? You let me frame her. You drove her out of the Taylor family. You let me humiliate her over and over again!”
Her words hit their mark, sharp and unrelenting
“I didn’t care about her music, her violin, or her dignity. I just wanted to see you degrade her, to see her suffer
under your hands! And you–don’t act like you’re innocent. You’re just as vile, Pat! You’re a beast!”
Crash!
The sound of a glass shattering cut through her tirade. Tara flinched in surprise.
But her shock quickly morphed into rage. Covering the side of her face where she had
been struck, she glared at
Pat with wild eyes.
Her hand found a cleaning tool on the floor, and with trembling hands, she swung it toward his head.
