Outside the emergency room, the Rhodes Family watched, from the beginning until now, not a single person stepped forward to stop it. Only when they saw Hayden Rhodes fall to the ground, someone wanted to come over, but Chandler Rhodes stopped them. Chandler Rhodes, the eldest of the Rhodes Family, elder brother to Hayden and Yvonne. At this moment, Chandler looked at the person curled up in pain on the ground clutching his stomach, his expression stern and cold: "He deserves it." "All these years, he’s been blinded by that woman." Everyone heard this and turned their backs, no longer looking at Hayden, but at the emergency room, waiting for news from inside. Yes, because of Ronia Ackerly, their family had become completely unrecognizable. Family was no longer family, son was no longer son; look at now, he upset his own father to the point of lying inside, yet he shows no remorse. Such a person isn’t fit to be part of the Rhodes Family. With Ronia being dragged away by Yvonne, the atmosphere outside the emergency room finally quieted down, with no more noise or commotion, everything settled down. Outside the hospital gates, a black Bentley came to a smooth stop. Poe Vaughn got out of the car, buttoned his suit jacket, and walked into the hospital with a straight posture. It was afternoon, just after one o’clock, the doctors hadn’t started yet, only the usual emergency doctors were present, along with the on-duty nurses and staff, making the hospital very quiet, lacking the chaos and clamor of the morning. Poe Vaughn walked into the hospital lobby, his steady footsteps echoed by the click of his shoes, striking the ears of the staff at the window and the patients waiting in the first floor lobby for documents or the arrival of doctors. Upon hearing the steady and powerful footsteps, everyone instinctively looked, and upon seeing Poe Vaughn, each one was stunned. The hospital received numerous people every day, diverse and varied, from all walks of life, innumerable. And anyone coming to the hospital was invariably anxious, nervous, troubled, or overwhelmed. But never had they seen someone like Poe Vaughn, face indifferent, neither sad nor happy, with an air that wouldn’t change even if the sky fell. Surpassing movie and television stars, beyond any photo editing, atmospheric embellishment, a perfect face accompanied by superior height and build. He exuded an extraordinary aura from every inch of his being, inside and out. Not the nobility of affluent families, but the nobility of kings. Like the most exquisite diamond, the rarest jade, few and far between. Such a person, someone they would normally dream to see but couldn’t. Yet now, they saw such a person, someone meant to incite envy and jealousy, who instead inspired a sense of reverent awe. No envy, no jealousy. Just a desire to gaze upon, to continue watching. Like a god, making them feel awe. Poe Vaughn ignored the gazes upon him, walked straight to the elevator, and pressed the floor button. Soon, the elevator doors closed, shutting out the stunned gazes from outside. The emergency room was on the seventh floor; the elevator smoothly ascended and then stopped with a ding, doors opening. Poe Vaughn stepped out. He had just walked past the corner when his steps halted. At the corner, flanked by long corridors on both sides, lay the safety passageway a bit ahead on the left. At that moment, the door to the safety passageway was slightly open, and voices could be heard inside. "Ronia, did you think I wouldn’t know your intentions?" "I’m telling you, you made a mistake." "Originally, you had a chance, but you’ve angered dad into the hospital, now you have no chance." "Our Rhodes Family, including the Vaughn Family, and even those acquainted with both, won’t intervene in your son’s matters." "Your son will get what’s coming to him." Poe Vaughn’s gaze followed, at the corner of the stairs, Ronia’s cheeks were swollen, her hair loose and messy around her face, she glared at Yvonne with eyes full of hatred, making them bloodshot as if infused with blood. Her appearance was like broadcasting a message to everyone around. Just give her a knife, and she’d kill the person in front of her without hesitation. Yvonne looked at Ronia, the clear murderous intent, hatred, rage, all the vile emotions high and visible on her face and in her eyes. Without Hayden, she no longer tried to hide. Facing such a Ronia, Yvonne was unfazed. A lowly woman who destroyed other people’s families, what good could she be? Her mind, her heart filled with filth, with muck. Such a person, she usually found too filthy to even glance at. Today, if not for her father, she wouldn’t bother moving a hand for fear of dirtying it. Yet, this woman touched her bottom line, she’d rather dirty her own hands than not act. Ronia looked at Yvonne, still high an mighty, contemptuous and disgusted, she started to laugh. Bit by bit, the smile spread across her face. Like a frightening vine unfurling across her face. "Yvonne, who do you think you are?" "You’re just a daughter of the Rhodes Family, a married-off daughter, what does it have to do with you?" "I’m telling you, Julian is my and Hayden’s son, Hayden’s only son." ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ N0velFire.ɴet "No matter what, Hayden will save our son." "He’ll beg the Rhodes Family, beg the Vaughn Family, he’ll find a way, it’s not up to you to say what will happen." Yvonne repeated those words, her face growing colder: "Ronia, have you forgotten, Hayden has another son, a hundred times, a thousand times, a ten thousand times better than your son." "You can have ten, a hundred, a thousand of your sons, but they’ll never measure up." "Anyway, you’ve already abandoned one, abandoning another is no big deal." "Poe is still here, our Rhodes Family only acknowledges him as a grandson, your son is nothing but a bastard." The word "bastard" deeply pierced Ronia’s nerves; she raised her hand to strike Yvonne. The Rhodes Family’s strongest in combat, as soon as Ronia raised her hand, Yvonne seized her hand, grabbed her hair, forcing Ronia to lift her head. She leaned close to Ronia, eyes cold like knives, voice slow: "What? You won’t admit it?" "Forgot how your first son came into being?" "I’m telling you, Hayden is easy to deceive, his siblings are easy to deceive, but I, Yvonne Rhodes, am not easy to deceive."
"You know exactly what you’ve done, you’re still fine now just because I want to torment you." "Death isn’t painful, living is." "The heavens allow you to live to let you thoroughly enjoy being avenged and tormented for the rest of your life." With that said, Yvonne grabbed Ronia’s head and smashed it against the wall. With a thud, Ronia went limp to the ground. The intense hatred faded with her drooping eyelids. Yvonne looked at the unconscious person on the ground, took out a wet wipe, cleaned her fingers one by one, tossed it into the trash, and turned away.