My Husband Slapped Me At The Hospital… Then My Father Did Something Nobody Expected. Chapt
Chapter 2
The hospital room became strangely quiet.
Thomas Carter had always been a commanding presence.
Even at seventy-one, even after decades of hard work and the heart attack that had nearly killed him, there was something about him that made people listen when he spoke.
But now he looked fragile.
His skin was pale.
Several wires crossed his chest.
An oxygen tube rested beneath his nose.
Yet when he looked at Ryan, the weakness disappeared.
“Leave,” Thomas said.
Ryan swallowed.
“This is a family matter.”
Thomas stared at him.
“You stopped being family the moment you raised your hand against my daughter.”
Emily stood beside the bed, still unable to process what had happened.
She had expected her father to be angry.
She had not expected him to be awake.
And she certainly had not expected him to ask for his lawyer.
Ryan stepped toward her.
“Emily, we’re leaving.”
“No.”
The word came out softly.
But it was the first time Emily had ever said it to him without fear.
Ryan stared.
“What?”
“I’m staying.”
“You’re my wife.”
“And I’m your wife, not your property.”
The nurse looked down, hiding her expression.
Ryan’s face reddened.
Thomas watched him carefully.
“Security,” he said.
Ryan laughed bitterly.
“You’re going to throw me out?”
“I am.”
“This is ridiculous.”
“No,” Thomas replied. “What you did to my daughter was ridiculous.”
Ryan turned toward Emily.
“This isn’t over.”
Thomas’s voice became colder.
“It is for tonight.”
Two security officers appeared moments later.
Ryan resisted at first, but after realizing everyone was watching, he finally walked away.
The door closed.
Emily sat beside her father.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then she began to cry.
Thomas reached for her hand.
“I’m sorry.”
Emily shook her head.
“You didn’t do anything.”
“I did.”
She looked at him.
“I should have seen him.”
“What do you mean?”
“I should have seen what Ryan was.”
Thomas closed his eyes briefly.
“Your mother always said you believed the best in people.”
Emily gave a weak smile.
“Maybe too much.”
Thomas squeezed her hand.
“Not anymore.”
A doctor entered to check his condition.
He explained that Thomas was stable for the moment but needed immediate monitoring.
After the doctor left, Thomas looked toward the door.
“Did Ryan ever ask about my will?”
Emily hesitated.
“Yes.”
“How many times?”
“Too many.”
Thomas sighed.
“I thought so.”
Emily frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Thomas reached toward the drawer beside his bed.
His fingers trembled as he pulled out a small envelope.
“Take this.”
Emily opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
It showed her as a little girl, standing beside her father at a construction site.
On the back, someone had written a sentence.
When the time comes, tell her everything.
Emily looked up.
“Who wrote this?”
“Your mother.”
Emily’s breathing stopped.
Her mother had died twenty-five years earlier.
“What does it mean?”
Thomas stared at the ceiling.
“Your mother knew things I didn’t understand until much later.”
“What things?”
He hesitated.
Then he said something that made Emily’s blood run cold.
“Ryan wasn’t the first person who came after our family.”
Emily frowned.
“What?”
“Twenty years ago, someone tried to take my company.”
“Who?”
Thomas looked at her.
“A man named Victor Hale.”
Emily had never heard the name.
“He disappeared.”
“No,” Thomas whispered.
“He didn’t disappear.”
A knock came at the door.
Thomas immediately stopped speaking.
A tall man in a dark suit entered.
Emily recognized him.
“Dad’s attorney?”
Thomas nodded.
“Daniel Brooks.”
Daniel closed the door behind him.
Then he looked at Emily.
“Mr. Carter told me to come immediately if he ever ended up in this hospital.”
Emily looked between them.
“Why?”
Daniel placed a thick folder on the table.
“Because your father has been preparing for this day for almost twenty years.”
Emily stared at the folder.
“Preparing for what?”
Daniel looked toward the hallway.
“For the possibility that someone would try to destroy your family from the inside.”
Emily’s heart began pounding.
She suddenly remembered Ryan’s questions.
The property.
The will.
The documents.
The strange phone calls her father had received during the past year.
And for the first time, she wondered whether Ryan had simply been greedy.
Or whether someone had sent him.
