CHAPTER 280

However, Brian was tired of arguing with Rachael, feeling dismayed and disappointed as he walked out of the house with Belle. When Rachael saw the mother and son leave, she instantly lost her mind, thinking she might just lose Brian forever. She then rushed toward them and shoved Belle aside. "This is all your fault! It was you! Why did you have to drive a wedge between me and Brian? My husband and I were deeply in love with each other until you arrived. As soon as you were here, Brian wanted to divorce me. Why must you undermine our marriage and separate the two of us? Does it really please you to see my family broken apart?"

Although Brian was seizing Belle's arm, he wasn't holding it really tight. Thus, when Rachael shoved the older lady from behind her, she staggered forward clumsily and lost her footing before falling down the stairs. While the stairs had only about five to six steps, Belle was too old and weak to sustain any injury caused by a fall like that. Therefore, as soon as she hit the ground, she moaned for a while, shortly before she took her last breath. At that moment, everyone froze upon seeing the accident, but Leigh was the first to react. She quickly shoved Brian aside and took big strides down the stairs to check on the older lady in a desperate attempt to rescue her.

In the meantime, Madeline waved at Emory and beckoned her over. "Hurry up! Get the car here!" After Leigh did everything she could to stabilize Belle's condition, she told the rest to help carry the elderly lady into the car.

At the same time, Alex was holding Belle's hand tightly, crying while shaking like a leaf. "Don't scare me, Grandma. I want you to be well, Grandma! You're going to get through this…"

Meanwhile, Brian sank to his knees beside his son, seizing his mother's shirt as memories of Belle holding his hand and his brother's flooded his mind. When Brian's father died, he and his older brother were still children, but her mother bit the bullet and raised the two of them despite the adversities. AtCopyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

that moment, he remembered seeing his mother suffering from back pain so much that she could barely straighten her body back then. After that, he made a promise to himself that he would give his mother a comfortable life when he grew up in the future. However, when he was finally a grown man, he got so busy with work and his family that he forgot about his mother.

With his eyes fixed on Belle's stiff body and pale face, Brian felt his blood freezing throughout his body, heartbroken and disappointed. You mustn't die, Mom! I haven't had the chance to repay your kindness, so you must live! The man snatched Belle's hand from Alex's palm, tearfully begging the unconscious older lady to wake up. "Open your eyes, Mom. Please! You have to wake up. I'm going to divorce Rachael and treat you and Alex well, Mom…"

On the other hand, Derrick was driving behind the car with Belle in it while Laine and Rachael tagged along. After witnessing what happened, Laine was so startled that she couldn't stop lecturing Rachael. "How could you be so impulsive? She is your mother-in-law, and shoving her was absolutely not the way to treat her. If anything happens to her, how are you going to answer Brian?"

Rachael, who was frightened out of her wits, still refused to admit her mistakes. "Brian is going to divorce me anyway, so why do I need to answer him?"

"Your pride always gets in the way!" Laine pinched her daughter's face in an annoyed manner. "If anything happens to Mrs. Carter, you could be charged with manslaughter, which is a criminal offense. You could be sentenced to jail for that! W-Why? Why does my daughter always make me worried?!"

Upon hearing her mother's words, Rachael was finally scared of the consequences that might catch up to her. "No way! I only nudged her, and I don't think she sustained any serious injury from that fall, so there is no way she will die. Furthermore, even if she really dies in the end, her old age and poor health

are to blame. I have nothing to do with that at all."

"What did you just say? You were the one who shoved Mrs. Carter off the stairs, yet you're talking like it's none of your business." Worried and angry with her daughter, Laine added, "No matter how much you and I refuse to admit it, the fact that you shoved Mrs. Carter remained undeniably true. Therefore, you'd better pray nothing happens to Mrs. Carter because if anything happens to her, Brian could press the charge and sue you for manslaughter."

"No, Brian won't do that to me." Rachael was seen with a pale face. "I'm Lucy and Larry's mother. If I'm going to jail, what are Larry and Lucy going to do? For that, I'm sure he won't press the charge."

"Don't forget. Mrs. Carter had a doctor and a lawyer with her back there." Laine added irritably, "While that old lady may be from the rural village, I can tell that she is scheming and cunning because she didn't come to see you unprepared. Even if Brian agrees to let you off eventually, you would still have to persuade the doctor and the lawyer to do the same before you're considered safe. So, you really have to pray that Mrs. Carter recovers, or your lawsuit awaits."

Despite Laine's emphasis on the gravity of the situation, the main purpose of her words was just to give Rachael a wake-up call. After all, she didn't think Belle would die from the fall because the stairs were not that steep. Nevertheless, she was frustrated by her daughter's recklessness without a lack of concern about the consequences that might follow her actions. Thus, she intentionally scared Rachael in the hope that the latter would learn to think twice before she acted.

However, things appeared to take an unexpected turn when they arrived at the hospital. Upon meeting Brian and the others, they were told that Belle's time was almost up, just as Brian was urged to summon everyone else in the family to see her one last time.

As soon as Laine heard the news, she went weak in the knees and nearly collapsed onto the ground, but Derrick managed to get a hold of her in time. She then asked in a shaking voice, "W-What are we going to do now? Is Rachael going to be held responsible for what happened?"

"That's funny of you to ask." Derrick knitted his eyebrows. "Rachael was the one who shoved her down the stairs, whereupon she was taken to the hospital directly and is now moments away from her death pronouncement. So, why don't you tell me whether Rachael is going to be held responsible for that?"

"I-It's not my fault!" Rachael shook her head fearfully. "I only nudged her a little. So, how could that possibly kill her? She is weak and old, and she has that to blame instead."

"Enough with your nonsense!" Derrick reprimanded his daughter. "When will you realize your mistakes?! If those people there decide to call the cops, it'll be the end for you! Now, the only way to get you out of trouble is for you to apologize to them in the hope that they will let you off for the sake of Lucy and Larry; otherwise, the jail room is where you're going to be spending your life.

Rachael was frightened by her father's words, finally taking the consequences of her actions more seriously without denying her mistake like she did earlier. In fact, she knew deep down that her father was right because it was indeed her who shoved Belle down the stairs. Therefore, she would surely have to face legal consequences if the police were involved, which left her with only one choice—to settle the matter in private. Believing she wouldn't have to go to jail in the end, Rachael was convinced that Brian wouldn't do that to her for the sake of their children, even though the love between them might have faded away after what happened. At the thought of that, she pulled herself together and entered the ward with her parents.

Meanwhile, Alex was seen holding Belle's hand, kneeling down beside the bed. At the same time,

Brian was on his knees while holding his mother's hand on the other side of the bed, crying and sobbing like a sad child. I just lost the one and only chance to repay my mother's kindness just when I finally realized my mistake. Deep down, Brian was devastated and heartbroken because there was nothing he could do to repay his mother. Before he could do anything, the doctor told him that Belle didn't have much time left and that the next few moments would be her last. Thus, Brian was told to inform everyone else in the family to visit Belle as soon as possible.