Chapter 61

My hands became cold. I couldn't imagine what had happened to Orva in the past two hours. I got changed and slipped out of my bedroom in comfortable clothes. Carroll, Harris, and Jason were back to the study. The bodyguard was about to get off work. At the sight of me carrying a bag, the bodyguard came over and asked, "Madam, where are you going?" I silenced the bodyguard and motioned for him to the elevator with one gesture. "Sir, my friend is in trouble. I will have to go to the police station. Could you please hold this back from Carroll?" The bodyguard hesitated. "Madam, going to the police station is not a trifle. Why don't you talk about it with Mr. Carroll first?" "I just want to go check what happened to my friend. I don't want to bother Carroll with it." I put on my shoes and pressed the button of the elevator. The bodyguard sighed. "I'll go with you." The police station was not far away from Sky City, but I felt it was a long drive. At the police station, a pretty policewoman greeted me. "Kelly, aren't you?" Nodding, I asked anxiously, "Yes. How's Orva?" The policewoman sighed. Then, she led me to a room and handed me one glass of warm water. "I don't want to alarm you, but her condition is not good. We tried to contact her sister, but her sister went abroad for the purchase and won't come back so soon. You are the only person we can find." I nodded in a daze. Unconsciously, I squeezed the paper cup in my hand. "What do you mean by not good'?" The policewoman in her thirties smiled motherly. She said something terrible in the softest tone, "I'm sorry. She may become a vegetable." A vegetable... I gasped with astonishment and stood rooted to the spot. Orva was only 20 years old. How could she become a vegetable? The policewoman patted the back of my hand. "Kelly, do you have any clues?" "Stephen! It's him!" I grabbed the policewoman's hand and said, "Officer, arrest him. He and his sister are bad guys!" I told the policewoman what had happened in the gallery and the relationship between Orva and Stephen. Instantly, the loving smile on the policewoman's face froze. The policewoman pounded the desk angrily. "Did that happen?" I nodded. "I was there." "Okay, you may go home now. We will summon Stephen over for investigation." The policewoman collected her stuff to leave. Worrying about Orva in the hospital, I don't want to stay at the police station any longer. On the way to the police station, I searched the meaning of a vegetable. A few hours ago, she chatted with me on Cultural Tourism Street. A few hours later... I lowered my head frustratedly and looked out of the window helplessly. It was late at night, but the night life in Costsley just began. Outside the car window, the neon light flashed past and soon became a halo. This scene was what I had yearned for over the past 19 years. I saw Perry's gallery and Harris's yacht party. I now knew the fundamental difference between Costsley and Phoenix Village. There were fighting cruelty and temptation behind this extravagant city. It was hot at the night of early summer. However, I felt a chill. The piercing chill soon reached every inch of my body from the soles of my feet. Soon, the bodyguard stopped the car and pulled the car door open. "Madam, here we are." I nodded blankly. I followed the bodyguard to the intensive care unit. Through the glass, I saw Orva. There were all kinds of instruments on her body. She lay quietly on the bed as if she was asleep. However, there was on her face a bandage and two ugly scars that looked like centipedes. How horrible! Covering my mouth, I slumped on the bench at the door of the ICU. I buried my head on my knees and sobbed. I felt that part of my heart was hollow. A pair of shiny leather shoes appeared in front of me. "Are you Orva's family?" I wiped away my tears and looked up at the stranger in front of me. His expression was cold. His suit was fancy with a matching tie. There was contempt in his gaze at me. I didn't think that Orva had an acquaintance like him. "Who are you?" I asked. "I'm Perry's lawyer. I came for a negotiation about compensation." Then, the man handed me a business card. Joson, a senior partner of Arbor Law Firms. "Stephen is the culprit, isn't he?" Holding my head high, I questioned the lawyer. Joson snorted, "Is that important? Don't you want money? Two million dollars if you agree on reconciliation. " My expression turned cold when I watched the cheque being flung to me. I slowly got up and threw the cheque to Joson's face. "Is money everything? Do you mean that her life is worth only two million dollars? If yes, will you ruin Stephen with two million dollars from me?" Joson wasn't enraged. He took the cheque and carefully smoothed it. "Melody, your monthly payment from Cheuk Restaurant is 10 thousand dollars, so you need over twenty years to save up to two million dollars. If you insist, I don't mind advising Stephen to wait for your revenge." He mistook me for Melody. That was why he was so arrogant. In his opinion, Melody was poor and would have to compromise. That was why he was so unscrupulous! The hierarchy was much crueler than I had imagined. My silence made Joson sneer. He gave his gold-rimmed glasses on his nose a push and slowly approached me. "Given her current situation, the daily medical cost is three thousand dollars. Do you know how long it will take to close this case? What will happen if we don't pay the medical cost before the final verdict? Why don't you forget your pride and compromise with your fate?" "Isn't money what people of your kind want? Your clothes aren't cheap. Didn't your bag cost dozens of thousands of dollars? Given your salary, I don't think that you can afford them. Oh, I see. They are gifts from your little sister, aren't they?" "Do you know how your sister got the money? She has to take off her clothes, kneel on the ground, and bark as dogs do. When the boss is happy, he will give her some money as her bone. Think carefully. Treat your sister with the money, or confront us in the court." "It's common that men or women accidentally get hurt in sex. Nobody cares about a prostitute." CRACK! My palm landed on Joson's delicate face. I had slapped Joson with all my Jason, so half of his gold-rimmed glasses fell. With a fierce look in his eyes, Joson adjusted the glasses on his nose and said to me through his gritted teeth, "I will make you pay the price!"