Chapter 113
Her eyes rimmed red, Kelly pleaded, “Sharon, I’m begging you. Stop it. If something really happens to Theo… what are we going to do?”
Carter had her wrist clamped in an unrelenting grip, while Kelly stood in her path. Sharon’s forehead broke into a fine sweat
from the urgency.
No matter how disappointed she was in Theo, he was still her son, the child she had carried for ten months and brought into the world. She couldn’t just stand there and watch him die.
Her eyes hardened.
With sudden force, Sharon shoved Kelly.
“Ah!” Caught off guard, Kelly stumbled backward, falling to the ground.
“Kelly!” Carter’s expression shifted, instinctively loosening his hold on Sharon to help Kelly.
Sharon seized the moment and lunged toward the doctor performing CPR.
Kelly caught the movement and shouted, “Carter, stop her!”
But by the time Carter moved, it was already too late.
Kelly turned to the crowd. “Is anyone kind enough to help? If we can save this child, there will be a generous reward!”
Her words had barely landed when several bystanders near Sharon rushed forward.
They’d long been frustrated by her interference in the rescue. Now they had a reason to act-a reward on the table. Why hesitate?
“Let go! Let me go!” Sharon thrashed wildly, nearly frenzied, but they pinned her arms down with brute strength, leaving her
no room to move.
Her voice cracked from strain. “I have the medicine on me! Just take it-use it on him—!”
She didn’t even finish the sentence before Kelly cut in sharply. “Sharon, stop obstructing his rescue!”
Sharon struggled so violently that it took several men just to hold her in place.
She stared at Carter, her eyes filled with fury and disbelief. “I’m his mother. I raised him. I know his condition better than anyone. Carter, you’d rather trust some stranger than believe me?!”
Kelly stepped between them, her tone edged with reproach. “Sharon, when you weren’t coming home, when you were off ignoring Theo, did you still think of yourself as his mother? And now that he’s sick, you keep blocking every attempt to save him. Can you blame anyone for questioning your motives?”
The words stirred the crowd.
“She’s the kid’s mother?”
“Never at home, doesn’t even take care of him-and now she’s stopping them from helping? What kind of person does that?”
“Hard to believe a mother could be this heartless.”
“Probably wants to remarry and thinks the kid’s a burden.”
“Unbelievable. Coldest woman I’ve ever seen.”
One comment after another, none grounded in fact, but all laced with judgment. In just a few moments, they’d painted her as a
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wicked mother with no redeeming qualities.
The doctor had never been fully confident, and after Sharon’s repeated objections, doubt gnawed at him. His hands hovered,
unmoving.
Carter saw the hesitation, his expression darkening. “What are you waiting for?!” he barked.
The doctor took a deep breath, about to act, when Matty darted out from between the crowd. 1
In a blur, Matty reached into Sharon’s pocket and pulled out a small bottle of aerosol medication. He sprinted to Theo’s side.
Both Carter and the doctor noticed him at the same time, but by then it was too late.
Matty lifted the bottle and sprayed it directly toward Theo’s nose and mouth.
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