Chapter 115
Matty’s voice suddenly broke through the silence.
“She’s not Theo’s mom. Sharon is.”
By now, Matty had gotten to his feet. He walked over to Sharon and helped her up, his small hands gently steadying her.
“Sharon, are you okay?”
Sharon looked up into his worried eyes, and for a moment, a sharp sting rose behind her nose.
“I’m okay,” she said, though her voice came out raspy and hoarse, barely recognizable to her own ears.
She gripped Matty’s hand, trying to push herself up. But her body was still trembling, legs weak and unsteady. The moment she got halfway upright, her knees buckled again.
Matty tried to hold her, but he was just a child. He couldn’t bear the weight of an adult.
Just then, a hand reached out and caught her firmly.
“Thank you,” Sharon said reflexively, before her eyes met Carter’s cool, handsome face.
Her expression instantly changed. She pulled her hand away on instinct.
But Carter held her wrist tightly. “Theo’s still not out of danger. Don’t you want to go with us to see him?”
A flicker of hesitation passed through her eyes.
Matty chimed in from the side. “Sharon, let’s go to the hospital and check on Theo together, okay?”
Sharon lowered her head. Her gaze softened when it fell on him.
She took his hand. “Alright.”
Carter glanced down at Matty too. His eyes had lost their earlier sharpness.
Behind them, Kelly stood alone, as if forgotten. She watched the three of them walk away, her presence slipping further into the background.
The onlookers, witnessing it all, began murmuring amongst themselves again.
“Who even is that woman? She’s the one who kept stirring things up, kept insisting the kid’s real mom was just in it for the
money.”
“Her own child was dying-what kind of mother would care about money at a time like that? That woman tried to paint the mom as a gold-digger, that’s just sick.”
“She was the one stopping the mom from helping. She even offered a reward to keep her restrained. God, if anything had happened to that kid, we’d all be accomplices.”
“The mom had the spray on her the whole time. That woman looked like she cared, but she didn’t even know what to do in an emergency… Could she be the infamous stepmom?”
“I was at the table next to them. The dad left to take a call, the kid was eating with her, and then-bam-severe allergic reaction. Maybe she did it on purpose?”
“Only a blind man would fall for a woman like that.”
The voices around her stung like needles. Kelly’s face flushed red, then turned pale.
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She scrambled to get into the ambulance, trying to hide from the stares full of judgment and disdain.
Inside the ambulance, the air was tight with silence.
Sharon borrowed some antiseptic swabs from the medic and gently dabbed at the scrape on Matty’s arm.
He let out a soft hiss and instinctively pulled back a little.
“Does it hurt a lot?” Sharon asked, her eyes focused on him.
Meeting her gaze, Matty puffed up his chest a bit, then stretched his arm out again, trying to act brave,
“I’m fine… Do it, Sharon!”
The medic couldn’t help smiling at how sweet he was. “Is this your son? He’s so well-behaved and adorable.”
Sharon opened her mouth to say no, but then she caught a glimpse of Matty’s little face-tense, and touched with disappointment.
She smiled gently, and said nothing.
But the moment was broken by a sharp voice that cut through the stillness.
“Sharon, don’t you think this is a little inappropriate?”
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