Ann was badly beaten and left to die in the cowshed. After that, that woman pretended as if nothing untoward had happened as she bragged with the onlookers about how good she was in disciplining her daughter.
Her other children kept their heads down, their bodies shivering in fear. They were badly frightened to see their mother hitting their eldest sister with that iron rod. As for Amy, the little girl was sobbing, yet she dared not utter a single word.
After dismissing the crowd, that woman invited us, “My husband asked me to prepare food for you. You should join us for lunch. Today is that little bi*ch’s big day, and we will be inviting the village folks to the house. Why don’t you guys stay for dinner before leaving?”
I was still in a state of shock while Boris uttered a response, accepting the invitation. Seeing Amy holding my hand, the woman smiled broadly. “Ms. Stovall, it looks like Amy gets along pretty well with you. That’s great!”
I forced a smile in response. At the same time, my heart was overwhelmed with mixed emotions.
I had no idea if that woman knew Amy was going to become my daughter’s organ donor. Does she know how painful it is to donate bone barrow? Has she ever thought of how helpless her daughter will feel on the operating table? Does she even care about what her daughter will be facing?
Or, perhaps she doesn’t care at all. All she cares about is the money she can get from “selling” her daughter.
The village had a poor signal. Thus, I didn’t receive a reply message from Ashton since last night. That afternoon, Brandon had a walk around the village while that woman was busy preparing lunch.
It was no longer raining. The woman asked her children to sweep the water off the small patch of the cement floor and carried the small table and chairs out of the house. Since the table couldn’t fit all of them, she asked the children to borrow a table from the neighbor. When everything was set, she started serving lunch.
Meanwhile, Amy was holding my hand, whispering in my ears, “Ms. Stovall, Ann asked if you could bring her along with you?”
I was at a loss for words. After all, I was not a local. I couldn’t possibly take Ann away with me. Even if she sneaked out with me, I was afraid the villagers might find out about it before we even get to leave the village.
Amy was upset when she saw me furrowing my brows. Nevertheless, she sneaked out to find Ann. Although I knew the sisters would be disappointed, I still didn’t agree to their request.
After all, I was pregnant with a baby. I couldn’t afford to put myself and the baby in danger. If I stirred up any trouble, Boris alone might not be able to protect me.
Soon, Ronald was back in his motorbike. Riding the pillion was a tall teenager with tanned skin. His gaze was cold and… lecherous?
How could a teenager have such a nasty gaze? I must have seen it wrongly, or I’m just overthinking. I furrowed my brows and shook the thought off my mind.
Meanwhile, Ronald helped the teenager get off the motorbike. His wife rushed up to the teenager and carried him on her back as if she had done it a million times. “Oh, my baby boy, what did the doctor say about your injury? Are you alright?”
With his brows knotted, Ronald said unhappily, “Ann wanted to end our family line when she kicked our son hard in the nuts. Fortunately, the doctor said he will recover. Carry him into the house and take good care of him. I’ll go find Ann and teach that little b*ith a lesson!”
I was shocked to hear such nasty and humiliating words from a father.
That woman couldn’t agree more with her husband. “The Leeroy family will be here soon. If today was not her big day, you would’ve beaten that b*tch to death for what she did!” she said viciously.
Ronald opened the gate of the cowshed. He didn’t enter but berated his daughter at the entrance, “Ann Weeder, you almost ended our family line! He is your brother! How could you do that to him?”
Ann’s laughter, which carried with it a tinge of bitterness, was heard from inside the cowshed. “Why didn’t you ask me the reason for me doing that to him? He is your son, but am I not your daughter? Do I deserve to be treated like dirt? Ronald Weeder, you treat your son as if he’s the king, and we are his maids. You wouldn’t hesitate to exploit and sell your daughters for him. Karma will get you!”
Ronald paid no heed to his daughter’s words. He uttered harshly, “Don’t cause any more trouble! It’s your fate to marry that intellectually disabled son of the Leeroy family. Your life will only be meaningful after you get pregnant and give birth to a boy. You have no choice but to marry that man, or you can choose to die out there. There is no place for you anymore in this family.”
Is that what a father is supposed to say to his daughter? In the cowshed, Ann let out a bitter laugh that sounded sorrowful to me.
After scolding his daughter, Ronald went back into the house. He even smiled at us when he walked past us. At that moment, I felt awful.
