I pushed her hand away. I didn't have the energy to fight them anymore. I just wanted to be away from their poison.
Layla stared at her empty hand, a flicker of unease tightening her chest.
I hadn't taken more than a few steps away from the mourning hall when my phone vibrated. It was the caregiver from the hospital.
"Mr. Delgado... your father's oxygen tube... it was pulled out."
The world tilted. The sentence struck me with the force of a physical blow.
Clutching the remnants of my mother's ashes, I raced to the hospital.
When I arrived, it was too late. A white sheet had already been drawn over my father's body.
"Who did this?" My voice was a broken rasp, trembling with rage so profound it felt like it would tear me apart. "Who the hell did this? I told you to guard this room! How did someone get in?"
After Layla had used my father's life as leverage, I had replaced all the staff and security. I thought I had made him safe.
The caregiver looked down, trembling.
"It was... it was Young Master Gilbert," she stammered. "He came in and said your father was wasting medical resources. He claimed to hold the hospital shares... and ordered the rescue efforts to stop."