Chapter 312: Beaten into the Hospital
When Anna Nash returned, this was the chaotic scene that greeted her.
There was no way Mrs. Blackwood’s fighting prowess could match two people accustomed to manual labor. Her hair was a mess, her face was covered in several handprints from being slapped, and her arms were covered in bloody scratches.
As for Silas Blackwood, seeing someone hitting his mother, on top of the bellyful of rage he felt from being manipulated by Anna Nash, all came pouring out at this moment.
"Let go of my mom!" Silas Blackwood went to pull them apart, but they wouldn’t let go.
He went straight for one of the Nash family members—Anna’s father—and threw a punch.
The force of the blow was immense. Anna’s father instantly collapsed to the ground, unable to move.
"Honey... old..." he stammered, and then he actually started spitting up blood.
Seeing this, the others quickly let go. Anna’s mother rushed to check on her husband. "Old man, old man, are you okay?"
"Help! Someone, help! It’s murder! They’re killing him!" she began to scream.
Silas Blackwood had just been too angry. He hadn’t expected it to escalate to a matter of life and death.
A maid quickly dialed for an ambulance. Anna Nash, who had just returned and was at the door, rushed over. "What’s going on?"
"Anna, Anna, you have to save your father! He’s been beaten to death! Old man, if you die, what will I do? If you’re gone, I don’t want to live either! I’ll join you, and then we’ll haunt this family and never let them go!" Anna’s mother wailed, draped over her husband’s body.
Anna felt a massive headache coming on. Over on the side, Silas Blackwood didn’t know what to do, and Mrs. Blackwood was terrified as well.
"Don’t you talk nonsense! You fell by yourself, it has nothing to do with my son! And look what you two lunatics did to me!"
Mrs. Blackwood was also worried. If someone really died, what would that mean for the Blackwood Family’s reputation?
With Mr. Nash in that state, no one dared to move him. Fortunately, the ambulance arrived quickly. He was taken to the hospital, where Anna’s mother demanded a full-body examination, insisting not a single test be skipped.
Mrs. Blackwood didn’t come. The person who accompanied Anna Nash was Silas Blackwood.
"Anna Nash, your parents are outrageous! They’re nothing but thugs and scoundrels. I don’t care what you have to do, you have to get them out of here!" Silas Blackwood didn’t think he had done anything wrong. After all, they had started the fight.
Silas Blackwood couldn’t even imagine the utter chaos that would ensue if that couple didn’t leave and stayed here.
"Why should I? My mother is right. Now that I’m married to you, half of this house is mine. What’s wrong with my parents coming to live here?" Now that they were married, Anna didn’t feel the need to pretend anymore.
Her goal was clear: she wanted the Blackwood Family’s money. Lots and lots of it.
"Anna Nash, don’t your family go too far!" Silas Blackwood clenched his fists, his teeth grinding together.
"How are we going too far? Isn’t this just the natural order of things? If you don’t like it, go ahead and call the police. Or get a lawyer and see if I’m not right!" Now that she was married, Anna felt she had all the security she needed.
"You bitch! You won’t get a single cent from the Blackwood Family! All the shares and properties are in my dad’s name. Even if you divorce me and take half, it won’t be much!" There was no way Silas Blackwood would give Anna money; he really didn’t have many assets to his name.
Of course, Anna knew this. Marrying into the Blackwood Family was only her first step.
’Silas Blackwood is a useless bum. Not only is he impotent, but he’s broke, too.’
"Who said anything about a divorce? Darling, we just got married yesterday. The ink on our marriage license is barely dry. How could we possibly get divorced?" Anna moved closer again, hooking her arm through Silas Blackwood’s.
"I know my parents are outrageous. They treated me the same way when I was a child, which is why I cut ties with them. Who knew Ivy Sherwood would find them and bring them here? This is all Ivy’s fault!"
Now, Anna was pinning all the blame on Ivy Sherwood. However, this whole fiasco had given her the perfect opportunity to get her hands on Ivy’s mother’s ashes.
"Anna Nash, I don’t care what you have to do. You have to send your parents back."
Anna said, "It’s easier to invite them in than to ask them to leave. I want them gone too, you know. But now that you’ve put my dad in the hospital, there’s no way he’ll leave so easily. I’ll try to figure something out, but darling, there’s something you need to do first."
"What is it?"
"Ivy Sherwood’s mother’s ashes... our father has them, right? Can you get them for me? If we have the ashes in our possession, we can use them to threaten Ivy and make her send our parents away, don’t you think?"
’It would be easier to get the ashes if Silas does it.’
After all, he was Caleb Blackwood’s own son; Silas must have a way.
Silas Blackwood had indeed considered getting his hands on Ivy Sherwood’s mother’s ashes. Last time, his father had even seemed to soften his stance on the matter, but Silas had been busy with the wedding and hadn’t brought it up again.
But with Anna bringing it up now, he felt a wave of revulsion toward her and decided to be contrary. "And what if I say no?"
"Then I’ll just let my parents stay at our house for a few more days. But if that happens, I can’t guarantee what might unfold. I can’t guarantee that the next person to end up in the hospital won’t be your mother."
Silas Blackwood’s eyes narrowed. "Are you threatening me?"
"I would never mean such a thing. I want my parents to leave even more than you do." She had had enough of those two and had no intention of letting them control her ever again.
The problem was Ivy Sherwood muddying the waters. If they couldn’t get Ivy under control, things would be difficult.
Silas Blackwood considered Anna’s words and thought she had a point. Besides, his father would be home soon. Not wanting to wait around at the hospital, he left Anna there and went straight home.
Back at the house, Mrs. Blackwood was still crying on the sofa while Sylvia Blackwood tried to comfort her. Mrs. Blackwood muttered a few curses about Anna’s family, hoping they would all die horrible deaths.
Before long, Caleb Blackwood returned. Mrs. Blackwood immediately ran to him, tearfully complaining that this life was simply impossible.
Silas stepped forward. "Dad, there’s something I’d like to talk to you about."
And so, father and son entered the study again.
...
After Quentin Blackwood returned to Aethelgard, he was buried in another mountain of work.
He didn’t have much time to visit Old Master Sheridan at the hospital. To avoid seeing Joy Sheridan, he chose to arrange for more staff to be at the hospital instead.
Joy had originally thought that with her grandfather hospitalized, Quentin would surely spend more time with her. Who would have guessed that Quentin barely showed up at all?
He only came when she wasn’t at the hospital or when she was asleep. It was obvious Quentin was avoiding her.
Joy used Old Master Sheridan’s phone to call Quentin again. "Quentin, why haven’t you come to the hospital to see Grandfather?"
Quentin replied, "I’m not a doctor. My staying there won’t make him get better any faster."
"But I’ll get better faster! I’m a patient now, too. Aren’t you even going to come see me?"
"I heard you went back to Lustre a couple of days ago. You went for your nephew’s wedding, right? Look at me, I’ve been so busy I’m all muddled. I didn’t even prepare a gift. Should I get something for your nephew?" Joy slyly called Silas his nephew, too. By doing so, she felt like she was already one of Quentin’s people.