The Lie Of That Night Chapter 06
The next day, the Mendez’s mansion was thrown into utter chaos.
Roderick had fallen from the sixth-floor balcony, crashing into the bushes below. When he was found, he was unconscious from massive blood loss and in desperate need of a transfusion.
When Gretchen heard the news, she bolted for the door.
She reached the hospital and froze when she saw Roderick’s deathly pale little face.
Instantly, a wave of agony spread from her incision to her heart, radiating through her entire being.
“The blood bank is low! The child has a rare Rh-negative blood type. It’ll take at least forty minutes to get blood from another hospital — we don’t have that long!” The doctor’s urgent voice rang out.
“Take mine!”
Gretchen’s voice shook, but it was rock-steady in its resolve. “I am his mother. Use my blood. My blood will work.”
Terrence grabbed her arm. “Have you lost your mind? Your own body hasn’t recovered. You can’t give blood!”
“Who else is going to save him? If we wait forty minutes, he’ll be gone!”
Gretchen wrenched her hand away, her eyes bloodshot and fierce. “Terrence, that is your son lying in there. Are you going to watch him die?”
The sheer madness and desperation in her eyes cowed him.
Terrence looked at the doctor’s grim face, then at Gretchen’s stubborn resolve, and finally nodded.
Throughout the extraction, Gretchen kept her head turned, staring at the small figure on the hospital bed.
In his stupor, Roderick vaguely heard that tearful cry. “I am his mother.”
His eyelashes fluttered, as if trying to open his eyes, but he failed, too weak to follow through.
Gretchen gave nearly 400cc. Eventually, the doctor refused to let her continue.
She had to lean against the wall just to stay upright, her vision swimming in darkness, but she stubbornly refused to leave.
Just then, Paulina hurried in, her face a mask of anxiety. “Terry, how is Ricky? I was scared to death — Julia just had another seizure; I couldn’t get away…”
Terrence looked at the swaying, fragile Gretchen, then at Paulina, who had only just “hurried” over. An indescribable irritation mixed with anger surged up inside him.
His voice was cold and hard. “Ricky almost died. Where were you?”
Paulina choked on her words, startled by his attitude. Her eyes reddened as she said defensively, “I… I had no choice. Julia suddenly…”
“Is Julia the only child you care about?”
Terrence interrupted her impatiently. As he looked at Paulina’s expression — completely lacking guilt or remorse — the trace of doubt in his heart suddenly expanded.
For the first time, he realized that perhaps, from the very beginning, taking Ricky away from Gretchen had been a mistake.
The thought stung him, fueling his irritation.
Randolph Aston, the butler, stepped forward with a preliminary investigation report.
“Mr. Mendez, there are signs that the screws on the terrace railing were deliberately loosened. And the monthly inspection records are complete. Under normal circumstances, the railing couldn’t have loosened to that extent.”
Terrence’s gaze turned icy. “Investigate thoroughly. Investigate everyone who had access to that terrace. Don’t miss a single person.”
An hour later, a more detailed report arrived.
Technicians had recovered a fingerprint near the critical screws on the railing.
After a cross-check, the print pointed directly to Gretchen.
The air in the room seemed to freeze.
“Impossible…” Terrence muttered.
Paulina’s gaze turned complex. “Terry, I know you don’t want to believe it. But Gretchen just lost her daughter, and her mental state has been unstable. Perhaps… perhaps she saw how close Ricky is to me and held a grudge. Maybe she thought of her poor daughter and just… snapped, thinking that if she couldn’t have him, then no one…”
Terrence’s chest heaved.
Reason told him the railing incident was suspicious, but the “evidence” was right there, and Paulina’s explanation was “logical.”
The image of Gretchen’s desperation to save the boy with her own blood clashed violently in his mind with the accusation of “premeditated murder.”
Finally, he took a deep breath and whispered to Randolph, “Keep this matter under wraps for now. Tell the public it was an accident. Tighten security at the villa, especially around the children.”
A flash of triumph darted through Paulina’s eyes, gone as quickly as it appeared, replaced by a mask of worry.
Inside the ward, Roderick opened his eyes.
Every word of the hushed conversation outside the door had reached his ears clearly.