Chapter 318

The woman forced a strained smile as she hugged the boy tightly to her chest and murmured, “That’s…that’s exactly what happened. I’m not lying—she threw water at my son. I didn’t say anything wrong.”
Isabella Austin frowned, an exasperated look flickering across her face as she turned to Andrew Lane. “Andrew?”
Andrew’s voice was low and controlled. “Emily Blair, let’s hear your side.”
The woman immediately bit her lip, her eyes shining with feigned innocence as she looked up at Andrew. “Mr. Lane—”
“It wasn’t me.”
Emily’s voice cut through the air, calm and clear, shutting down the woman’s attempt at sympathy.
The woman’s face froze. She shot Emily a vicious glare from an angle where Andrew couldn’t see.
Andrew nodded, his response brief but heavy with implication. “Alright.”
Everyone in the room understood the weight behind that word. Mr. Green looked as
if all the blood had drained from his face.
Andrew turned to him, his tone direct. “Mr. Green, I expect an explanation.”
Mr. Green scrambled to respond. “Mr. Lane, there must be some misunderstanding here. Let’s talk this through. I just got here myself—I don’t even know exactly what happened.”
The woman’s face was pale now, too.
Given the way her uncle deferred to Andrew Lane, she realized this was serious- serious enough that even her uncle, the hospital director, wouldn’t be able to protect her.
Suddenly, her uncle yanked her over to his side.
She heard him, without a second’s hesitation, throw her under the bus. “Mr. Lane, this was all my niece’s doing. I know your sister’s character-she would never do something like this. So clearly, my niece is at fault here. Don’t worry, Mr. Lane, I’ll handle this personally and make sure there’s a proper apology. No favoritism. I’ll make things right for Miss Blair.”
She stared at her uncle in disbelief. “Uncle?”
But Andrew Lane remained silent. Mr. Green, growing desperate, pulled the woman directly in front of Emily and pressed a firm hand on the back of her neck, forcing her to bow.
“Apologize! You owe Miss Blair an apology,” he barked.
Bent nearly double, the woman looked up at Emily Blair, her eyes glassy with shock.
Suddenly, something in Emily’s gaze seemed to sting her.
Emily’s face remained composed, but the woman couldn’t shake the feeling that Emily was mocking her, silently laughing.
Remembering everything that had just happened, anger surged in the woman’s chest. She jerked away from her uncle’s grip.
“I did nothing wrong! Why should I apologize? Her boiling water scalded my son and she hasn’t said sorry. Why should I?”
Mr. Green’s eyes darted anxiously to Andrew Lane, whose expression had grown noticeably colder. Mr. Green went pale with rage. “When I tell you to apologize, you apologize! Enough excuses.”
The woman drew a shaky breath. “I won’t apologize!”
Emily let out a soft, derisive laugh. “Then let’s check the security footage, shall we? Let’s see how your son ran over and knocked into me-a woman with a bad leg- how he tipped over my thermos, and how he brought this on himself.”
The woman snapped her mouth shut.
Andrew said quietly, “So that’s what really happened.”
Mr. Green looked utterly defeated, glaring at his niece as if he wanted to strangle her.
She kept her head down, not daring to meet his eyes.
Suddenly, Andrew stepped forward, brushing past Mr. Green. He gripped the handles of Emily’s wheelchair and said in a low, even voice, “My assistant will be in touch.”