Chapter 4 - The Confrontation
"Daddy..." Ethan repeated, his small voice cutting through the tense autumn air. "Look. I'm standing."
Nathan reached out, his thick, scarred fingers stopping half an inch from Ethan’s waist, as if terrified that touching the boy might shatter the vision before him.
"How...?" Nathan’s voice was a gravelly rasp, stripped of all corporate authority and mafia menace. "Ethan... the doctors said..."
"Vivi helped me," Ethan said proudly, taking one small, wobbling step forward. "We play the secret mountain climber game every day!"
Nathan’s head snapped toward me.
His dark eyes, previously filled with cold cynicism, were now ablaze with a complex storm of rage, confusion, and overwhelming emotion.
"You," Nathan growled, rising slowly to his full six-foot-two height. "You touched my son?"
I remained on my knees, my yellow rubber gloves clutched in my lap, my chin tucked into my neck. "Mr. Blackwell... I can explain. His nerve pathways were never fully severed. He was being over-sedated—"
"Vivi!"
A sharp, shrill voice shrieked from the gravel pathway.
Serena Vance rushed around the corner of the house, her face pale with fury, her silk blouse fluttering in the wind. Behind her came two second-floor maids.
"Mr. Blackwell!" Serena gasped, clutching her chest as she approached. "Thank God you're home! I caught this girl sneaking around the nursery earlier! She has been disobeying direct medical instructions! She could have permanently paralyzed your child!"
Serena lunged forward, grabbing Ethan’s arm to pull him back toward the wheelchair. "Ethan, sweetie, sit down immediately before you ruin your spine!"
"Get your hands off him."
The command was not loud.
It was spoken in a low, flat tone that carried the immediate weight of a death sentence.
Serena froze mid-reach, her hands hovering in the air.
Nathan didn't look at her. His eyes remained locked on me, searching my face, reading the fear, the green grass stains on my knees, and the genuine protection in my posture over his child.
"Serena," Nathan said softly. "Where is Dr. Harrison's weekly report?"
"In... in my office, sir," Serena stammered, her composure beginning to crack around the edges. "I have all the medical records logged. This maid—this girl—has no medical authority! I demand she be terminated immediately and removed from the property!"
Nathan turned slowly toward his chief security officer, a massive man named Marco who stood near the black sedan.
"Marco," Nathan said quietly. "Go to Miss Vance’s office. Bring me the bottle of purple medicine from the safe. And call Dr. Vance’s personal physician... but don't use our usual driver. Bring Dr. Aris from Northwestern Hospital."
Serena’s face turned from pale to ash gray.
May you like
"Nathan... please," Serena whispered, stepping back. "I’ve taken care of Ethan since Julia died..."
"And yet," Nathan said, taking a step closer to her, his jaw set like iron, "my son is standing on the grass, while your reports said he would never feel his legs again."
