Chapter 258: Why?

Back in the ward, Malcolm and Bianca glared at Lydia with disappointment.

“Lydia, what were you thinking? You and Meryl are both my daughters. What you did today has utterly humiliated our family. This is a disgrace. You let me down!” Malcolm’s voice was tight with anger.

Malcolm had once defended Lydia with unwavering zeal, but now the support felt like a slap in the face.

They had just been thrown out of the ward by Chandler.

Lydia’s expulsion was one thing—after all, she had caused the trouble.

But for Chandler to throw Malcolm out, too? That was a blow to Malcolm’s pride, which he wasn’t prepared for.

Malcolm was fuming with frustration, especially since he had hoped Chandler could help Celestial Ventures Group. Now, that was a lost cause.

Lydia’s eyes welled up with tears, and she looked genuinely hurt.

“Dad, I don’t know what got into me. I’m really sorry. It felt like I was being possessed or something. That wasn’t my intention at all.”

Bianca frowned. “Sorry? You still tried to argue in front of everyone just now! If you had just admitted it sooner, we wouldn’t have been embarrassed.”

Lydia bit her lip, feeling cornered as her lies unraveled. “I… I must have been possessed or something…”

Bianca’s gaze was filled with disappointment. She had raised Lydia for decades.

Lydia’s scheming and her attempt to shift blame were becoming increasingly outrageous.

Malcolm said firmly, “Enough, Lydia’s hurt, so let’s not push it. Let her rest, and we shouldn’t keep her here any longer. Let’s go.”

Bianca felt a strange discomfort in her chest.

“Why is it that whenever Lydia messes up, you’re always defending her? I don’t have the right to lecture her?” she asked.

Malcolm’s excessive protection of Lydia was becoming increasingly apparent. Bianca hadn’t noticed it much before, but now it felt unsettling.

Malcolm’s frustration boiled over. “I’m not defending anyone! Are you looking to pick a fight with me now?”

The tension between Malcolm and Bianca was palpable, and Lydia quickly stepped in to mediate. “Alright, Mom, Dad, Dalton’s outside smoking. Maybe let’s just drop it for now?”

Reluctantly, Malcolm and Bianca left, exchanging glares.

Meanwhile, Dalton was slumped against the wall in the stairwell, lost in thought as he chain-smoked.

The hospital was quiet at this hour, and he heard the muffled sounds of an argument between Anne and Dante on the other side of a fire door.

Dalton wasn’t eavesdropping on purpose. He had been there first, and Dante and Anne arrived after him.

The door was only partially closed, and Dalton could hear every word of their heated exchange.

After about fifteen minutes, the argument subsided.

Dalton was taken aback by how Dante, usually so proud and aloof, had humbled himself so much to win Anne back.

It was a stark revelation.

For a moment, Dalton felt a deep, resonant sadness from Dante’s side.

Oddly, he found himself feeling a sense of shared pain.