Chapter 40

By the time Suzan and Barton rushed to the hospital after the alarming phone call, Kathryn and Parker had just been wheeled out of the operating room.

Kathryn had fractures of varying severity in both legs and a mild concussion. Parker was better off with just one broken arm–the same one Kathryn had been clutching before the crash.

Incredibly, despite a head–on collision that should have dealt the driver the brunt of the impact. he walked away with only minor injuries. A quick patch–up job and he didn’t even need to be kept in for observation.

But Suzan wasn’t thinking about the driver. Her eyes welled up with tears as she beheld Kathryn, lying pallid and unmoving on the sterile hospital sheet. Her knees buckled beneath her, but a nurse was quick to steady “Oh, my poor Kathryn,” Suzan whimpered, her voice choked with emotion. “You should have stayed at home. Why on earth did you go out? If anything happened to you, what would I do…”

Her sobs filled the room, and Barton, already nursing a headache, pressed his temples and snapped, “Enough already, she’s going to be fine!”

At that, Suzan bristled, her voice rising sharply, “Fine? Her legs are broken! And that Robinson family driver–was it deliberate? How come out of three people in the car, my Kathryn is hurt the worst?”

“Shut your mouth! You’re giving me a migraine!” Barton collapsed onto a nearby couch, his voice a low growl.

Ever since their explosive argument that night, Barton seemed to have lost the filter of patience and tenderness he once had for Suzan.

Feeling wronged but unable to argue, Suzan sat down beside him in silence. After a while. though, she couldn’t help herself, “Honey, I feel like there’s something really off with our family lately. First, we fell ill, then Quincy’s accident, and now Kathryn. It’s all too coincidental, don’t you think?”

Barton’s face was stern and though he didn’t respond, it was clear he was taking it to heart. Suzan continued, her voice heavy with insinuation, “Especially that night, it was as if I was cursed. The words just spilled out of me uncontrollably, as if someone else was making me say them.”

Barton scoffed at her words. If she didn’t thought so, how could she blurt out these words? But he didn’t quite dismiss them. Two days of reflection had cooled his anger, and he too sensed that something wasn’t right. He was normally a man of restraint, not one to lose his composure, even when Suzan’s antics tested him. He believed that only a coward would lash. out at wife.

A respectable man like himself would maintain his dignity, no matter the provocation. So, that 12:45 40 night’s outburst was indeed out of character for him.

“Honey, do you think it could be that little tramp, Winnie?” Suzan suggested, implying that Winnie might be using some trick against the Henderson family.

Barton’s mind raced back to Winnie’s ominous words.

The ritual to transfer Kathryn’s bad fortune hadn’t worked. Kathryn’s impending door was still looming, and if they wished to save her, they would need to seek out Winnie with her grandmother’s bracelet in hand.

His eyes narrowed, and his mood darkened, “Maybe, maybe, It does have something to do with her.”

As Suzan began to agree, a soft moan from the bed Interrupted them. Kathryn was waking up. They rushed to her side, only to hear her cry, “Dad, Mom, Parker wants to break up with me.”

Suzan was mystified. Your legs are broken, and you’re crying over a breakup? Even as a mother, Suzan found herself momentarily speechless.

Unknown to her, the anesthesia had numbed Kathryn’s pain, and her first thought was of Parker’s words in the car. Although he had only started to speak, she understood his intention. He was ready to leave her, no doubt because of that temptress Winnie.

It was all Winnie’s fault. Even separated from the Henderson family, Winnie still had to compete with her for Parker!

And Parker was no saint either! A jerk! Anyone who liked someone like Winnie couldn’t be a good man.

While Kathryn fumed, Barton grew increasingly convinced that Winnie was somehow linked to these events.

Kathryn’s misfortune hadn’t been averted. First the nightmares, then the breakup, followed by the accident. Wasn’t this chain of events a repeat of her childhood traumas?

And then there was Suzan’s strange behavior that night–if Winnie had caused Suzan to uncontrollably speak her mind, Winnie must know something about these supernatural matters.

Otherwise, how could she have known about the ritual to transfer misfortune and prevent its success?

Barton’s breath quickened at the thought. He glanced at Kathryn’s wrist, noting the absence of the bracelet, and asked urgently, “Kathryn, where’s your grandmother’s bracelet?”

“It’s at home, why are you asking about it all of a sudden?”

That old thing was so out of style. She’d only worn it to spite Winnie and had since tossed it into her jewelry box.

With Winnie’s words in mind, Barton shared his suspicions with Suzan and Kathryn.

When Kathryn heard that Winnie might hold the key to saving her life if she humbly approached her with that bracelet, a brief sneer crossed her normally composed face. Still, she quickly replaced it with a look of feigned innocence directed at Suzan, who, predictably, shrieked in outrage.

“Are you expecting my Kathryn to grovel before that little bitch with bracelet in hand? Impossible! Honey, how could you even entertain such a notion? It’s like sending Kathryn to be humiliated by that tramp! No way! I absolutely refuse!”

Barton had anticipated Suzan’s reaction and just watched her coldly, saying, “If you won’t let Kathryn approach her, do you have another plan? If the great misfortune foretold for Kathryn still looms, then trust me, today’s car accident is just the beginning ”

At his words, Kathryn went pale, the picture of fragility and helplessness.

Tears nearly spilled from Suzan’s eyes as she cradled Kathryn’s head, insisting. “There are plenty of capable people in this world; it’s not like begging that tramp is our only option. And what does she know anyway? If she were really so powerful, she wouldn’t have spent eighteen years in our house trying to shield Kathryn from bad luck. I bet she’s just bluffing, aiming to humiliate our Kathryn while swindling grandma’s bracelet!”

Barton furrowed his brows as he regarded Suzan but didn’t immediately counter her argument, clearly sharing some of her concerns.

Just then, the door to the hospital room swung open. It was Quincy, arriving after hearing the commotion. He had caught every word from outside the door.

“If she wants Grandma’s bracelet, then let her have it. Nothing is more important than Kathryn. As for the bracelet, I’ll deliver it to her myself.”

Quincy’s tone was calm and confident, clearly not perturbed by the situation.

After all, he had been Winnie’s brother for eighteen years. He was convinced that once he spoke to her, Winnie couldn’t possibly turn him down.