The moment I stepped through the door, I heard vicious cursing echoing from the living room. "Eat! Hurry up and eat! This dog food costs more than anything you've eaten in your entire life. Don't be ungrateful!" My heart tightened. I rushed into the living room and the scene before me made my blood boil. My father-in-law, who had just undergone heart bypass surgery, was curled up on the cold floor, his face deathly pale. The butler my wife Isabelle had hired at great expense, Marcus Snow, was wearing my clothes, one foot pressing down on my father-in-law's shoulder, holding a reeking dog bowl and forcefully shoving it at the old man's mouth. "Marcus! Are you insane!" I immediately rushed over and knocked the dog bowl out of his hands. The foul-smelling dog food splattered all over him. Marcus jumped up in rage, pointing at my nose and cursing. "What's your problem? How dare you splash me?" He brushed at the stains on his clothes with disgust, then glanced contemptuously at my father-in-law collapsed on the floor. "I was just teaching this old country bumpkin some manners! Your wife said I'm in charge of this house! These crude country folk are full of bad habits. Letting him eat dog food is already doing him a huge favor!" His face was full of contempt, without a shred of guilt. In fact, he seemed to think his actions were perfectly justified. I trembled with rage, my nails digging into my palms. My father-in-law was Victor Sterling, one of the top financial powers in the capital, and Isabelle's biological father! Normally, Isabelle didn't even dare breathe loudly in front of him. Now he was being stepped on and force-fed dog food by a butler!
I was about to explain my father-in-law's identity when Marcus sneered and kicked him hard in the chest. "Stop pretending! You haven't finished mopping the floor!" The kick was brutal. My father-in-law grunted, clutching his chest. His face instantly turned from white to purple. His throat made wheezing sounds like a broken bellows as he curled into a ball in agony, unable to form a complete sentence. "Victor!" I threw myself forward and grabbed hold of my father-in-law. His heart couldn't handle this kind of shock. His whole body was convulsing violently. I frantically searched his pockets for his emergency heart pills. But Marcus grabbed my hair and yanked me backward: "Stop putting on this sob story for me! You country people love drama. Trying to scam us, are you?" He pulled out his phone and started recording me and my father-in-law: "Hey everyone, you won't believe what I'm dealing with today. This is the poor husband who married up to Miss Sterling. Not only is he covered in germs, but now he's learned to fake illness to extort money." When Isabelle married me years ago, a penniless country boy, her whole family objected. After the wedding, my status in this mansion was lower than a servant's. Even the butler dared to lord over me. I endured the tearing pain in my scalp and slapped Marcus hard across the face. "Smack!" The crisp sound echoed through the living room. "Shut up! If something happens to him, even Isabelle can't save you!" Marcus held his rapidly swelling cheek, his eyes turning venomous: "How dare you, you worthless freeloader! Guards! Throw these two beggars out!" Two burly bodyguards immediately rushed in from outside. These were men Isabelle had specifically assigned to Marcus, supposedly to protect her lifesaver. Isabelle trusted this butler to her core, even giving him authority over the household security. "Let go of me! Are you blind! Look carefully at who he is!" I struggled desperately, but the bodyguards pinned me to the ground on both sides. The head bodyguard sneered without even glancing at my father-in-law: "Mr. Mitchell, Miss Sterling instructed us that all household rules follow Mr. Snow's orders." They roughly hauled up my ailing father-in-law. His head lolled limply, his lips already turning dark blue. "You'll regret this! When Isabelle comes back and sees how you treated him, she'll make you wish you were dead!" I screamed in despair. Marcus walked up to me and ground the pointed toe of his leather shoe into the back of my hand. The piercing pain made me gasp. " Mitchell, do you really think you're some kind of wealthy son-in-law? Isabelle already told me---you're just a useless waste taking up space. Once I fully gain Isabelle's trust, you and your poor old man will both be sent back to the countryside to farm." He kicked my hand away contemptuously and waved at the bodyguards: "Drag this old bastard to the outdoor pool! Today I'll teach you both a lesson on behalf of Miss Sterling!"
"Touch him and see what happens! I'll fight you all today!" Like a crazed beast, I broke free from the bodyguards' grip and bit down hard on the head bodyguard's wrist. The taste of blood instantly filled my mouth. The bodyguard cried out in pain and backhanded me with a punch, knocking me to the ground. My mouth hit the edge of the coffee table, blood seeping from the corner of my lips. "What are you waiting for? Lock these two paupers in the backyard. No one opens that door without my permission!" Marcus shrieked furiously. The two bodyguards stopped being polite. They dragged and hauled me and my father-in-law to the outdoor pool in the backyard. With a heavy thud, the thick double glass door was locked tight. It was December in the capital. Outside, heavy snow was falling, and the temperature was near ten degrees below zero. My father-in-law was only wearing thin house clothes. Now he was curled into a ball, shaking like a leaf in autumn wind. "Nathan, my... my chest hurts so much..." My father-in-law weakly extended his bony hand and gripped my clothes tightly. His voice was so faint it was barely audible, his breathing growing more rapid. I hurriedly stripped off my down jacket and wrapped it tightly around my father-in-law. "Victor, hang on. I'll call an ambulance right away!" I fumbled with trembling hands for the phone in my pocket. It was empty. I jerked my head up. Through the transparent glass door, Marcus was smugly waving my phone. Inside, the heat was set to seventy-nine degrees. He wore designer house clothes stolen from my closet, lounging comfortably on the sofa. "Want your phone? Beg me." He pressed the intercom button. His mocking voice rang out over the backyard: "Nathan, where's that backbone you had when you hit me? Didn't you say Isabelle would kill me when she got back? I'd like to see who freezes to death tonight." I rushed to the glass door and pounded on the frame: "Marcus! Please, I'm begging you! Give me the phone! My father-in-law really has heart disease. He'll die!" I pounded until my hands were red. Marcus leisurely peeled an imported cherry and popped it in his mouth: "Heart disease? Pretty convincing act. You old bastards from the sticks are tougher than cockroaches. One night in the cold won't kill you." My father-in-law's face had turned from dark blue to deathly pale. His eyes were rolling back. His hand clutching his chest gradually loosened, his body sliding down limply. "Victor! Victor, wake up!" I completely broke down. I turned to the intercom and screamed: "Marcus! The medicine is in the black bag on the living room sofa! Give me the medicine! Whatever you want, I'll agree to it!" Marcus paused for a moment. He walked to the sofa, pulled out the black bag, and took out a white medicine bottle. "Well, well. There really is medicine." He shook the bottle through the glass, his lips curling into a malicious smile: "If you want the medicine, it's not impossible. Kneel down now. and shout 'I'm a country bumpkin' three times. Then I'll slide the medicine through the door crack." I looked at my dying father-in-law. Without any hesitation, I dropped to my knees on the freezing tiles. My knees hit the hard ice, the pain piercing. But I couldn't care about that. Bang! Bang! Bang! "I'm a country bumpkin! I'm a country bumpkin! I'm a country bumpkin!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, my voice especially desolate in the wind and snow. "Can you give me the medicine now?" I stared hopefully at the medicine bottle in Marcus's hand. But Marcus suddenly clutched his stomach and burst out laughing. He laughed so hard he was nearly in tears: "Nathan, you really are an obedient dog. Too bad---I suddenly changed my mind." Right in front of me, he unscrewed the cap of the medicine bottle. Under my confused and horrified gaze, he poured the entire bottle of life-saving emergency heart pills into the nearby trash can. "Oops, my hand slipped." Marcus covered his mouth affectedly. "You country people are tough. You can survive a night in the cold, right?"
"Isabelle, you're finally back! Nathan's poor father brought an infectious disease and even hit me!" The door suddenly burst open. Isabelle walked in, bringing a blast of cold air with her. Marcus immediately dropped his arrogant expression. Covering his swollen cheek, he hurried forward, "I just asked his father to take a bath, and his father..." He stopped mid-sentence deliberately, looked down at the barely visible red mark on his hand, and forced a bitter smile: "Forget it. I shouldn't have meddled. After all, I'm just a butler. Getting hit is my own fault." Isabelle was the only daughter of the Sterling family. Years ago, she rejected all the wealthy young men in the capital to marry me, a penniless nobody. After moving into the Sterling family mansion, my status plummeted while her need to control the household grew daily. My already desperate heart suddenly sparked with a glimmer of hope at the sight of Isabelle. I frantically pounded on the glass door, making dull thuds. "Isabelle! Open the door! Save Victor! He's having a heart attack!" I dragged my father-in-law, numb from the cold, to the door, trying to let Isabelle see his face clearly. But the glass was covered with thick frost. She couldn't see the figure outside at all. She didn't even turn her head, looking at Marcus with distress in her eyes. "What happened? Who hit you?" Marcus lowered his eyes, his voice hoarse: "It's nothing, Isabelle. Really nothing. Just broke the skin a little. Not worth getting upset over." My eyes widened as I stared at the barely visible red mark on Marcus's finger. It was clearly from when he'd accidentally scratched himself on a cherry pit earlier. Isabelle's expression instantly darkened, her eyes filled with murderous intent. She turned toward the backyard, her gaze as cold as a poisoned blade: "Nathan, I usually tolerate you out of marital consideration, but you actually brought your poor father here to cause trouble? And you dared to hurt Marcus?" I shook my head frantically, my voice already hoarse from shouting: "Isabelle, are you blind! That's not my father---that's your real father, Victor Sterling! He just had heart surgery. He's dying. Please open the door!" Isabelle laughed mockingly, as if she'd heard the joke of the century. She pressed the intercom, her voice dripping with disdain: "Nathan, if you're going to lie, at least make it believable. My father is recuperating in Switzerland. How could he possibly appear here dressed like a beggar? To protect your poor father, you'd tell such a lie. You disgust me." She turned to the bodyguards behind her, her tone ice-cold: "Open the door." I thought she was finally going to let us in. I was about to breathe a sigh of relief. But Isabelle's next words plunged me into hell. "Throw these two paupers into the snow outside. Don't let their poverty stink up my carpet." The bodyguards immediately opened the door. A bone-chilling wind mixed with snowflakes rushed into the living room. They roughly grabbed my arms and dragged me and my father-in-law toward the front door. "No! Isabelle, you can't do this!" I clung desperately to the doorframe, my nails leaving bloody scratches on the wood. "If you throw him out today, you'll regret it for the rest of your life!" Isabelle held Marcus close, looking down at me without a trace of warmth in her eyes: "The biggest regret of my life was marrying you, this disgraceful country man. Marcus is my lifesaver. Anyone who dares touch a hair on his head---I'll take their life." The bodyguard gave a hard shove and kicked me into the snow. My father-in-law was thrown down beside me. The iron gate slammed shut in front of us. I crawled over and held my father-in-law. His body was already stiff, his breathing barely perceptible. The snow fell harder and harder, quickly piling thick layers on us. Through the mansion's enormous floor-to-ceiling windows, I could see Isabelle carefully putting a band-aid on Marcus's finger. Marcus let her fuss over him. His gaze passed through the glass and landed on me, his lips curling into a malicious, cold smile. I held my father-in-law tightly, my heart feeling as though an invisible hand had crushed it. "Isabelle, you threw him in the snow today. Tomorrow you'll be begging on your knees for him to live."
"Still howling like ghosts out there? Pour cold water on him! Wake him up!" Isabelle's cruel voice came through the yard's loudspeaker. Immediately after, two bodyguards appeared on the second-floor balcony. A basin of dirty water mixed with ice chunks poured down from above, landing precisely on me and my father-in-law. With a tremendous splash, the ice water instantly stole what little body heat we had left. My father-in-law's body convulsed violently, then his head lolled to one side. He went completely still. "Victor! Victor!" I shook my father-in-law frantically, but he kept his eyes closed. Even his faint breathing had disappeared. His heartbeat had stopped. In that moment, something in my brain snapped completely. I suddenly stood up, grabbed a decorative brick from the snow, and smashed it frantically at the smart lock by the front door. Sparks flew. The alarm shrieked through the night. The bodyguards inside were startled. They instinctively opened the door to stop me. I seized the opportunity and rammed my head into a bodyguard's chest, snatching his walkie-talkie and backup phone. With trembling hands, I dialed emergency services and hoarsely screamed out the address. "Come save someone! The patient has no heartbeat! Hurry!" Ten minutes later, an ambulance screeched to a stop in front of the mansion. A paramedic grabbed a defibrillator and rushed out. "Where's the patient?" I crawled and stumbled toward them, pointing at my father-in-law in the snow: "Over here! Please save him!" The doctor was about to crouch down to examine him when the mansion door opened again. Isabelle walked out with Marcus, her face dark. "Who gave you permission to come in?" Isabelle strode forward and blocked the paramedic: "Doctor, check Marcus's hand first. He just had a shock and his finger is bleeding. It needs immediate treatment." The doctor glanced at Marcus's finger with its cartoon band-aid, completely speechless: "Ma'am, that elderly gentleman is in cardiac arrest! This is a life-or-death situation!" Isabelle snorted coldly, glancing dismissively at my father-in-law in the snow: "Some country old man. If he dies, he dies. How precious can he be? I'm the young mistress of Sterling Group. I order you to examine Marcus immediately!" Just as the doctor hesitated and I prepared to fight Isabelle, a deafening roar suddenly came from the night sky. Three black helicopters bearing the Sterling family crest tore through the wind and snow, circling above the mansion. The powerful airflow made the surrounding tree branches sway wildly. Isabelle paused, then her face filled with smugness. She thought this was the high-end private medical service she'd specially booked to please Marcus. "Marcus, look. The helicopter I called for you is here." Isabelle took Marcus's hand and walked proudly toward where the helicopter was landing. Marcus was even more excited, his face flushed. He glanced at me arrogantly: "Nathan, see that? This is what wealth looks like. A poor man like you will never experience it in your lifetime." The helicopter landed steadily. The cabin door opened. A team of fully armed black-clad bodyguards and top medical experts in white coats filed out. Isabelle eagerly stepped forward, pointing at Marcus: "Thank you all for coming. The patient is---" She didn't finish her sentence. From my father-in-law's inner pocket, I pulled out the dark jade thumb ring that represented absolute power in the Sterling family. I stood up. Facing the helicopter's blinding searchlight, I held the ring up before Isabelle's eyes. "Isabelle, open your eyes and look carefully at who you just threw out!"
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