I shook so hard I could barely walk.
I grabbed a cab and burst into the ward like a madwoman.
What I saw made me bite through my lip.
My father lay still, unconscious.
And there was Alex in the chair beside him. Nurse Tanya was curled naked in his lap, arms draped around his neck.
In my father's hospital room.
The nurse looked at me, smug, shifting her body against him.
My vision went red.
"How can you be this shameless?"
Alex shoved her off and stood, smirking.
"This is what happens when you don't listen to me."
As he spoke, he walked to my father's bedside.
He looked at me smugly and reached for the oxygen mask.
"Don't!"
Rage ignited every nerve. I lunged, grabbed his hair, clawed his face, and swung my handbag straight into his skull.
Tanya tackled me to the floor.
I twisted, snatched the phone from the ground, and cracked it against her head.
Alex shoved me off. My lower back slammed into the bed frame. I tried to stand—once, twice—but the pain pinned me down.
He pulled out a coil of rope from somewhere.
Before I could react, he'd clamped my wrists together and lashed my hands and feet to the hospital bed rails.
"I've spoiled you too much."
"That's why you've forgotten your place."