Megan Kane was too embarrassed to stay at the hospital any longer and scurried home in disgrace.
The patients recuperating in the surrounding wards all came out to watch her leave.
They really didn't want to think too hard about what could have caused that ear-splitting scream.
Jason Forrester looked completely unfazed. He was long used to the adoring gazes of others.
He had been doted on from the moment he was born; the world had always revolved around him.
Rowan Monroe had already run off, so she wasn't dragged away to the coal mines after all.
Because Megan Kane had pleaded for her!
Meanwhile, Mr. and Mrs. Kane were at the villa, going over their accounts and wondering if they had enough.
"Do you think this is really enough money for us to live on abroad? Anyway, the real estate is pretty much all taken care of. We can get ready to run."
"Keep your voice down. What if someone hears you?"
Mr. Kane had a cautious expression. "That daughter of ours is no saint. She dragged us into this mess."
"We're leaving soon. We are absolutely not staying here with her."
"She wants to drag us down with her? Not a chance."
If Mr. Kane hadn't been sharp enough to figure out the truth later on...
...he would have been kept in the dark his whole life.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
"My dear Mom and Dad, what are you two plotting? Why don't you come out and tell me about it?"
Megan Kane had heard everything clearly from outside the door. 'If Mom and Dad are planning to run without me, then they're not running at all.'
"Weren't you at the hospital? Why are you back so suddenly? Are you feeling better?"
"Uh, your mom and I were just discussing going to the hospital to see you. We were trying to decide what kind of fruit to bring."
"I didn't expect you to recover so quickly. And don't blame us for not sticking up for you. We're no match for that jinx."
"Honestly, you could have provoked anyone, but you had to go and provoke *him*."
Mr. Kane sighed heavily and shook his head.
What's done was done.
There was no point in saying anything more; it would just be a waste of breath.
"It's fine, I'm feeling great, so you really don't need to worry about me. By the way, about those assets you were just discussing... can you show them to me?"
Megan Kane got straight to the point, too lazy to beat around the bush with her parents.
"I have a nagging feeling you two are planning to flee the country."
"And yesterday, I found the passports laid out on the table."
"Mom, Dad, we're supposed to be family, heart to heart. Are you trying to play mind games with your own daughter?"
A lovely smile graced Megan Kane's face.
'Let's see how these two explain their way out of this.'
Mr. Kane forced a smile. "I was wondering where the passports went. So you have them. As long as they're not lost, that's good. It would take forever to get them replaced."
Mrs. Kane coughed loudly a few times, cutting her husband off.
"Your father and I are just planning a trip abroad. We'll be back in a month. You know how it is, getting a long-term visa isn't easy."
"Besides, you're a grown woman now, you should be more understanding. We're getting old, we're not busy with anything, so we were just thinking of going on a second honeymoon, enjoying a quiet life."
Mrs. Kane raised an eyebrow, as if every word she spoke came from the bottom of her heart.
Mr. Kane nodded in agreement beside her. The only thing missing was the word "sincere" written across their faces.
"It's fine. Do whatever you want, you don't need to consult me. But I will be telling Jason Forrester about this."
"What do you think he'll do then?"
"After all, I'm about to marry him. When the time comes, all his relatives will be there, and my parents will be abroad. I have no idea how I'm supposed to explain that to him. Should I just say, 'Oh, your mother-in-law and father-in-law decided to skip town'?"
"And he has such a bad temper. I'm afraid if I can't explain it clearly, it'll just make him even angrier."
"Tell me, if he gets angry, do you think he'll chase you abroad and drag you back by force? Like, tie you to the chairs in the house? How humiliating would that be? You'd be a disgrace on an international level."
A mocking smile played on Megan Kane's lips as she turned and began to slowly walk away.
But her parents grabbed her by the wrist in an instant.
"Look, we were just kidding with you. We don't really need to travel abroad. It's great here in the country, and we can look after you. We're just a couple of old bones, we don't want to move around."
Mr. Kane was grinding his teeth so hard they nearly shattered. If they weren't living under someone else's roof—in Jason Forrester's house, no less...
...he would have loved nothing more than to teach his own daughter a lesson with his fists.
He had never met anyone so determined to screw over their own parents.
She was a bottomless pit, dragging the whole family down with her and making sure none of them could escape the inferno.
There was simply no reasoning with her.
"It's a good thing you're willing to stay."
"But from now on, you'd better behave. Stop getting funny ideas. As for those real estate properties and assets you set up abroad, just hand them over to me."
"I'll manage them well for you. If they make money, I'll give you a cut. You don't need to worry."
Megan Kane never imagined it. She hadn't even started plotting her own escape, and here someone was, handing her the perfect opportunity on a silver platter.
'Looks like I need to start planning ahead after all.'
There was no way she would spend the rest of her life with a possessive madman like Jason Forrester.
Megan Kane was no fool. When it was time to run, you ran. No looking back.
Otherwise, she wouldn't even know what hit her when she ended up dead.
Mr. and Mrs. Kane stared with wide, unbelieving eyes. How had she turned the tables on them?
"Daughter, are you planning to run, too? But if you run, what will happen to us? Have you thought about us at all?"
"Exactly! Even if you're going to run, the three of us should run together. Don't try to go it alone."
Mr. and Mrs. Kane would never agree to their daughter escaping alone. Either they all went together, or no one went at all.
Otherwise, when the time came to settle the score, no one wanted to be left behind to face Jason Forrester's towering rage.
"Then let's have a proper discussion, shall we?"
"I love you both more than anything, Mom and Dad, but you really can't just abandon me and run off by yourselves. That's immoral, isn't it?"
"We're a family. We should stick together, for better or worse."
A smile lit up Megan Kane's face. 'Seeing how shrewd my parents are, they probably won't be dead weight.'
"No problem. Come into our room to discuss it. We don't know who might be eavesdropping out here."
Mr. and Mrs. Kane thought that once they got out, they could just part ways with their daughter. In the end, they could only guarantee their own safety.
'When Jason Forrester comes after us, he'll just grab his fiancée and take her back. He wouldn't bother with two old fossils like us.'
'After all, no matter how you look at it, we're old. There's no use in keeping us around.'
'So there's no way he'd ever bother to capture two old fossils like them.'