Their Punching Bag Became The Storm novel Chapter 134

Chapter 134 Life Is So Tough

Paula grabbed Brandon’s hand.

She was drenched in cold sweat, her face pale from pain, her eyes unfocused, but she gripped Brandon’s hand with surprising strength.

She asked, “What did Whitney say? She’s coming back, isn’t she?”

Paula’s mind was clearly in chaos, and she kept murmuring Whitney’s name.

She thought, ‘Right now, only Whitney can save me, only Whitney can ease my pain.

‘Right now, everything about my life depends on Whitney.”

“Mom.” Brandon was startled by Paula’s wild, almost crazed look. He quickly reached out to steady her as she swayed, barely able to stay upright.

He called for Chase, and together they helped Paula back onto the couch, making sure she was lying down comfortably. Paula couldn’t stay still, kept calling out for Whitney in agony, her voice shaking from the pain.

“Mom, Whitney will be here soon. Hang in there a little longer,” Brandon said, trying to comfort her and give her hope to keep going.

At this moment, only mentioning Whitney could bring Paula any comfort.

But as Brandon finished speaking, Eric shouted, his voice dripping with rage, “Like hell she’s coming. Mom, stop obsessing over Whitney.

“When she heard you were sick, she was wishing you ill. She never thought about coming back to see you!

“She said she wants nothing to do with us anymore. Whether you live or die, she couldn’t care less!”

Eric was clearly exaggerating and adding fuel to the fire.

Paula’s head felt like it was being stabbed over and over, the pain and confusion making everything buzz.

It was as if a thousand sharp knives were tearing her heart apart, torturing her with every cut. She felt like she was about to

die.

She thought, ‘If only Whitney would come back, that would be the only thing to ease my pain. ‘But she didn’t care about my illness at all, and now she wants nothing to do with me anymore. ‘How could my own daughter be so cruel, so cold, that she doesn’t care if I live or die?‘

Paula was seething with resentment and fury, her heart twisting with rage.

She thought, ‘MY sons were no better.

‘I thought having an adopted daughter would be a blessing, but in the end, Emily cared less about me than Whitney.

health who used to treat my

‘And now, Whitney, the one who alway

listened

as

s more important than her own life, is about

to sever all ties with me.

‘Why is my life so tough?

‘How did I get stuck with kids like these?”

Paula cried out twice in ag

Her eyes suddenly rolled back, and she collapsed

“Mom!” Brandon had.

“Mom!” Chase cried out.

The Andersons were in total chaos.

*****

completely unconscious.

At Ryan’s villa in Prestige Manor, Ryan came out of the kitchen, holding a tray with a fruit platter on it.

He saw Whitney set her phone down and asked, “What’s up?”

“It’s nothing,” Whitney said, not giving Brandon’s call a second thought.

She knew Paula had always struggled with her

Successfully unlocked!

When Whitney first came back to the Anderson

ed how frail Paula was.

So she spent half a year, tapping into her network of secret contacts and scouring the globe for herbal remedies to nurse

Chapter 134 Life Is So Tough

Paula back to health.

But at first, Paula wasted a lot of those priceless herbs, convinced that Whitney’s backwater remedies were nothing but dangerous poison.

It was only when Paula realized those herbal soups actually eased her heart problems and made her feel healthier that she finally, reluctantly, accepted Whitney’s eager attempts to please her.

Still, Paula always seemed to take Whitney’s care for granted.

After all, Whitney was her real daughter.

So Paula felt completely justified in demanding everything from Whitney, as if it were only natural for her to give her all She thought, ‘Honestly, in my previous life, my brain must have been full of crap. Otherwise, why would I have kept putting up with all that emotional abuse and manipulative gaslighting?

‘So now, the second Paula had a health crisis, everyone expected me to swoop in and fix everything, as if it were my job.

‘They are always expecting me.

‘No one ever questioned it. They all assumed that as soon as I heard Paula was sick, I’d drop everything and rush back home.‘

Whitney let out a cold, silent laugh.

She thought, ‘The Andersons really do have this baffling sense of confidence.”

Ryan sat down beside Whitney, his gaze lingering on her vibrant features as her lips curled into a mocking, dismissive smile.

He was certain the call Whitney had received was from the Andersons.

During the wild island shoot, Ryan had already picked up on how things were between Whitney and the Andersons.

Honestly, Whitney’s attitude toward Chase and Emily, plus the way they all talked off–camera, made it pretty obvious. They didn’t bother to hide anything.

After they got back from the wild island, Ryan didn’t hesitate for a second. He gave the order to cut off all business with the Andersons, no questions asked.

The Pierce family was the undisputed kingpins of Roynfort’s business scene, and even in Centlandia.

Whenever the Pierce family made a move, every other company would scramble to keep up.

And those slick corporate types eager to suck up to the Pierce family rushed to follow his lead when the second Ryan cut ties with the Andersons.

As for the companies that were deeply tied to the Anderson family, they were terrified that if they kept working with them, the Pierce family would start eyeing them next.

Even though it meant losing a to

Pierce family’s wrath.

of money, they wasted no time dropping the Anderson family, not wanting to risk the

But lately, the Anderson family had been hit with one scandal after another, and their shares were in freefall.

They thought, ‘It is obvious they’d pissed someone off.

And honestly, maybe the Pieces were pulling the strin

behind the scenes.

At this point, the Anderson Group was probably an empty shell.

Ryan thought, ‘The Anderson family is nothing to worry about now, and there is nothing left that can mess with Whitney.”

Ryan didn’t press her for details.

He glanced at Whitney’s flawless face, noticing the exhaustio

clearly visible beneath her eyes

“Get some rest for now. I’ll let you know when Davis gets here,” Ryan said.

Whitney had gotten into a fight with the man in black last night, then drove for more than ten hours straight. With a few breaks, she was still mentally drained.

She nodded, headed straight into Ryan’s guest room, crashed onto the bed, and was out like a light.

*****

On the other side, at the hospital, after several hours of emergency treatment, Paula was finally out of danger.

The hospital director came in person and said it was touch–and–go. If they’d been a bit later, Paula could have died.

The doctor laid into them, saying that as Paula’s kids, they hadn’t cared about her health at all, not bothering to remind her to take her meds or manage her illness.

Chapter 134 Life is So Tough

As soon as the medicine came up, everyone’s mind went straight to Whitney.

Everyone looked grim, but in the end, they nodded, showing they’d try to pay more attention next time.

Even though Paula’s life had been pulled back from the brink after emergency treatment, this time she was really pushed to

her limit.

Maybe after two years of careful recovery, all that anger erupted at once, and her heart suffered a nasty backlash.

Now, Paula was so frail that the tiniest bit of stress could trigger her heart problems all over again.

The hospital director sighed, “Last year, when Mrs. Anderson came in for her check–up, her health had gotten so much better. All her test results looked perfect, and she didn’t need meds anymore. So how did things suddenly get so bad?

*If we could figure out what helped Mrs. Anderson recover so well last year, maybe things wouldn’t be so tough for her from now on.”