SWNOVELS Chapter 106: Self-Defense
Perhaps the fear of imprisonment gave Amber the extraordinary strength. Several officers, trying to pull her away from Elizabeth, not only failed to do so but Amber clung tighter and wailed. "Grandma, save me! I can't go to prison, I don't want to!"
Seeing Elizabeth nearly suffocated by Amber, Talon, who had been stunned up to now, suddenly slapped Amber across the face, "Your grandma is sick like this, do you want to kill her like your sister did!" Elizabeth treasured Amber, but Talon had no such patience, pretending to be angry, he accused, "It was you who deceived us! You said it was Tina who stole your credit, you're the reason the Reed family is in this mess! How dare you ask your grandma to save you!"
"Uncle Talon..." The slap stunned Amber; she had been with the Reed family for a long time, and under Elizabeth's favor, no one had ever struck her like that.
As she hesitated, the officers quickly twisted her arms behind her back, cuffed her, and dragged her away from Elizabeth.
Tina saw Elizabeth, still with eyes closed, taking deep breaths, clearly relieved from the near suffocation.
She curled her lips in mockery.
At her smile, Amber glared venomously.
As the police led Amber away from the ward, she suddenly turned to the still staggered Pinewood and shouted, "You say I'm guilty! What about Jared Farrell breaking Uncle Pinewood's hand? Doesn't that constitute intentional injury? You must also take him to the police station!"
The officers hesitated, looking at Pinewood's visibly broken hand and then at Jared with furrowed brows. If Pinewood went for an injury assessment, it indeed constituted a second-degree light injury, which could be considered an intentional injury crime.
"Yes, yes!" Pinewood also came to his senses, pointing at Jared with his unharmed hand, "He's the one who did this to my hand!"
His mind was racing. If Jared wanted to be the future head of the Farrell family, he couldn't afford a criminal record or imprisonment. If the Reed family used this incident to pressure Jared to back down, it might work.
Unfortunately, despite his calculations, Tina was laughing.
"What are you laughing at, scared to admit what you did?" Pinewood shouted with false bravado.
Tina calmly stated, "You detained my brother and blocked us from rescuing him. Breaking your hand was self-defense."
As she spoke, she leisurely took out her phone and played a recording that captured all their previous conversations in the ward.
The journalists and officers, hearing how Elizabeth and Pinewood had abused Zackary, even locking such a small child in a bathroom and preventing Tina from rescuing him, looked at Pinewood with contempt. And they still had the audacity to file a report?
Pinewood was dumbfounded; he had not anticipated Tina recording their conversation.
What he didn't know was that Tina not only had an audio recording but also wore a brooch with a mini camera, always prepared for contingencies.
After listening to the recording, the leading officer coldly told Pinewood, "This does indeed count as self-defense, and you were the first to attack Miss Tina. Mr. Jared simply acted to prevent you. No matter where you go to complain, the result will be the same."
The officers ignored him further, ready to escort Amber away. But unexpectedly, Amber, taking advantage of a momentary lapse in the officers' attention, picked up the knife she had used to threaten self-harm and lunged at Tina. "Tina, go to hell!" She was deranged, her eyes crazed, clearly having lost her reason.
The journalists screamed, and the officers rushed to protect Tina.
But as Amber raised the knife, Tina kicked her away, sending her crashing against the ward's white wall, then thudding to the ground, motionless.
Except for Jared, everyone was shocked. Who would have thought that the seemingly frail Tina could kick with such force? Amber weighed over a hundred pounds, and even these grown men would find it hard to kick her away like that. The impact against the wall probably broke a few of Amber's ribs.
Yet Tina, as if it were nothing, looked innocently at the officers, "That was self-defense, right?"
Everyone was speechless.
Wasn't it excessive self-defense?
Amber, hearing this, was so enraged that she spat out another mouthful of blood.
The officers approached, lifted Amber, who was now like a lump of mud, from the ground.
This time, she had no strength left to resist, barely able to walk.
Yet, before being taken away, she gave Elizabeth, still "unconscious," a look full of hate.
For all of Elizabeth's affection and favor, it was all a lie when it came to crunch time, and she was all too ready to abandon her without hesitation.
Even if Elizabeth couldn't stop her from being taken away, if she had only opened her eyes and spoken up for her, Amber wouldn't feel so bitterly cold now.
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Once Amber was removed, Tina didn't glance at the remaining members of the Reed family. She simply told Orchid, "Take me to Zackary."
"Follow me." Orchid, coming out of the whirlwind of events, nodded and led Tina and Jared to the neighboring ward.
Behind them, Talon was frustrated at the wasted effort and the tarnished reputation of Amber and the Reed family.
He opened his mouth to shout something. Jared, however, suddenly turned back, giving him a cold look.
The hidden threat in that glance choked Talon's words in his throat, shaking him to silence.
In the next ward.
As Amber opened the bathroom door, she saw the small figure of Zackary huddled in a dark corner, motionless.
"Zackary." Orchid couldn't help but rush over, embracing Zackary's tiny body, choking up, "It's all my fault, I'm sorry."
Zackary, already somewhat introverted, had gradually opened up after leaving Moon Gate Estate. But now, staring blankly with wide eyes and silent, he was clearly traumatized. Tina's brows furrowed, her eyes darkened with anger, feeling she had been too lenient with Elizabeth and Talon earlier. They too deserved to feel the consequences of their actions. "Let's take Zackary home," Jared said softly, taking Zackary into his arms from the bathroom.
Zackary remained silent, eyes still vacant as Jared held him.
Tina nodded, and gently stroked Zackary's hair, speaking with an unusual tenderness, "Don't be scared, I'm here."