Claire assumed it was a nurse, but then she heard a familiar voice.
“Claire… you’re here and didn’t tell me?”
It was Mrs. Eleanor—her mother-in-law.
She stood there in simple clothes, still dusty from travel, her face tired but her eyes full of concern. Claire tried to sit up, but the tears came before she could stop them.
“Mom… I didn’t want to worry you.”
Mrs. Eleanor placed her bag down and walked closer. She looked at Claire’s frail body, the IV in her arm… then at the message still glowing on the phone screen.
She didn’t ask questions.
She already understood.
“I heard from a neighbor,” she said, her voice trembling with anger. “Daniel took another woman on a trip and left you like this? While you can’t even pay your child’s tuition? That useless boy…”
Claire shook her head weakly.
“I don’t blame him anymore… I just feel… powerless. I can’t earn like he does. I can’t handle everything anymore.”
Mrs. Eleanor’s expression hardened.
“Never say that. You gave your youth to this family—to that company. If he doesn’t value you, it’s because he doesn’t deserve you.”
She pulled out her phone, her hands slightly unsteady, then paused.
Instead of calling her son… instead of shouting at his mistress…
She reached into her coat and pulled out a sleek black bank card.
“Do you know why your father-in-law made me keep that land by the highway?” she asked quietly. “He said Daniel was impulsive. That I shouldn’t give it to him. That I should save it for the one who truly cares about this family.”
Claire stared at her.
“I sold it yesterday.”
Claire froze.
“That was your security…”
“What security?” Mrs. Eleanor replied firmly. “My daughter-in-law is lying in a hospital bed, and my grandson can’t even go to school.”
Then she dialed a number.
“Hello, Mr. Carter? It’s Eleanor. Cancel the will I prepared for my son. I want to transfer everything under a conditional agreement—to my daughter-in-law, Claire.”
Claire’s eyes widened.
It turned out Mrs. Eleanor had quietly held 40% of the company shares all along, a co-founder alongside her late husband. She had stepped back, letting Daniel run things… but now, she was taking control back.
But she wasn’t finished.
She picked up Claire’s phone and took a picture—Claire lying weak in bed, the IV in her arm… and another of the two children sitting on the hospital floor, eating instant noodles.