Chapter 461: Two Paths

Zeke Walton loved the dumplings his grandma and Amina made. So tonight, his grandma and Amina made a huge batch.

Not only would Zeke get to eat them tonight, but there would be enough for breakfast and even his lunch box tomorrow.

But unexpectedly, when it was past midnight, the one they were waiting for wasn’t Zeke Walton, but a call from the police.

“Is this Zeke Walton’s family? He got into a fight and is currently at the precinct. Please come down immediately.”

Amina didn’t dare tell his grandmother. In a panic, she rode her electric scooter to the police station.

After finding out what had happened, she learned that Zeke had bashed a coworker from his team over the head, and the man was now in the hospital receiving treatment.

“We don’t know the specifics of his condition yet. The reason we called you is that Zeke Walton has a very bad attitude. He refuses to admit guilt and won’t pay the medical fees. If this continues, the situation will be very unfavorable for him. If the other family gets angry and insists on treating this as a criminal case, he could be facing at least a year in jail.”

Hearing this, Amina’s legs went weak, and her heart pounded wildly.

‘Zeke actually got himself into this much trouble…’ She hurriedly followed the police officer to the hospital.

At the hospital, a short, plump, middle-aged woman was holding a seven or eight-year-old boy, wailing hysterically outside the emergency room while on the phone, reporting the situation to relatives and discussing what to do next.

The police officer went over and introduced Amina. The woman immediately hung up the phone and started screaming at her.

“My husband is our family’s sole breadwinner! We have elders to support and children to raise! For your husband to be so vicious—are you trying to kill us?! I’m telling you, if my husband doesn’t wake up this time, or if there are any long-term effects, our family will be your problem for the rest of your lives!”

“Look, just look! My oldest is only this big, and I’ve got another one in my belly! How are we supposed to live now?!”

Amina couldn’t say a single word to refute the woman’s accusations and curses. She took the nearly 30,000 yuan she had in her bank card and paid for all the medical fees, then tried to reason with the woman.

“Men get impulsive when they’ve had too much to drink. My husband didn’t do it on purpose. Please, don’t cry. Let’s wait for your husband to wake up and see how he is. We will definitely do our best to get him treated. We’ll spend whatever it takes, as long as you don’t press criminal charges against our family, okay?”

Seeing Amina’s cooperative attitude and her promise to spend whatever it took, the woman finally quieted down a little.

Meanwhile, the distribution manager, who had seen Zeke Walton get arrested right in front of him, knew he couldn’t just stand by and do nothing.

This was the perfect opportunity to orchestrate the Walton Heir’s return to the fold, to become the prince once more.

‘If I can contact President Walton and get Zeke out, I’d score major points with Zeke and with President Walton…’

He spared no effort and finally found Mr. Walton’s phone number, reporting the situation to him.

Upon hearing that Zeke had been in a fight and was at the police station, Mr. Walton also went to the hospital.

Amina had just managed to calm the woman down when she turned her head and saw Mr. Walton rushing over. She froze for a moment.

Mr. Walton had already heard about the cause and current status of the incident from the distribution manager, so he headed straight for Amina.

Seeing him staring directly at her, Amina’s face instantly flushed red. Flustered, she called out, “Uncle Walton.”

Mr. Walton nodded and said in a low voice, “You, come with me.”

In a flash, they were at the stairwell.

Mr. Walton stared at Amina.

“At this point, I won’t beat around the bush. You have two paths in front of you.”

“One, you break up with Zeke Walton, and I’ll take care of the rest. He can be my son again. Not only will he no longer have to scramble to make a living, but he’ll also have the best of everything in the world. No one will dare look down on him, and his life will be smooth sailing. Of course, you’re still young, and you’ve been with him for a while, so I can’t let you come away empty-handed. Whether your feelings were real or fake, you’ve achieved your goal. Here is a card with five million yuan in it. Or, if you prefer, pick a city, and I’ll have someone buy you an apartment there. But you must promise to never come to Veridia again and never contact Zeke Walton again. Otherwise, what’s happening to Zeke today will happen to you tomorrow.”

“Two, you two refuse to break up, but I will no longer get involved in his affairs. Today, whether this is defined as a criminal case and he has to go to jail, or a civil case where you have to spend a lot of money to settle privately, I will not interfere. And I won’t allow anyone else to interfere, either.”

“I assume you don’t have that kind of money to settle this, do you? You’ll both be drowning in debt. No house, no car, no job, and saddled with a mountain of debt. For a smart girl like you, the choice should be easy.”

Amina certainly wasn’t a fool, but she never considered herself smart. She didn’t know how a “smart” person was supposed to act when it came to matters of the heart.

She only knew that she loved Zeke Walton, and he loved her. He was only in this situation because of her.

She had promised she would never leave him, so she absolutely wouldn’t. This had nothing to do with money.

‘Why is it that whenever Uncle Walton and his wife talk about our relationship, they always equate it with money?’

“I don’t want your money, and I’m not breaking up with Zeke Walton. Unless he breaks up with me first, I will never leave him. I wasn’t expecting you to help, and Zeke said he wasn’t planning to ask for your help, either. In fact, you didn’t need to come here at all today.”

“Even if we can’t stay in Veridia, we can move to another city and live there together. No house, no car, being in debt—none of that matters. As long as we both work hard, things will get better one day.”

Mr. Walton was furious enough to have a stroke.

‘This woman… how is she just as stubborn and unreasonable as Zeke? No wonder he likes her. They’re two of a kind!’

‘Looks like she hasn’t suffered enough yet.’

‘Putting on a show of undying love for me, even in a situation like this?’

Mr. Walton turned and left.

Amina stayed at the hospital all night. The man’s condition was stabilized, and he was moved to a regular ward.

She had thought the situation wasn’t too serious. ‘If I just sell those few gold bracelets, that should be enough to resolve this.’

But who could have known? Not long after, the doctor returned with a final diagnosis, saying that although the man was awake, his brain had been severely injured. His cognitive function would likely regress, and he might no longer be able to live like a normal adult.

The woman immediately started wailing and cursing again, clutching her child.

Amina understood the gravity of those words. Her face pale, she looked at the police officer beside her.

“Officer, in a situation like this, if I were to compensate them, how much would I have to pay?”

The police officer looked at Amina, speechless.

“Didn’t you hear her? They have elders to support and children to raise, and the family’s sole breadwinner can no longer work. You’d have to compensate them based on the minimum living standard for a family of several people until they reach retirement age. You’re looking at a million yuan, at least.”

One million yuan. To the Zeke Walton of the past, it was as insignificant as a hundred yuan.

But now, it was enough to break Amina’s back.

In her entire life, she had never even seen 100,000 yuan. Where on earth was she supposed to get a million yuan to pay them?

But even so, she couldn’t let Zeke Walton go to jail.