Lucas stared at his phone with disbelief, finding it challenging to believe the text on his phone; he thought it was a prank someone was trying to pull on him.
"If this is a prank, whoever is doing it had better stop," Lucas said in thought.
And just then, while in this state of thought he was in, his phone buzzed with another text message flashing across his screen below the first one that had displayed earlier.
[Credit alert: 20,000 dollars deposited.] Current balance. 20,001]
Lucas blinked again. At first, he didn't believe the lottery-winning message that was displayed on his screen, but the second message convinced him that the money credited to his account was genuine.
The first thing that rang into Lucas' mind was to go deposit the five thousand dollars at the hospital for his daughter's life to be saved.
"I have to go now; Amanda's life is at risk."
Lucas stood up from the ground, then dashed out the door. He ran like a madman on the tile road before he finally got a truck that took him to the hospital.
Without wasting a single second, he went to the counter and deposited the money.
He rushed towards the surgery room where Amanda was, but just then, the door pushed open and the doctor walked out.
"Doctor, I have made a deposit of the money. This is the receipt. Please go on with the surgery."
As the doctor stared at Lucas, his expression changed, looking sad. He slightly lowered his head, gasped, then shook it.
"What do you mean, doctor? I have made the payment; go on with the surgery."
Lucas grabbed the doctor's shirt and then lifted the receipt to his face, showing him the digit on it.
"Look… look here, here is the receipt; please go on with the surgery."
Through Lucas, somehow got a clue of what the doctor was trying to say. But he was finding it challenging to believe; he didn't want to even think of something like that ever happening.
The doctor gasped again. "I'm sorry… You wasted so much time, but we decided to go on with the surgery, but she couldn't make it; she died. If you had paid the money in the first place, maybe we could have gotten a chance to…."
Before the doctor could finish his words. Lucas slammed him against the wall. "Don't you ever say that word from your mouth again. My daughter is not dead; she's alive. Where is she?"
The doctor knew he couldn't say anything further apart from what he had said. So he lifted his fingers and pointed over to the transparent mirror on the door for Lucas to see.
Lucas shifted his gaze and stared. He saw how the nurses used a white cloth to cover Amanda body.
Lucas dashed into the room and pushed the nurse to the side. He pulled out the cloth, covering Amanda's body from head to toe.
"Amanda, wake up, please. Daddy is here. I will never leave you, please," Lucas cried.
Deep down, Lucas knew she was dead because he couldn't feel any atom of life in her body. He hugged her tightly, and tears continued streaming down his face nonstop.
"Sorry for the loss, sir," the nurse beside him gently said. "Before your daughter passed away, she left you with a video record; she said I should give it to you if she ended up not making it."
In the nurse's hands, Amanda's phone was held and handed to Lucas. "You can view it when you are free."
Lucas collected it from her hands, his hands trembling.
After this, the nurse walked out of the operating room, giving Lucas time to mourn the loss of his daughter before she moved her body to the mortuary.
Lucas was left crying, his fist clenched, and the only thing that rumbled in his mind was vengeance, making sure Clara paid for all she had done.
"---"
Night falls, and Lucas returns to the mansion. Lying on the bed while staring upwards. The grief hitting his soul, he could feel how much he would miss Amanda. She was such a good girl. Loving and always playful. She cracks jokes for her dad, and he always laughs about it.
The only thing that had kept Lucas married to Clara was because of Amanda; he didn't want the girl to feel broken, which would leave an impression of a broken home on her mind.
Ever since Lucas got married to Clara, her family has never once liked him; they always looked down on him, and treated him like trash.
Since before now, Clara's mom, Fiona, had advised Clara countless times to divorce Lucas, but she randomly admitted that she was waiting for the right time to divorce him.
Lucas clenched Amanda's phone in his hands. He couldn't help but hold back how emotional he would be if he got himself to watch the video she had recorded for him as her last words.
He had been shedding tears since morning, he could hardly see, and he felt pains all over his eyes. And having another episode of it again would be unbearable.
Lucas gradually lifted the phone, then scrolled to the last video recorded. In the video, Amanda was breathing heavily, but she forced herself to talk.
"Dad, I have always loved you, and you know that. I believe in you, and I see you as my superhero. You don't have to keep living in pain because of me. It's clear that Mum's wealth has blinded her, and she doesn't love you anymore. Please, Dad, for your mental health and for your joy, leave her. I might not make it, but if I did, I would love to spend the rest of my life with you. My sweet lovely dad."
Then the video ended.
Lucas squinted his eyes, and another episode of tears streamed down his cheeks. The words from Amanda cut deep into his chest. He cried like a baby.
"My little angel… I love you, and I will make sure your mother pays for everything she has done to us."
Lucas said these words, though he doesn't know how to make that possible.