Chapter 198: Cast Out By The Hawthornes
Horace Hawthorne began to pant heavily as though he had run a marathon. Amelia suddenly had a premonition that something terrible was about to happen.
True enough, she had barely taken a step forward before her grandfather collapsed in his seat, clutching his chest with a shivering hand. His eyes were wide with fear, but his gaze was focused on Amelia. He reached out a weak hand, as though wordlessly calling for her attention.
"Grandpa!" Amelia screamed out as she darted down the aisle, and Matteo quickly picked up her long trailing skirt so that his new wife — oh wait, the ceremony was interrupted; she wasn’t technically his wife yet — would not trip and fall on her face. The table was in an uproar, as people began to surround the Hawthorne patriarch in an attempt to check up on him.
Annalise in particular started to scream so loudly that it was spreading panic throughout the room. She grabbed at his collar, and to Amelia’s panicked eyes, it seemed more like she was trying to strangle him instead.
"Father! Father, hang in there! You can’t die!" Annalise wailed, nearly shaking him like a toy. "Father, please!"
Her husband Benjamin whipped out his phone to immediately dial for an ambulance while barking irritably at Annalise. "Let him go! Are you trying to kill him faster?!"
"Move! Give him space!" A familiar voice yelled out, and to Amelia’s surprise, Isaac had rushed over, his tie askew. Dimitri was hot on his heels, ordering people to make way.
Amelia could only watch with horrified eyes as Isaac began to examine her grandfather. It was an all too familiar scene, and Amelia couldn’t help but recall the time her father had collapsed similarly. Back then, it was Matteo who gave him CPR to ensure that he would live.
This time, Amelia tried to take comfort in the fact that a medical professional was doing it for her grandfather.