Chapter4
"Sorry sir, your bank card has been frozen."
The pharmacy cashier frowned at me, and the card reader was flashing a glaring red light.
The excruciating pain, like being drilled open in the brain, blurred my vision. I was just a few hundred dollars short of buying OxyContin (a powerful painkiller) to save my life, but instead I received this sentence.
Diana really stopped my card, along with the meager savings I usually deposited into the supplementary account from my part-time jobs.
I had no choice but to grit my teeth and head to the Thorne Group headquarters.
Pushing open the slightly ajar door to the CEO's office, I saw Simon sitting on Diana's lap, Diana gently stroking Simon's cheek with her fingertips.
“Marriage was nothing but a piece of paper used to fool my grandfather.” Diana’s voice was low and hoarse. “Don’t be jealous. My body and my heart will always belong to you.”
The door hinges made a piercing noise.
Diana looked up abruptly, and the moment she saw me, the tenderness in her eyes instantly turned into a poisoned blade.
"You still dare to come here?" She pushed Simon away and stood up.
"Unfreeze my card." I pressed hard on my throbbing temples. "I need to buy medicine."
"You want money?" Diana sneered, her high heels clicking on the carpet as she approached. "Ivan, you've really gotten bold! You've even learned to go and badmouth me to my grandfather?!"
I frowned: "I just went to propose annulment."
"Stop fucking pretending!" Simon suddenly rushed over, his voice trembling with tears. "You clearly wanted to ruin me! Grandpa Thorne just called the gallery and canceled my nomination for Emerging Artist of the Year! That was three years of hard work!"
He pointed at me, his finger trembling: "Grandpa even threatened to sever all trust investments with the Black family if Diana didn't dump me immediately! Ivan, you have such a vicious heart!"
I was stunned. I really didn't expect the old man to use such drastic measures.
"I didn't mean to hurt anyone, I just want to cancel the contract and leave..."
"You're just jealous!" Simon shouted hysterically. "You're jealous that Diana loves me! So you used the threat of annulment to force me to my death!"
"Simon!" Diana hugged the panting Simon with heartache, then turned and yelled at me.
"You got what you wanted! Grandpa gave us an ultimatum: either I go with you to get our marriage certificate this weekend, or I lose my position as the family executive officer and Simon's future!"
"Diana... I feel so bad, my heart hurts..." Simon clutched his chest, his face pale.
"Don't be afraid, did you take your medicine?" Diana frantically searched for the medicine bottle, then glared at me fiercely. "See? If you trigger Simon's heart attack, I'll kill you!"
"I just want the money in my card." I was in so much pain that I was covered in cold sweat. "The money I earned from my part-time jobs is in there... Give it to me, and I'll disappear right now."
"You want money, right?" Diana walked to the desk, opened a drawer, took out a thick wad of US dollars, and threw it directly at my face.
"Here you go! Take this! This is the scraps your father got in return for his impoverished life! Take the money, and follow your grandfather's orders to get the marriage certificate and become a puppet. Don't try anything funny again!"
Banknotes rained down on my face like snowflakes, scraping across my scabbed wounds and scattering all over the ground.
I stood frozen in place, feeling a wave of nausea churning in my stomach.
“Let me tell you,” Diana said, arms crossed, staring at me coldly, “even if we get a marriage certificate, you’ll always only ever be a subservient dog. Get out!”
I crouched down, enduring the excruciating pain, and picked up my share of the money, one bill at a time.
"Fine, I'll get out."
Two weeks later. A cheap apartment in Brooklyn.
After leaving the manor, I cut off all contact and rented this moldy basement for $500 a month.
After buying expensive painkillers, I had very little left. My brain cancer worsened rapidly. During the day, I washed cars at a repair shop, and at night, I was in so much pain that I convulsed and vomited in bed.
Occasionally, while walking down the street, you can see gossip about Diana on the screens in the square.
For the past two weeks, it's been like she's been taunting me, showering Simon with money. Simon is showing off his limited-edition Patek Philippe worth two million US dollars.
“You deserve everything beautiful in this world,” Diana commented on his social media post.
She once said the same thing to me.
When I was eighteen, I had a high fever that wouldn't go down. She stayed by my bedside with a cold face, feeding me water. When my father died, this proud heir held me, who was covered in blood, and said, "I will protect you from now on."
But power, time, and weariness had long since killed that Diana.
That day, I was washing dishes in the kitchen of a coffee shop.
A wave of intense dizziness washed over me, and I smashed a stack of plates before collapsing by the sink.
"Ivan?!"
I looked up in a daze and saw Diana standing at the kitchen doorway, wearing a haute couture black trench coat.
The moment she saw me clearly, her brows furrowed tightly. In just two weeks, I had become emaciated, my eyes were withered, and my ribs were clearly visible under my shirt.
"How did you get into such a mess?" A hint of panic flashed in her eyes, but it was quickly masked by her coldness.
"This is none of your business. What are you doing here?"
"It's the weekend today." She said coldly, grabbing my wrist and forcibly dragging me outside. "Come with me to get our marriage certificate."
"Let go!"
"Shut up!" she hissed. "Grandpa said that if we don't get the marriage certificate today, he'll make sure Simon can't make a living in New York. I don't have time for your games!"
