Chapter4

My body started to tremble. 

I couldn't let him see, so I hid my hands behind my back and pinched my own skin hard.

My hands were a mess—callused, scarred, with the nails ripped raw from washing endless dishes. The pinch hurt like hell. 

But it was nothing compared to the agony tearing through my chest. 

The three million dollars was gone long ago.

I spent every cent of it on Lila.

The child I had in secret.

The little girl with congenital heart disease. Kaelen's child. 

Everything went to hospital bills.

From the day she was born, right up to this year. She had just turned seven.

A month ago, she finally got a heart transplant. But then came the severe rejection. 

The medical bills piled up like a mountain, suffocating me.

And right at my breaking point, Kaelen Sterling walked back into my life. 

I had no choice.

I swallowed my pride, weaponized our past, and begged him for the money. 

As for my painting... 

I thought about how it felt sitting at the easel this morning, holding a brush.

I let out a soft, self-deprecating laugh. It felt like a lifetime ago. 

But I couldn't breathe a single word of the truth. 

"I'm no famous artist," I said, pulling out of his iron grip.

I gave him a casual shrug. "I only do private sales. It's totally normal that no one in the art world knows my name." 

I forced a smile, keeping my voice light. "I told you, I blew through the three million. That's why I'm painting and picking up catering shifts—just trying to make some extra cash to pay off my debts." 

"As for my illness... asthma can't be cured anyway. Any cheap inhaler does the job." 

A terrifying silence stretched between us, wide and deep like a canyon. 

Cecily Stood by the door.

Even on her elegant, flawless face, the raw jealousy and resentment burning in her eyes were impossible to miss. 

I fled the room. 

Elowen, you don't deserve him. I warned myself over and over as I ran. 

My final shift at the Sterling estate couldn't end fast enough.

The second I was free, I practically ran to the pediatric ICU to see my baby. 

"Mommy sounds like Donald Duck," Lila giggled. 

My voice was still horribly hoarse.

I smiled and gently pinched her pale cheek.

It was taking forever for my burned throat to heal. 

But there was a silver lining: Kaelen had barely spoken to me over the last few days.

He must have given up on me again. 

That was for the best. I had no regrets. 

I refused to drag him down seven years ago, and I wouldn't do it now.

Once tomorrow's contract wedding was over and I got the rest of the money, I would disappear. 

Just hold on until tomorrow. 

"Mommy is Donald Duck. What are you? A little clown—" 

"Lila! Baby!"

"Doctor!" 

Without any warning, my daughter's eyes rolled back. She started gasping for air.

The heart monitor beside her bed erupted into a shrill, piercing alarm. 

I watched helplessly as they wheeled her back into the operating room.

It had only been two hours since her last procedure. 

I collapsed onto the bench in the hallway like a corpse. 

The world spun around me in a blurry, chaotic mess.

The doctor's words echoed in my ears. He said Lila's rejection was getting worse. If she didn't make it through this window, she might never... 

I couldn't bear to hear the rest. My breathing turned sharp and shallow.

That familiar, terrifying suffocation clamped down on my chest. 

"Elowen, breathe! Breathe—" 

A second before I blacked out, Kaelen appeared like a phantom.

He pulled me into his arms, forcing an inhaler into my mouth. 

I slapped his hand away and dropped to my knees right in front of him. I burst into ugly, gut-wrenching sobs. 

"The remaining four hundred thousand... can you give it to me right now? I can't wait until tomorrow. I need to transfer her to a better hospital today..." 

I was losing my mind, babbling incoherently. 

"She's my daughter. She's six. I... I had her with another man after you left. But she's so good, Kaelen, she's so sweet. I'm begging you..." 

He grabbed me and held me tight against his chest.

He kept telling me it was okay, telling me to relax. 

"I have a friend. A top specialist in this field. I'm texting him right now to arrange the transfer." His voice was hoarse.

"Tomorrow's wedding is canceled. I'm going with you. Your baby will be fine. Don't cry." 

Something scorching hot dripped onto the back of my neck. It burned my skin. 

Surely, those aren't Kaelen's tears? 

I sat there in a daze until his phone rang.

Kaelen immediately put it on speaker and held it between us, desperate for me to hear the good news. 

"It's all set," a male voice said—Dr. Julian Reed. "Bring the kid over tomorrow." 

Then, Julian paused. 

"But Kaelen, I think you got one detail wrong. The kid isn't six." 

"The medical records from the hospital just came through. She's seven."

Seven.

Seven years ago, I left him...

If Lila was seven... then she could only be his...