Chapter3

The wall clock ticked past 2:00 AM. Two hours left before they canceled the donor organ.

I sat cross-legged on the floor, my eyes glued to the "Final Warning" text glaring from my phone screen.

The front door shoved open. Without even kicking off his work boots, Arthur strode in and slapped a gray debit card onto the table, right on top of our mountain of overdue bills.

"The passcode is Lily's birthday," he gasped, fighting to catch his breath. "Log into the hospital's payment portal right now. Run it."

My head snapped up. With trembling fingers, I snatched the card, yanked open the hospital's billing page, and punched in the numbers.

[Current Balance: $50,150.00]

My breath hitched as the numbers popped up on the screen. My legs went completely numb, and I slumped backward against the base of the sofa.

Lily was going to live.

I looked up at Arthur. "The watch... how much did you get for it?"

"Thirty thousand." Arthur walked over to the sink, scrubbing violently at the motor oil under his fingernails. "The old guy at the pawnshop tried to lowball me to hell and back, but I didn't have time to argue. The other twenty... I took a trip to the union hall."

He shut off the faucet and grabbed a dry towel.

"The guys on the night shift emptied their pockets. Gave up their whole weekly paychecks. Old Mike even shoved the cash he'd been saving for his kid's used car straight into my chest. He said it was life-saving money for our 'Little Wrench'."

I bit my lip hard and buried my face in my hands, fighting desperately to keep my sobs quiet.

My own biological mother—draped in silk gowns and reeking of expensive perfume—had stood by and watched her granddaughter die, all for the sake of a wedding dress. Meanwhile, this crew of blue-collar workers who got their hands dirty every day had emptied their wallets to rip my daughter right out of the Grim Reaper's grip.

"Arthur, this money..."

"It's our debt, and we'll pay it back ourselves." He walked over and cradled my face in his rough hands. "On my way back, I talked to the foreman."

"He heard about what's happening. He promised that as soon as Lily gets through the surgery and clears the observation period, we're out of here."

I nodded. "And we're never coming back."

Right then, my phone buzzed. The screen flashed an unknown local number.

I was going to ignore it, but the terrifying thought of an emergency call from the hospital made me smash the 'Accept' button.

"Evelyn! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

Eleanor's hysterical, furious shriek blasted through the speaker. I instinctively pulled the phone away from my ear.

"Do you have any idea what the Dubois family just called to ask me?! They wanted to know why my eldest daughter is posting absolute lunatic garbage on Facebook!" Eleanor's voice pitched to an agonizing screech. "Did you forget that Chloe is meeting their elders tomorrow? That stunt you pulled nearly ruined her reputation!"

So that was it.

She hadn't called out of some sudden maternal guilt for pushing her granddaughter to the brink of death. She called because her precious future son-in-law Richard's family had seen my post. She felt humiliated. That was her only reason for this crusade.

I listened to the stream of curses pouring through the receiver, and I felt nothing. Not a single shred of heartache.

"Are you done?" I cut her off.

The line choked into sudden silence. She clearly wasn't used to hearing that tone from me.

"You don't need to waste your breath explaining anything, Ms. Eleanor." I stared dead ahead at a patch of peeling paint on the wall. "That trust fund was yours. Whether it was three hundred thousand or ten million, you had every right to blow it all on the hem of Chloe's skirt. I didn't say a single word to stop you."

"If you knew damn well it was my money, what gave you the right to drag my name through the mud in front of our relatives?! How dare you use that sickly—"

"But you also made your choice," I interrupted, slicing brutally through her sentence. "The moment you traded those dollars for champagne and crushed diamonds while watching them pull Lily's oxygen tube, you stopped being my mother."

"Evelyn, don't you try to threaten me with cutting ties!" Eleanor roared on the other end. "I raised you! I fulfilled my obligations! The fact that you married a broke loser and can't afford medical bills is your own karma! Don't you dare try to pin your pathetic life on me!"

"We both know the truth," I said, a cold, humorless laugh escaping my lips. "You go ahead and enjoy your wedding of the century. And starting today, never call this number again."

"Are you threatening me?!"

I took a deep breath and dropped my final words into the receiver. "If you or anyone else dares to harass my family again... our next conversation will be in court."

Without a second of hesitation, I hung up.

I pulled up the stranger's number and dragged it straight to the block list.

Arthur stood a few feet away, watching me in quiet solidarity. Then, he turned, walked into the kitchen, poured a glass of warm water, and pressed it into my hands.

I cradled the glass, leaning my weight against the wall.

The phone screen lit up again. I let it ring.

You want to save face?

Fine. Just wait and see.