Chapter 7

Diana stepped across, cutting off Nicholas's path.

"Thirty minutes. Max." She tipped her chin up and stared straight into those storm-dark eyes, her voice tight. "We're getting divorced today. You sign the papers, and then you can go wherever you want."

Nicholas had his phone in his hand, the veins on the back of it standing out. Lindsey's sobs leaked faintly from the speaker, sharp and grating in the open air.

He lowered his lashes, his gaze sweeping over Diana's bloodless face with a chill that didn't bother to hide itself.

"Get lost." Two words, devoid of inflection, yet chillingly cold.

Diana didn't budge. She even pushed forward half a step, her fingers trembling from how hard she was clenching them. "Not until it's done. I'm not going anywhere until we finish the paperwork."

Nicholas paused.

He cut the call, shoved the phone into the inside pocket of his suit, and looked at her like she was nothing more than a nuisance in his way.

"Blocking me?" He leaned down slightly, voice low enough that only she could hear, each word deliberate. "Diana, stand here one more minute, and I promise you that in thirty minutes, what's left on your mother's hospital bed will be a corpse. Go ahead. Test me."

It was said almost calmly, like he was stating the weather, and it stole the air out of Diana's lungs.

A dull, twisting pain tightened in her stomach.

She knew Nicholas too well. When his line got crossed, there wasn't anything he wouldn't do.

Before she could force out another word, Nicholas shoved her aside and took the steps fast, sliding into his Maybach.

The engine roared. The black car tore away, disappearing into the street as if it had never been there.

Diana staggered from the push, nearly losing her footing. At that exact moment, her phone vibrated in her pocket.

"Is this Diana? Your mother went into ventricular fibrillation. Her condition crashed, and she needs emergency surgery right now. You have to come sign and pay immediately. We can't wait!"

Cold wind rushed down her collar, and Diana went numb all over.

She opened her banking app and stared at the balance, an amount that wouldn't even cover basic inpatient fees. She bit down hard on her bottom lip until she tasted metal.

Other than Nicholas, no one could produce that kind of money on the spot.

What was she supposed to do?

Evergreen Hospital, the hallway outside the emergency operating suite.

Diana gripped a thick stack of past-due payment notices, her wrist shaking so badly the papers rustled.

Fast footsteps approached. Nicholas strode down the corridor, Lindsey right beside him, her face streaked with tears.

Diana swallowed the humiliation and the sour ache rising in her throat and stepped in front of Nicholas again.

"Save my mom." When she spoke, her voice came out shredded and rough. "Please."

Nicholas stopped and looked down at her. The urgency in his eyes, whatever of it had existed, turned the instant he recognized her, into a bone-deep coldness edged with mockery.

"Please?" He repeated the word slowly, like he was tasting how ridiculous it sounded. "Diana, aren't you confused about something? What makes you think I'd spend money to save someone I can't wait to see dead?"

"That's a human life." Diana's voice shook with terror and a kind of helplessness that made her throat burn. "If you hate me, fine. Take it out on me. I'm begging you—save her."

Nicholas let out a low scoff, unmoved. "Take it out on you? That's cute. Diana, how much do you think your worthless life is worth?"

Beside him, Lindsey tugged lightly at his sleeve, her voice soft and fragile. "Nicholas, Holden is still in the ICU. He's not out of danger. We should go."

She hesitated, glanced at Diana, then added gently, "If you can help, maybe help Mrs. Russell. It's a life. If Holden knew you let her die, he'd be upset."

Nicholas patted the back of Lindsey's hand. "Lindsey, you're too kind. Some people don't deserve sympathy."

He looked back at Diana, and there it was in his eyes—clean, bright satisfaction.

"But fine. It's not like she can't be saved." Nicholas pointed at the tile floor by his shoes, his voice hard and cold. "Kneel."

Diana's spine snapped straight. She stared at him, like she'd misheard.

"The way you did it back then," Nicholas said. "Do it the same way today."

He held her gaze and enunciated each word. "Kneel. Bow your head. And say it loud, 'My mom and I deserve to die.'"

The hallway fell into a dead, sterile quiet.

"Say it until I'm satisfied," he went on evenly, with a cruelty that felt surgical. "Maybe, if I'm in a good mood, I'll toss you some money for the surgery."

Diana looked at the man she'd loved for two full years.

He was still devastatingly handsome. And rotten all the way through.

Kneel? Curse the mother who'd raised her through everything with those poisonous words?

Rage mixed with despair and surged up so fast her vision swam. The cramping in her stomach flared violently, sharp enough to slice through her nerves.

"In your dreams." The words scraped out between her teeth.

If Gemma knew Diana had traded her dignity like this for surgery money, she'd rather die on the table.

Diana turned, already searching for another way.

She didn't make it two steps.

A brutal hand clamped around her arm and yanked her back. Nicholas hauled her around like she weighed nothing.

"That's all it takes to break you?" His fingers dug in, grinding bone-deep pain into her skin.

"Your mom's waiting to die in an operating room, and you can't take this much?" His mouth curled. "Diana, guess your 'devotion' isn't worth much after all."

Diana's eyes stung red-hot, anger rushing up with the tears, and she sucked in a breath to fire back.

"Let her go!" A furious voice barked from behind them.

Edward came running in a white coat, slapped Nicholas's hand away, and pulled Diana behind him like he could shield her with his body.

He took one look at Diana's paper-white face and his chest rose hard with anger. Then he turned on Nicholas, voice shaking. "Nicholas, what the hell is wrong with you? She's already—"

"Edward!" Diana grabbed Edward's arm with both hands and shook her head hard, pleading with her eyes.

'Don't say it. Don't let Nicholas know she had stomach cancer. He didn't deserve that truth.'

Nicholas wouldn't feel a shred of compassion. He'd turn it into another joke. Another weapon.

Edward's words jammed in his throat.

At her look, his jaw clenched, and he swallowed the rest. When he spoke again, he forced it into something else. "She's already at the end of her rope. Are you really going to push her to death?"

Nicholas smoothed the sleeve Edward had messed up, his gaze lingering for two seconds on the way Diana's hands were locked around Edward's arm.

"No wonder you've got so much nerve," he said with a cold laugh, dripping contempt. "Found yourself a backup plan. Dr. FitzRoy, huh? Such a saint." His eyes narrowed. "Since you care so much, did you pay her mom's surgery bill for her?"

Edward's face went hard. "That's none of Mr. Kennedy's concern. Even if I have to sell everything I own, I won't let her beg a man like you."

"Good." Nicholas nodded once and walked around them, continuing down the hallway.

"Diana," his voice drifted back, icy and clean. "Remember the road you picked today. I hope you don't come crawling back to me on your knees."

He and Lindsey disappeared at the far end of the corridor.