Chapter:08:Harmed:

Ivy carried the tray with the hot chocolate drink and headed to the bedroom. Just as she was about to push the door open, she heard a familiar voice from inside the room and she froze in her tracks.

   “Hey Diva, why are you being so silly? Do you think I won't come to pick you up simply because I'm married to a nobody?  Don't worry, I won't delay at all, I'll come around to pick you up. Just send the details of your flight to me now”  

She heard her husband, Chase Willard say from inside the room.

When Ivy heard this, her heart was immediately shattered. 

Ivy has always known that her husband doesn't love her at all but after what happened that night, she felt that things might have drastically changed between them, but she was wrong.

He thinks she wasn't worthy of him.

The truth is that he doesn't even remember anything about what happened that night.

Saddened by what he said, Ivy felt heartbroken and wanted to quietly take the cup of the hot chocolate drink back to the kitchen. 

However, she mistakenly kicked the table with the flower vase close to the entrance and sent it flying to the ground.

The loud bang from the fall of the flower vase was so loud that Ivy was left speechless–She was so stunned that she didn't dare to move an inch.

When she jerked out of her daze and was about to attempt, she heard Chase ask from the inside, “Who is it?”

Chase Willard asked and quickly opened the door to see who it was.

 When she heard his question, Ivy didn't bother running away anymore, she stood transfixed to her spot.

   “What the hell are you doing walking around like a blind girl? Do you even know how much that flower vase costs?”  Chase yelled at her after seeing the broken shards of the vase.

Ivy simply endured his words and said, “It was my fault, I didn't see the vase properly”.

“I never expected you to see the vase in the first place, you've always been so blind... It's not your fault, you've never seen such a luxurious thing in your life". Chase said angrily, then slammed the door behind him.

Ivy held back her tears and pushed the door open slowly.

“Chase, I brought you a cup of hot chocolate drink, I heard from Isla that you are not feeling too well,”  Ivy said as she stepped into the room.

  “I never asked you for anything at all, did I? Why are you trying so hard to focus your way into my space, Ivy Haddock? Stay away from me and don't even think that you could use deceptive means on me as you did with grandpa. You are not worthy of being my wife. Just you wait until it's three years, I will divorce you and send you away from here”  Chase raised his head from the laptop on the slab and said.

Ivy felt like a dagger was pierced into her heart with each word that her husband said to her.

Tears welled up in her eyes, but she raised her head to the sky to prevent the tears from falling.

  “I know you didn't want anything to do with me. However, I must take care of you. If you get sick when I'm around, grandma will blame me for this matter”  Ivy managed to say.

After saying this, she dropped the cup of chocolate drink on the table in front of him and went out of the room immediately.

After leaving the room, Ivy went straight to the storeroom where she usually hides away from the eyes of the Willard family whenever she feels like crying.

As soon as she sat down on the floor, she pinched her head between her legs and started crying. 

She was so dishearted that she cried until her eyes were swollen. Her heart was filled with the pain of being rejected by everyone as well as the pain of losing the only person that matters to her, Grandma Ura.

After crying for about two hours, she wiped her eyes and looked at the time on her phone.

Just then, it struck her mind that she hasn't found a way to raise the money needed for her grandmother's surgery, and on top of that, she's just lost her job.

Without knowing what to do and who to call, Ivy stood up and paced around the messy storeroom with a gloomy expression.

Suddenly a glimmer of thought struck her mind. She quickly picked up her phone and dialed a number eagerly.

   “Hello Miss Natalia, sorry, I'm calling you so late at night. I just need your help please”  Ivy said as soon as the call was connected.

  “No, it's no problem at all.  I'm still awake...So tell me what help do you need from me?” Natalie Barrett said in a sweet tone.

 “The thing is...the thing is”  Ivy hesitate and couldn't say the word outright.

  “You don't have to be shy with me, remember we are friends, right? Or have you forgotten that we are?” Natalie said with a smile.

 “Well, I don't know how to say but I'm going to say anything. The thing is, grandma Ura is very sick and I don't have enough money for her surgery. On top of that, I was fired from my job at the hotel. The management has also decided to get my grandma discharged from the hospital if I don't pay for the bills in two days”  Ivy said.

Her breath was lingering in the air as soon as she managed to say these words. She closed her eyes in shame.

When Natalie heard what she said, she quickly stood up from her study table and her heart was immediately filled with concern.

“What? Grandma is still at the hospital? Why didn't you tell me about this?”  Natalie seemed a little bit annoyed?

  “It's not like that at all, you've been so busy with your business trips and your mother's health. I didn't want to add to your problem, you have a lot of problems of your own already” Ivy bite her lips bitterly.

  “And you think my problem is bigger than saving grandma Ura?”  

  “I'm sorry, Miss Barrett”  Ivy mumbled.

     “Natalia, call me by my name and not Miss Barrett. Why don't you come over to the NB Jewelers, I'll arrange some money for you. Also, I think I have some job recommendations for you, you might like one of them”  Natalie said.

     “Thank you so much, Miss Natalie...I mean Natalia. I'll be there on time tomorrow”  Ivy couldn't control the tears in her eyes.

   “Go back to bed now, it's really late at night,”  Natalia Barret said with a warm smile.

  “I will, and you too. Good Night”  

Dropping the call, Ivy jumped around in excitement.

As she was rejoicing, she didn't notice the nail on the broken table in front of her. She jumped around and accidentally stepped on the sharp item.

  Immediately her foot landed on the nail sitting upright like it was placed there on purpose, Ivy screamed.

 “Ouch!! Ouch! It's hurt” 

Tears immediately welled up in her eyes as she fell to the ground with her foot stuck on the nail.

Blood immediately gushed out of the wound like a pool of stagnant water. Soon after, the room was covered with the blood oozing out of her injury.

Looking at her leg still stuck to the nail Ivy closed her eyes and tried to remove the nail gently.

No matter how gentle she tried to be, the pain was increasingly unbearable. But, she decided to stop being vulnerable and put her mind at the back of her mind.

With one swift pull, she moved her foot out of the nail and tears poured down her cheeks as she did so.

It was so painful that she felt like her brain was being controlled by electric shock.

She held her foot and tried to stop it from bleeding but it wasn't working at all. With staggering legs and a groggy body, Ivy pushed herself and went out of the storeroom to get the first aid box.

Even if she was sick and dying nobody will be willing to come to her aid in the Willard family.

After getting the box of first aid care kits, Ivy forced herself back to the store and treated the injury on her foot.

Looking at the wound on her leg, it was so deep. She must have shoved her leg into the nail so much that the wound seems like it was a deliberate attempt.

After treating the wound, Ivy bandaged the leg and took the first kit, and kept it on the table inside the room.

Sitting on the floor, her eyes darted around and fell on the piece of wood with the nail. She picked up the wood and stared at it for a while.

The wood was never in the storeroom, she has been the one cleaning up the storeroom every single day and she was very much familiar with the items in the storeroom.

She was sure that the wood wasn't part of the items in the storeroom, which means that someone else has deliberately brought the wood with the nails into the room to hurt her on purpose.

When Ivy thought of this, her mind was suddenly filled with sadness. She has always been on the receiving end and nobody cares about it.

Ivy cried all night until she fell asleep while sitting on the floor in the storeroom.