Chapter 2

Jasper's decisiveness gave me the strength I needed.

After we reported everything to the police, Trenton immediately transferred me to a private maternity hospital with tight security, worried that my father and Lillian might do something desperate. He checked me into a VIP suite.

Leaning against the headboard, I picked up my phone.

I opened my banking app and found the supplementary credit card under Lillian's name. It had a $100,000 limit. I suspended it.

Then I pulled up the mortgage account for the house back home. I'd paid the entire down payment myself, but the house had been put in Lillian's name. For the past three years, the monthly mortgage payment had been automatically deducted from my paycheck.

I canceled the automatic payments and unlinked the account.

My father's words on the phone had reminded me just how many years I'd spent being this family's personal ATM.

I was done.

When I finished, I leaned back against the hospital bed.

Bridget was feeding me warm chicken broth while Jasper carefully checked over all the baby supplies at the foot of my bed.

Watching them, I suddenly found myself thinking back to my wedding.

My father refused to contribute a single penny, claiming he needed to save money for Lillian's future wedding.

That wasn't all. He actually demanded that Trenton's family pay a $30,000 dowry so he could buy Lillian a new car.

Naturally, Trenton's family refused.

On our wedding day, during the reception, my father realized Lillian hadn't been seated at the head table and hadn't gotten the biggest lobster on the menu. In front of both families and every guest in attendance, he flipped the table.

Gravy and soup splashed all over me. Pointing in my face, he screamed that I was an ungrateful daughter who'd abandoned her father the moment she got married. He even cursed me to die.

The entire room fell silent as I stood there shaking, humiliated beyond words.

Then Bridget and Jasper walked over. Ignoring the mess on the floor, they each took one of my hands.

Jasper patted my shoulder and announced to everyone in the room, "Lyla is a wonderful woman. From this day on, we're her parents."

The memory brought tears to my eyes.

Just then, my phone rang. It was Lillian.

The moment I answered, she exploded before I could say a word, not even bothering to say hi.

"Lyla Ashley, what the hell is wrong with you?!

"I'm at the tux shop with Hayden Parker right now! The custom tux costs $68,000, and when I tried to pay, the card was declined! The salespeople looked at me like I was some kind of beggar. I was completely humiliated!

"Unlock the card right now! Hayden's waiting!"

Still as arrogant as ever. This was the little sister I'd spent my entire life giving in to—the one whose college tuition I'd paid, whose job I'd helped her land, even whose dating expenses I'd covered.

She'd lived off my money for so long that gratitude had never once crossed her mind. To her, everything I'd done was simply my obligation.

I looked at Trenton bustling around the hospital room and spoke in a voice as cold as ice, "Lillian Ashley."

I deliberately called her by her full name.

"Weren't you the one who cut my brake line to try to kill me?"

Silence.

The line went completely quiet.

I let out a cold laugh. "Then go ahead and pretend I died. Collect the insurance money and use it to pay for your fiance's tux.

"But before that, you'd better pray the police don't find you first."

I hung up and blocked her number without another word.