Chapter 4

Just then, my phone vibrated erratically.

I glanced down at the screen, which was now filled with a barrage of increasingly urgent collection notices from the hospital.

"Please submit the 300,000-dollar surgical deposit immediately. Failure to pay within the time limit will result in the cancellation of the surgery."

"The patient has ongoing internal bleeding. Any further delay may result in death. Please process the payment now."

Each message felt like a physical blow.

Images of how wonderfully Margery had always treated me flooded my mind.

Whenever I was sick and lost my appetite, she'd find countless new recipes just to cook something I could eat. Every single time Tristan and I got into an argument, she always took my side to help us reconcile.

Such a kind, wonderful woman was lying in an emergency room waiting to die, and the person helping put her there was her own son.

Something inside me finally snapped.

To hell with their regulations, their forms, and their protocols. I didn't care about any of it anymore.

Penelope was looking down, casually scrolling through her phone.

Lunging forward, I reached out to rip the device right out of her hands. "Give me the phone! I'm transferring the money to the hospital myself!"

Penelope hadn't anticipated that I'd resort to physical action, and she instinctively jumped back.

The moment she recovered, her eyes flashed with malice, and she swung her arm, delivering a vicious slap across my face.

The sharp crack echoed through the silent office.

The right side of my face burned instantly, and a piercing ring filled my ears.

The force of the blow sent me staggering back, and tears immediately welled in my eyes.

Despite witnessing the assault, Tristan didn't offer a single word of comfort. Instead, he rushed forward and shoved me backward.

"Astrid, have you lost your mind?" he barked. "How dare you storm into the office demanding handouts and putting your hands on my secretary? You're absolutely hopeless!"

Clutching my burning cheek, I stared at him in utter disbelief as the tears began to stream down my face.

"Tristan, think about what you're doing! Mom is waiting for her surgery. How can you just stand by and watch her die because of a medical bill?"

He furrowed his brow, looking me up and down with disgust. "Unless you get down on your knees and beg Penny for forgiveness, you're not walking out of here with a single dime."

I stared at the man I had shared a bed with for three years.

At that moment, he felt like a stranger.

My cheek was still throbbing, but it was nothing compared to the agony ripping through my chest.

Penelope crossed her arms, a smug grin playing on her lips as she waited patiently to see what I'd do.

Outside the door, the hallway was packed with employees who held their breath, waiting for the climax of the spectacle.

I looked at the clock on the wall.

Less than ten minutes remained before the doctor's deadline. If I didn't get the money right now, Margery would be done for.

Slowly, I bent my knees and dropped to the floor right in front of Penelope, humblingly prostrating myself to everyone in the room.

Hushed whispers rippled across the room.

"She actually did it. She's willing to humiliate herself for money."

"I can't believe she's kneeling for 300,000 dollars. Stay-at-home wives really don't have a backbone, do they?"

Suddenly, a sharp cramp shot through my abdomen, feeling as though something were tearing inside me.

I knew what it was.

I'd only recently learned that I was less than three months pregnant. For Margery's sake, however, I gritted my teeth and forced myself not to make a sound.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Sanders," I whispered. "Is that enough?"

Penelope pulled a single bill from her wallet and casually tossed it onto the floor in front of me. "Take it. Consider it a tip for putting on such an entertaining show."

The words felt like a slap to the face.

Tristan stared at me, disdain flickering in his eyes. "At the end of the day, this is just proof that your mother failed to teach you any manners. Getting hit by a car is exactly what she deserves.

"Take the money and buy your mother a decent urn. Stop trying to shake us down and make a scene."

I froze on the spot, a chill running down my spine.

He'd assumed all along that it was my mother who was hospitalized.

That was the only reason he'd never cared, and the only reason he'd allowed Penelope to torment me and turn me into a laughingstock over and over again.

Suddenly, a wave of clarity washed over me.

"Tristan," I said. "You're going to regret this."

I stopped arguing, and I stopped crying. Wiping the tears from my face, I turned around and walked out of that suffocating office.

The second I stepped through the doorway, Tristan's phone, which he had only just powered back on, began to ring, the caller ID displaying an unknown number.

He picked it up without thinking.

Immediately, the frantic, distressed voice of a doctor blared through the receiver, loud enough for everyone in the office to hear.

"Mr. Kane, because your family failed to make the surgical deposit in time, your mother missed the window for emergency resuscitation. We did everything we could, but she passed away just moments ago."