Chapter 4

Swallowing down the nausea, I blocked Sienna's number.

I spent the rest of the day running all over the city, swallowing my pride to borrow money everywhere I could until I finally put together 3,000 dollars.

Grandma's surgery money was finally secured.

But the moment I stepped onto the train back home, Grandma's neighbor, Mrs. Jordan, called me.

"Olivia, you need to get back here fast! Something's happened to your grandma! This afternoon, a young lady called her out of nowhere and told her that she and Jarrett had gotten engaged.

"She said you'd been dumped, but you were still shamelessly clinging to him and told your grandma to teach you some self-respect.

"She even sent a bunch of photos and videos right after! Your grandma passed out the second she saw them! She's in the ER right now. The doctors said she might not make it!"

My head went completely numb. My phone slipped from my fingers, clattering onto the floor.

By the time I rushed into the hospital, the lights above the operating room had just gone dark.

The doctor said with a mournful sigh, "She had a massive, sudden heart attack. We did everything we could."

I stood there frozen, watching as they wheeled Grandma out, covered beneath a white sheet.

The woman who raised me, who saved the sweetest apple for me, who used to stroke my hair and call me her precious girl, was never going to wake up again.

I fell to my knees beside the hospital bed, completely unable to shed a single tear.

The sheer agony swallowed every last bit of my senses.

I didn't know how much time passed before Jarrett came rushing in, flushed and out of breath.

He froze when he saw the white sheet on the bed. He walked over to my side and reached out to wrap his arms around me.

"Olivia, I'm so sorry. I got here as fast as I could. I had no idea your grandma was this sick. If I knew, I never would've touched that money."

I slowly raised my head and fixed my bloodshot eyes on him. "Get out!"

Jarrett forced me into a firm embrace anyway. "Olivia, I know you're hurting, but I didn't mean for any of this to happen. We can't bring her back now. Don't torture yourself like this. I'll stay right here and help you through the funeral."

Before the words could even settle, Sienna's name flashed across his phone. "Jarrett, it's thundering outside, and I'm scared. When are you coming back? I'm so scared. My chest is hurting again…"

Jarrett hesitated, giving me a conflicted look. "Olivia, your grandma's already gone. There's not much I can really do here right now. Let me go check on Sienna first, and I'll come back first thing tomorrow morning to help with the funeral, okay?"

As I looked at him, a sickening sense of absurdity washed over me.

Grandma was dead, and he was rushing off to comfort a mistress who was scared of thunder. And that mistress was the one responsible for Grandma's death.

I shut my eyes, pure hatred burning through me. "Just leave, Jarrett. And never show your face in front of me again."

As for everything Sienna owed me, I'd make sure she paid for it all.

But Jarrett assumed I was just lashing out in anger. "Take care of yourself, then. Call me if you need anything."

With that, he hurriedly left.

Three days later, I finished Grandma's funeral services. I sold our family home in the countryside and wiped every single piece of my contact info clean.

Just as I boarded the train heading to Marlowe, Jarrett showed up at Grandma's house.

Staring into the empty courtyard, he grabbed Mrs. Jordan and asked frantically, "Where's Olivia?"

Mrs. Jordan couldn't help but roll her eyes at him. "Oh, Olivia? She moved away. She's never coming back."