CHAPTER THREE:SOLD FOR A SURGERY

For the first time in my life, I refused.

I refused to be controlled. Refused to be used. Refused to be given away like some lifeless object to be traded between families.

I had spent years silently obeying—enduring Maria’s venomous commands, bowing to Dave’s feeble attempts at peacekeeping, and swallowing every injustice forced upon me. But this? This was too much.

“No,” I said, my voice shaking but firm. “I won’t do it.”

Maria’s expression twisted into something dark, her lips curling in disbelief, as if I had just committed an unforgivable sin. For a moment, silence stretched between us, thick and suffocating, before it snapped like a whip.

Her hand struck my cheek with a force that sent my head snapping to the side.

A sharp sting bloomed across my skin, heat radiating from the point of impact, but it was nothing compared to the ache in my chest. The humiliation. The sheer injustice of it all.

“You ungrateful little brat,” Maria spat, her voice like acid. “Do you have any idea what you’re throwing away?”

I lifted my gaze to hers, my vision blurred with unshed tears, but I refused to let them fall. I refused to give her that satisfaction.

“I’m not throwing anything away,” I whispered hoarsely. “You’re the one who’s selling me.”

Her eyes burned with fury. “Dario Harrison is wealthier than Matthew ever was. You should be thanking me for setting you up with a man who can give you a better life.”

I let out a bitter laugh, tasting blood in my mouth where I had bitten my cheek from the slap.

“You mean a man who was supposed to marry Leah?” I shot back. “Why isn’t she the one being forced into this?”

Maria’s lips pressed into a thin line. Then, in a cruelly casual manner, she shrugged.

“Because she refused.”

Her words sliced through me like a blade.

Leah had been given a choice. I had not.

The realization settled into my bones like ice.

My stepsister, who had everything handed to her, had the freedom to reject a marriage she didn’t want. And instead of facing consequences, she simply took my fiancé—just because she could.

And now, here I was, expected to clean up the mess she left behind.

“No,” I said again, my voice stronger this time. “I won’t do it.”

Maria let out a harsh, mocking laugh. “Oh, really? And who else do you think is going to do it, Layla?”

I opened my mouth, then closed it. I had no answer.

Dave, who had been watching in silence, finally stepped forward, his face weary, as if he had aged ten years in mere minutes. He looked at me with something dangerously close to pity, and I hated it.

“Layla,” he said gently. “Please. Just listen.”

I turned to him, my hands shaking at my sides. “No,” I whispered. “You listen to me for once.

I just lost everything. My wedding, my future, the man I—” My voice cracked, but I forced myself to keep going. “And now you expect me to just marry a stranger?”

Dave’s gaze softened. “Dario is not a bad man, Layla,” he insisted. “He’s just… someone you need to get to know.”

I let out a hollow laugh, shaking my head. “Oh, great. That makes this so much better. I don’t know him.”

Dave exhaled, his shoulders slumping. “It was a promise,” he admitted at last.

My breath caught. “What?”

He hesitated, glancing at Maria, as if debating whether to continue. But she merely smirked, watching me with amusement.

“Tell her, Dave,” she taunted. “Tell her the truth.”

His jaw tightened before he finally spoke. “Years ago, I made a promise to Maxim Harrison,”

he confessed.

“A promise to unite our families through marriage.”

My stomach twisted violently. “You—” My voice caught in my throat.

Maria folded her arms, sighing dramatically. “And here’s the part you really need to hear, sweetheart.”

I braced myself.

She leaned in, a wicked smile playing on her lips.

“Your dear father is bankrupt.”

The ground beneath me felt like it had been ripped away.

Maria’s smirk widened. “The only reason we still have this house, the only reason we haven’t been tossed into the streets like beggars, is because of Maxim Harrison’s generosity.”

I stared at Dave in disbelief, searching his face for denial. For some indication that this was all a lie.

But I found none.

“He… he only asked for one thing in return,” Dave murmured.

The world around me blurred.

“A marriage between our families,” he finished.

I couldn’t breathe.

Maria tilted her head, examining me like a chess piece she had successfully maneuvered into place. “Leah refused,” she said simply. “So now, it’s your responsibility to save this family.”

And just like that, the unspoken ultimatum hung heavy in the air.

If I didn’t comply, my family would lose everything.

Dave’s sudden collapse shattered everything.

One second, I was staring at him in disbelief, still trying to process the impossible choice forced upon me. The next, he clutched his chest, his face twisting in agony as he staggered forward.

“Dad!” I screamed, reaching for him as his knees buckled. But before I could catch him, he collapsed onto the floor, his body convulsing as he gasped for air.

Panic surged through me like wildfire. “Somebody help!” My voice cracked as I dropped to my knees beside him, shaking him frantically. His skin was clammy, his breathing ragged.

“Dad, stay with me, please! Look at me!”

Maria didn’t even kneel down, didn’t try to help. She just stood there, staring at him with wide eyes, as if she hadn’t just spent the last twenty minutes screaming at him, pushing him into a stress-induced heart attack.

One of the house staff rushed into the room, phone in hand. “I called an ambulance! They’re on their way!”

Seconds stretched into eternity as I gripped my father’s hand, begging him to hold on. He was still conscious, barely, his eyes glassy with pain as he struggled to speak.

“Layla…” His voice was so weak, I had to lean in to hear him. “D-don’t… let them… control you…”

My heart clenched as his eyelids fluttered. “Stop talking, Dad. Save your strength.”

The sound of sirens outside nearly made me sob in relief. Paramedics burst into the room, moving with efficiency as they assessed his condition. They asked questions, but my brain could barely keep up.

“How long has he been experiencing chest pain?”

“Does he have a history of heart problems?”

“Was he under any major stress?”

I could hardly speak, my throat closing up. Of course, he was under stress—he was being forced to sell his daughter off in marriage just to keep a roof over our heads. But I couldn’t say that.

I stood back, watching helplessly as they lifted my father onto a stretcher and rushed him out of the house. I ran after them, ignoring Maria’s voice calling my name.

I didn’t stop running until I reached the hospital.

Now, standing outside his hospital room, I stared through the glass at his fragile form, my heart breaking all over again. Machines beeped steadily, wires and tubes connected to his body like lifelines.

He looked so… small. So unlike the father who had always been my protector, my anchor in a world that constantly tried to break me.

I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to hold back the suffocating feeling of helplessness. I had already lost my mother. I couldn’t lose him too.

The doctor’s words still echoed in my head.

A heart attack. Critical condition. He needs surgery, but there’s no guarantee he’ll survive it.

And the worst part? The cost.

Dave had no insurance. Of course, he didn’t—Maria had never cared about preparing for the future. She spent money like water, obsessed with her luxury lifestyle, never stopping to think about what would happen if disaster struck.

The doctors wouldn’t operate without payment, and I had nothing. No savings. No assets. No way to get the money in time.

I pressed my forehead against the glass, my vision blurring with unshed tears.

Behind me, Maria sighed loudly, her high heels clicking against the polished floor as she paced. “I don’t know what you expect me to do, Layla. Miraculously pull thousands of dollars out of thin air?”

I turned to face her, my body vibrating with barely contained fury. “You knew Dad wasn’t in good health. And you still pushed him. You still—” My voice cracked, but I forced myself to stay strong. “You didn’t even care when he collapsed. You just stood there!”

She scoffed, flipping her perfectly curled hair over one shoulder. “Oh, don’t be so dramatic. He was going to collapse sooner or later with all the stress he puts himself under. Honestly, he should’ve just accepted reality a long time ago. Marrying you off to Dario is the only solution.”

I recoiled, my stomach twisting. “How can you even say that? You’re talking about my life like it’s a business deal!”

She rolled her eyes. “Because it is.”

I stared at her, my breathing uneven. “We could ask Leah and Matthew for help. They have money—”

Maria’s expression twisted into disgust. “You idiot, your sister got married just today and you want to collect money from her already. They wouldn’t have anyway, the wedding took a lot’

As if it wasn’t convincing enough, she added dismissively, ‘You know Leah anyways, she wouldn’t give if she had’

She wasn’t wrong. Leah had always been selfish, but I had been willing to cling to the smallest hope that she might help Dad.

Maria, however, had already made up her mind. She turned away, pulling her phone out and dialing a number. “I’ll fix this myself,” she muttered.

I listened as her voice softened into something almost desperate. “Edward… yes, I know, but this is urgent… No, listen to me. Dave is in the hospital.I need to talk to Mr Dario. We need the money immediately.”

I stiffened. Dario the man i was to marry. That meant…

My stomach turned as realization dawned.

This wasn’t just about asking for help. This was a deal.

My hands curled into fists as I marched toward her. “Give me the phone.”

Maria raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

I held out my hand. “Let me talk to him.”

She hesitated, but then she sighed dramatically and shoved the phone into my hand. “Fine. But don’t screw this up.”

I lifted the phone to my ear, steadying myself. “Hello?”

There was a pause. Then, a deep, slow voice rumbled through the speaker.

“Dario Harrison.”

I sucked in a sharp breath. My fingers tightened around the phone I had expected to negotiate with whoever Maria was talking to, to deal with someone who wasn’t directly involved. But Dario himself had answered.

That meant he knew. He knew I was desperate. He knew I had no other options. And that put him in control.

For a moment, I considered hanging up. But then I glanced back at the hospital room, at my father lying there, helpless.

I clenched my jaw, forcing down the lump in my throat. “I’ll do it,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper. “I’ll marry you. Just… just help my father.”

Another pause. Then, his voice came through the line, calm but firm.

“Send me the hospital details. Be here by noon tomorrow, the address will be communicated to you.”

The line went dead.

I lowered the phone slowly, my hands trembling. Maria smirked, clearly pleased. “Well, that’s that. You should be grateful. You’ll be marrying into power.”

I barely heard her. My pulse roared in my ears as the reality of what I had just done crashed

down on me.