Chapter 4

I took a deep breath and forced back my tears.

I hadn't paid off the debt yet, and Mom's ashes were still in the hands of those loan sharks. I couldn't afford to give up now.

"Fine. I'll do it."

…

The CEO's office on the top floor was as vast as a palace.

Adriana sat in her leather chair, looking me over in my cheap clothes as I stood there in silence. A complex emotion flashed through her eyes, as if she was deeply pleased to see me finally lower my head.

"Have a seat." She stood up and walked over to the safe. Once there, she entered the code and took out an exquisite mahogany box.

She opened it, and inside lay a yellowed IOU.

I clenched my fists so tightly that my nails dug into my palms.

When Adriana's parents passed away ten years ago, her so-called relatives swooped in and stripped every domestic asset clean. All they left her was a mountain of crushing debt.

It was Mom who sold our family's two shopfronts to fill that hole for a girl who wasn't even her own blood.

That day, Adriana knelt in the living room, sobbing and apologizing for dragging us down with her.

Mom, kindhearted as always and afraid of wounding Adriana's pride, tore off a piece of paper and wrote this IOU on the spot.

She said the money was just a loan, and Adriana could pay it back when she was older and had made something of herself.

However, Mom hadn't even signed it, so how could this be an IOU? If anything, it was nothing more than a merciful adult's instinct to shelter a child from the storm.

Back then, Adriana had tucked the IOU away like it was the most precious thing in the world.

Now, she ran her fingers over it and said with a rare softness in her voice, "Isaac, look. I've kept it all this time. Mrs. Graham wouldn't let me sign it back then. She said I would grow up and make something of myself.

"And now I have. I recovered all of my family's assets that were held overseas. I'm here to repay Mrs. Graham's kindness. I haven't forgotten what she did for me. I can honor this IOU 100 times over now."

She lifted her head and looked at me with burning intensity.

But as I stared at that IOU, I forced a smile that looked even worse than crying.

What a deeply heartfelt way to repay a kindness—except the dead could not receive anything, could they?

With a frown, Adriana pulled out a tissue and handed it to me.

"Alright, drop the tragic hero act. I've booked a Michelin-starred restaurant for tonight. Go pick up Mrs. Graham, and we'll have dinner together. I'll explain everything to her myself. Even if she never forgives me, I'll still take care of her for the rest of her life."

"Dinner?"

I didn't take the tissue. Instead, I just wiped my face roughly with my hand and looked at Adriana, standing there so confident and self-assured.

She looked exactly the way Mom had always hoped she would grow up to be.

What a shame.

"Adriana, Mom can't make it to dinner. And you will never be able to repay her."

Adriana's expression darkened.

"Isaac, how much longer are you going to keep this up? Yes, I know it was wrong of me to leave when Mrs. Graham was having health problems. But everything I did was for our future. I have the best medical team and more than enough money now.

"Whatever is wrong with Mrs. Graham, I can get her the treatment she needs. Why do you keep getting in my way? Are you really going to gamble with Mrs. Graham's life just to spite me?"

I pulled a crumpled, folded sheet of paper from my faded canvas bag. Slowly, I smoothed it out and placed it right in front of Adriana.

It was a death certificate with Mom's name on it.

"Adriana, look closely. Mom is dead. So, tell me, how exactly are you going to repay her now?"