Chapter 3

The next day, I went to the hospital after work to visit my mother, who was seriously ill. She'd been in the hospital for a long time, and I could never scrape together enough for her medical bills.

I was sitting by her bed peeling an apple when the machines beside her suddenly started blaring an alarm.

A doctor rushed in and examined her, then immediately wheeled her toward the operating room, calling back to me as he went, "Mr. Hawkinson, go pay the fees right now. You've seen your mother's condition for yourself."

Watching my mother convulse, blood bubbling from her mouth, my ears rang and my mind went blank.

I stumbled to the billing office and dug out my wallet and bank cards. Everything I had on me added up to less than 140 dollars.

Just when I was at my wits' end, I ran into Alexis.

She clearly hadn't expected to see me at the hospital. She froze for a moment, then quickly crumpled the paper in her hand into a ball and stuffed it into her handbag.

Right then, I didn't care what she was hiding. All I could think about was my mother in the emergency room.

"My mom was just rushed into emergency care. Can you lend me some money?"

Alexis's brows knitted together. "Wasn't she fine just now? I even checked on her on my way in."

I didn't know how to explain it to her. I would never lie to her using my mother's life.

"It happened all a of sudden. Please, I'm begging you..."

Before I could finish, her phone rang. Maybe she didn't want me to overhear, because she stepped a few paces away.

When she hung up, she took 70 dollars out of her bag and pressed it into my hand. "This is all I have. You'll have to figure out the rest yourself."

I stared at the money as a chill crept up from the soles of my feet and spread through my whole body.

I wanted so badly to ask her: How many seventy-dollar handouts did the mansion she bought Jeff Hocken cost? How many did his luxury car cost?

But right now, with my mother fighting for her life in the emergency room, seventy dollars was all Alexis could give me.

When I didn't say anything, her expression darkened. "Not enough for you? Rudy, you have to understand. My debt's already suffocating me. Think about it... I still have deliveries to make."

Alexis hurried off.

I clutched the money in my fist and went to a jewelry store nearby that bought gold. I slipped the gold-plated silver ring off my finger. I knew it wouldn't fetch much, but every little bit helped.

The owner took one look at the ring and frowned deeply. She took out her phone and sent me a picture. "Online shopping platforms sell these at 1.40 dollars for a pack of ten, with free shipping. Did someone scam you? I can't take this."

My face stiffened, and I forced a smile. "That can't be right. Could you take another look?"

Alexis had told me she'd spent a whole month's pay on this ring. I'd been happy about it for ages.

So that was how cheap I was to her.

The ring was worthless. In the end, I scraped together the money for the surgery by selling plasma.

Mom pulled through, but the doctors had already started urging me to stop treatment. She was the only family I had. How could I give up on her?

It was late when I got home. Alexis was there. For once, she'd made me a plate of spaghetti.

Neither of us said a word at the table. I kept my head down and ate.

Alexis started to say something several times, then stopped. "Rudy, actually, I..."

I looked up at her, expressionless.

The words reached the tip of her tongue, and she swallowed them. "Never mind. I'll go wash the dishes."

She cleared the dishes into the kitchen.

I opened my phone. A notification for Jeff's newest short video popped up. It had been posted right after Alexis left the hospital today.

In the video, the two of them were having a candlelit dinner. I knew that restaurant. It cost 700 dollars a head.

I leaned back in my chair and took in our rental. Alexis and I had lived here for three years, struggling through every one of them.

She could spend over 1,400 dollars on a single meal, yet she couldn't lend me more than 70 dollars.

I lowered my head and booked an appointment with a law firm.

Money or her heart, she'd never given me either one.