Chapter 4

I hung up before she could finish.

Pressing my cheek against Dad's urn, I whispered the same words over and over.

"I don't need it anymore. Your money. Your love. None of it.

"I'm taking you home, Dad. To our home."

Numb, I carried his ashes back to the house I'd shared with Vivian for seven years.

There was nothing left there for me.

I wanted to take Dad back to the town where he and Mom had raised me. Warren and Diane Hayes had bought that house together. He belonged next to her.

I tore up all eighty-one love letters I'd written Vivian, from childhood onward. I smashed our wedding portrait. I broke apart the furniture we'd chosen together, tore down the decorations we'd hung, and destroyed every gift she'd ever given me.

Then I gathered my essential documents. Apart from Dad's ashes, they were all I took.

I was heading out to catch the earliest flight when the hospital called.

"Mr. Hayes, we found something of your father's in his room."

It was a flash drive.

There was only one video on it.

I opened it and heard Julian's voice.

"You know why you're still alive, Mr. Hayes? Your son streams twenty-four hours a day. That's what it takes to scrape together one day of your treatment.

"You saw the news. That income's gone now."

He paused.

"Want to know what Vivian said? If he agrees to stay on as her side piece, she'll pay the six thousand a day to keep you here.

"Is that what you want? For him to swallow all that humiliation just so you can keep breathing?"

On the screen, Dad struggled for air. Tears ran down his face.

He looked toward the tiny camera hidden among the leaves of a potted plant.

Every word cost him.

"Nolan. I'm sorry. I've made life so hard for you.

"Don't let anyone do this to you, son. Live the life you want.

"Don't blame yourself when I'm gone. Remember… I'll always love you."

Then he reached up and disconnected his life support, and died there on the screen while I watched.

The video ended. My reflection stared back at me, streaked with tears.

I shook so hard I could barely hold the phone. I tasted blood in my mouth.

Dad had loved me more than anything. What had it done to him to see me treated like that?

Grief gave way to a rage so enormous it swallowed everything else.

Julian had driven the last person who loved me to his death.

I wanted him to pay.

I found him and went straight for his throat.

"You killed him. Why?"

My voice broke into a scream. "Why did you say those things to my father? I'll kill you!"

He looked terrified at first.

Then he smiled at me. There wasn't a trace of remorse in his eyes.

"Sorry. But Vivian still wanted to keep you around. I needed you to give up on her and leave for good. What else was I supposed to do?"

Vivian rushed in and shoved me away from him.

She immediately turned to check his injuries.

I stumbled backward and fell down the stairs.

She didn't even look at me. She put her arms around Julian and hurried him to the hospital.

Once he was settled, she pulled out her phone, still furious.

Her message ordered me to come to the hospital, get on my knees, and apologize. Otherwise she'd stop paying for Dad's care.

It didn't go through. Neither did the next one.

Only then did she realize I'd blocked her.

Her expression stiffened.

When her calls wouldn't connect either, she phoned the hospital and told the nurse to pass on a message.

"Tell Nolan to get back here and apologize to Julian. Or I'm cutting off his father's payments today."

The nurse hesitated.

"Ms. Sterling… Your husband didn't tell you? Mr. Hayes died several days ago. He took his own life."