Chapter 3

CRYSTAL.

“You must be a fool to think I’ll give you another loan when you’re still owing the management far more than you can pay in a lifetime!”

Kristy’s voice was unapologetically condescending. She snatched the crumpled letter from her desk and threw it at me. The paper hit my cheek before falling to the floor.

I bent quickly to pick it up, with shaking hands.

“Please, ma’am,” I whispered, my knees hitting the cold marble floor. “Please. My child… he needs surgery. He’s very sick. He’s only four, and the doctor said if I don’t pay by Friday...”

“Friday?” she interrupted with a mocking laugh. “Then you better start praying for a miracle.”

“Please,” I begged. My throat was already raw, tears spilling before I could stop them. “You can deduct it from my salary again. I’ll work overtime. I’ll do anything. Please, just help me this once.”

Kristy leaned back in her chair, crossed her legs, and smiled, “Look, Crystal,” she said, flicking invisible dust off her blazer, “I don’t know what you did for the last HR to have loaned you so much, but it ends here. You’ve been with this hotel for what, three years? And you’ve done nothing but owe and beg. It’s pathetic.”

Her words hit me hard.

“I’ve been trying,” I said weakly, wiping my face with trembling hands. “Please, I just need time.”

“Time?” she scoffed. “No. You’ve had enough time. In fact...” she tapped her manicured nails against the desk “...we'll start by taking seventy percent of your salary this month. That should make a dent.”

I gasped. “Seventy percent? But ma’am, I... I can’t survive on that. My rent, my child’s medicine...”

Kristy stood abruptly. “Then figure it out! Maybe stop having children you can’t afford to keep alive!”

Kristy tilted her head and sighed dramatically, as if she pitied me. “You’re such a mess, Crystal. Look at you. Crying again. Every month, it’s the same story — your sick son, your bills, your debt. If you can’t handle your life, that’s not this establishment’s problem.”

I stared at the floor, ashamed to even meet her eyes.

“I’m begging you,” I whispered again, my voice almost gone. “Kay’s all I have. He hasn’t even eaten properly in two days.”

Kristy rolled her eyes. “Then maybe it’s time you faced reality. Go find a charity. Or better yet, give the boy up for adoption. You should’ve done that from the start.”

The room went silent.

Her cruel words kept replaying in my head.

I felt something inside me break all over again.

She didn’t know that I had done it before. That I had already given one away at birth.

The midwife had advised me to give up one of my twins. She was like a mother to me. She said a very wealthy woman was willing to pay a lot of money for a child.

I was homeless. I couldn't even afford food for the newborns. I imagined what life would have been like for both of them with a mother who couldn't even get a decent job.

So, I listened to Ms. Nica. I had to save at least one child from starving.

It was so hard seeing him go. But since she said it was a wealthy woman looking to adopt him, I felt it was the right decision and that he would be in great hands.

That decision still haunted me every night.

But I knew that somewhere on the planet, he would be celebrating his birthday in a grand style tomorrow.

As for Kay, I believed that someday, I'll be able to get him the kind of birthday he deserved.

***

JADEN.

"You're so absentminded, honey. Try to be physically available, just for this once," Valerie whispered with a tight smile.

I didn’t answer her. I just nodded, my eyes already drifting to the small figure running toward me through the crowd of children.

“Daddy!” Jeremy yelled, beaming like sunlight. I forced a smile like I'd been doing for the past five years, scooping him into my arms, "All my friends are here!" He squealed, wrapping his little arms around my neck.

“Really?” I said, setting him back slightly to meet his eyes. “And I bet you’re excited to cut your cake?”

“Yes!” He giggled with bright eyes. “Grandpa and Grandma are also here. Can I get a new toy for a birthday present? I gave all my old ones to the poor children on the street, like Mummy asked me to.” He said, and I smiled.

Valerie chuckled beside me, pleased with herself.

I kissed Jeremy’s fluffy cheek. “You did? That’s a good thing to do, son.”

“Then can I get the new race car?” he asked eagerly.

“We’ll see,” I said, smiling again. But it didn’t reach my eyes. It never did anymore.

Valerie was a good woman. She was patient, polite, and composed. She was the kind everyone said I was lucky to have. But not for me. I’d never loved her. I couldn’t even.

This was all meant to be a means to an end for me, to make the Astors look perfect.

But I never believed it would end up being such a mess.

I'd combed around the entire state and beyond, looking for the one woman who truly mattered to me, but she'd been nowhere to be found. There was not even a trace. It was like she’d disappeared off the face of the earth.

And I hated her for that.

Why the fuck did she have to leave without a word?

Rumor had it that she slept around and ended up pregnant before she ran away because she couldn’t handle the shame. But I was desperate to hear from her. I wanted her to look me in the face and tell me why the hell she couldn't wait for me.

I was only gone for three months, and she couldn't even wait?

Fuck. It hurt.

I was tempted to believe the rumors. Because, after years of searching with nothing to show for it, what was I supposed to think?

She could’ve reached me. She knew where to find me. But she didn’t.

And that burned more than anything else.

"Daddy? You're not saying anything," Jeremy's hand tugged at my sleeve.

I blinked, pulling myself back to the moment. “Yes, honey,” I said quietly. “We’ll get more toys. Maybe go shopping tomorrow. How about that?”

He grinned. “Really?”

“Really,” I said, smiling because that’s what fathers do.

Jeremy was a great kid. The star and the center of attraction. Even though I didn't love his mother, I also wanted to he around to welcome him into this world, but Valerie had insisted I shouldn't.

In fact, she had to go to her aunt's place, just to have our baby. I didn't really care, though. If it were a woman I cared about, I wouldn't have taken no for an answer.

Rick, my head of security, was standing near the gate, watching me with that look that said 'we need to talk'. I nodded to Valerie. “Excuse me.”

She forced a smile and turned back to the guests. I could already hear her laughing with someone else as I walked away.

“Sir,” Rick greeted quietly when I reached him. He sounded tense.

"Tell me you've got something," I said to him when we were finally alone.

Rick hesitated for half a second before handing me a brown envelope. “Yes, sir. We finally found her.”

The moment he said those words, I swear to fuck, the earth stopped spinning.

After five years, suddenly, she existed again.