Chapter 4

I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth and turned to leave. My lower abdomen twisted with pain, and my legs were shaking, but I kept my back straight.

The moment I stepped out of the office, the tears I'd been holding back finally came. I cried for myself, for the child who would never be born, and for seven years of love wasted on the wrong man.

My phone buzzed. It was the private investigator.

"Ms. Keller, I found something. The anonymous donor funding the account for your mother's medical expenses isn't Dylan Tate."

For a moment, my mind went blank. My knees buckled, and I caught myself against the wall before I could fall. I should have suspected it years ago.

A few years back, Dylan had run into financial trouble and nearly gone bankrupt. Even then, Mom had never missed a single dose of her medication, though each dose cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

That was when I'd quietly had someone look into it. I just hadn't expected it to take this long.

"So who is it?" I asked.

"We haven't been able to identify the donor yet."

For seven years, I'd believed Dylan was the one paying for Mom's treatment. I thought I owed him, so I spent seven years dating him in secret.

It turned out I'd been wrong about everything.

The private investigator had also traced where Dylan's money had gone over the past seven years.

He discovered that Dylan had stopped putting money toward Mom's medical expenses five years ago. Most of those funds had gone into Jessica's overseas accounts instead.

For seven years, Dylan had repeatedly claimed he was away on business when he was really meeting Jessica in secret. They'd been seeing each other all along.

Tears streamed down my face as I realized what a hopeless fool I'd been. I wasted seven years of love on him.

Then I got devastating news from the hospital.

"Ms. Keller, your mother's tumor ruptured, and she fell into a deep coma. We had no choice but to stop the surgery. We did everything we could."

Tears spilled down my face as I covered my mouth, refusing to let a sob escape.

I was on my way to the hospital when Dylan called.

He sounded guilty. "Ashley, I'm sorry. I just heard about your mom. If I'd known—"

I cut him off. "Dylan, we're done."

He went quiet for a few seconds, then sighed. "Don't say that. Did you forget what your mom wanted? She wanted us to get married. Don't do this, okay? Jessica's already left. We'll make it official tomorrow."

Dylan hung up before I could even refuse.

For seven years, it had always been like this. Dylan and I had never had those long phone calls other couples did. Most of the time, I was left listening to the line go dead.

But this time, I'd finally heard it for the last time.

While I was still grieving, Mom's doctor called.

A leading specialist in Marovia had agreed to review Mom's case, and he'd successfully treated similar cases before. But in a week, he was due to leave for another country to join a medical aid mission.

The window was tight, so we needed to leave as soon as possible. Without hesitation, I packed my bags that night and caught the first flight to Marovia before dawn.

Before I left, I handed the butler a black gift box. "Please give this to Dylan when he gets back."

As I walked through the front gate, I couldn't help glancing back at the place I'd lived for seven years.

Then I turned around and walked away without another glance.