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Chapter 4

Author: Andy
The next day, the photo business reopened.

I needed money, and I needed crowds.

Crowds meant the Cranes couldn't grab him in the open.

Sure enough, Vivian came back again.

No bodyguards this time. She brought a doctor.

The doctor walked in and went straight for an evaluation of Adrian.

I blocked him.

“Which hospital?”

The doctor pushed up his glasses. “Private team.”

“Are you licensed?”

Vivian sneered. “Don't play expert, Romy.”

I dialed the medical board on the spot.

The doctor turned to leave.

From behind the staircase, Adrian whispered, “Fake doctor.”

I looked at him.

“How did you find out?”

“His shoes are like the uncle's.”

I looked down.

The doctor's dress shoes really were the same custom pair Gerald always wore.

It wasn't exactly hard evidence.

But it was disgusting enough.

As I forced Vivian out, she threw one last line over her shoulder.

“You think you're worth something? Go ask your dad why Adrian married you.”

The smile slid off my face.

That afternoon, I drove back to the Bell factory.

I pushed open the office door.

My dad, Frank Bell, was smoking. The second he saw me, it slipped out. “Where's the money?”

I cut straight to the point. “Dad. Why did Adrian marry me, back then?”

Frank's hand jerked, and ash burned into his leg. “It was an arranged match,” he said.

“Arranged? Our junk little factory was good enough to marry into the Cranes?”

I stared him down.

“What actually happened?”

My brother, Danny, came in.

“Sis, stop pushing him.”

“The loan shark behind that debt was Gerald Crane.”

“Gerald wanted you. Dad already signed. He was going to hand you to Gerald as a mistress to clear the debt.”

My head rang like someone had cracked it with a hammer.

“Gerald?” I stared at Frank. “He's two years older than you. You were going to make me his mistress?”

Frank couldn't look at me. He stammered, “I had no choice. He said he'd break my legs.”

“And Adrian?” I kept my eyes locked on him.

Danny said through tears, “Adrian found out. He married you himself, on purpose.”

So it was never an arranged match.

My own parents were going to shove me at an old creep to clear a debt.

And the husband who'd given me cold looks for a year had used a marriage to drag me out of the fire.

My mother rushed in, sobbing, snot and tears, grabbing at me.

“Romy, I had no choice either. In the end you married Adrian just fine, didn't you? You've got food, clothes, nothing to want.”

I threw her hand off.

I thought I was the dutiful eldest daughter, bearing it all. To them, I was just an asset to be cashed in.

“From today on, the Bells live or die on their own. Not my problem.”

“How dare you!” Frank slammed the table and roared.

I wouldn't even waste another look on him. I turned and left.

I'd just reached the factory gate when Walter called, his voice all panic.

“Ma'am. The uncle just took someone, said he was taking the young master for a checkup. The young master's been put in a car.”

Gerald had grabbed Adrian while I was gone.

My head rang again. I flagged a cab and gave the name of Gerald's favorite haunt, the Crescent Club.

The driver saw how pale I was. “Catching a cheater, miss?”

I stared straight ahead.

“Rushing to grab back my idiot.”
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  • The Crash Left My Husband With the Mind of a Child   Chapter 10

    Six months later, my “Don't Ask” had opened a branch.The branch was called “Still Asking.”Customers loved it.They said one look at the owner and you knew there was a story.I'd say, “The story's not for sale. Wontons are eight bucks.”Danny came by to help sometimes.Frank Bell came looking for me once.I didn't see him.I had Danny pass along a message:“He gets whatever support he's legally owed. Affection's off the table.”Not every parent earns the right to a child's heart.I didn't go digging for news about the Cranes.But it drifted in anyway.Adrian cleaned out the Crane board.Vivian went abroad. Tessa's allowance card got cut off, and she started selling her luxury goods to get by.People still called her Auntie Sprout.Word was she hated pothos most of all.I listened for a while and laughed out loud.One day a special customer came into the shop.Walter.He stood in the doorway holding a big cardboard box.“Mrs—Miss Bell.”I wiped my hands on my apron.“Walter. What can I

  • The Crash Left My Husband With the Mind of a Child   Chapter 9

    Adrian settled into the town.He rented the second floor across the street.Every morning he lined up to buy wontons.The old folks watched the show at first, then started stirring the pot.“He looks pale today, give him two extra.”I said, “His face is expensive. The wontons aren't.”“He fixed my door lock yesterday.”I said, “Then you put him on payroll.”“He's so tall, one bowl won't fill him up.”I'd had it.“Whose relative is he, exactly?”An auntie smiled, eyes crinkling.“We're relatives of love.”I nearly bent the strainer in half.Adrian ate with his head down, the corner of his mouth twitching just slightly.My mother came to the town once.She was dressed too thin, crying. “Romy, I was wrong.”I looked at her red, frozen hands.It wasn't that it didn't hurt.But hurt or not, I couldn't hand myself back.I asked her, “If you had it to do over, would you sell me to Gerald?”Her crying stopped.The silence was the answer.I nodded.“Then you weren't wrong.”“You just lost your

  • The Crash Left My Husband With the Mind of a Child   Chapter 8

    Adrian came anyway.That day the town got hit with a downpour, mud splashing everywhere.I pushed up the shutter at dawn and there was a black umbrella standing by my foot.A sticky note hung on the handle.“Don't get rained on.”It was Adrian's handwriting.I took the umbrella in and hung it in the corner.By the lunch rush, the shop was loud and packed.A man in a suit was hunched in the corner, black mask on, having ordered an eight-dollar bowl of plain wontons.I carried it over.He kept his head down. “Thanks.”I stared at him.“Adrian.”He stiffened.I set the bowl down.“Keep pretending and I'll dump three spoons of vinegar in.”He pulled off the mask.He'd lost weight.There were shadows under his eyes.It was still that same infuriating face.The aunties in the shop went silent in an instant.Someone whispered, “This your ex?”I said, “No. Not divorced yet.”The auntie's eyes lit up.“Then there's still a shot.”I said, “No. There's no shot.”Adrian ate his wontons, head down.

  • The Crash Left My Husband With the Mind of a Child   Chapter 7

    I wanted to explain.I wanted to ask about the note, ask why he'd said nothing about any of it.But the way he looked at me, it was like he'd flipped through every page of the last few days and then burned each one.I was suddenly afraid.Afraid he'd snap back into the old, ice-cold Adrian.Afraid he'd ask about me using him to make money, dragging him around to apologize, putting him on livestreams.So I did the most cowardly, and most correct, thing of my life.I turned and ran.Out of the courthouse, into a cab, onto the train, all in one clean motion.My phone rang the whole way.I didn't pick up.Once I was aboard, I texted Walter.“Remember to water the pothos.”I thought about it and added one more line.“Remind him to eat.”Then I powered off the phone and pulled the SIM.Outside the window, a tall figure in a white shirt sprinted onto the platform.Through the glass, our eyes met.The train pulled out, and he didn't catch it.I sank back into my seat and finally cried.Very qu

  • The Crash Left My Husband With the Mind of a Child   Chapter 6

    Gerald didn't come at me in the open again.But the Crane family's nastiness started popping up one piece at a time.First I got reported for “operating illegally.”I turned the photo sessions into a private tea club and renamed the booking fee a “pothos-care sponsorship.”Then Tessa posted online, claiming I was exploiting my brain-damaged husband to cash in on pity.So I posted the receipts.Every dollar of income went into a dedicated account.The purpose was spelled out clearly:Medical costs. Caregiver costs. Security upgrades. Pothos repotting.The last item set the comments off.Adrian himself went on camera to explain.“Sprout grew up. He needs a bigger house.”It hit the top of trending instantly.[I'm crying, Sprout did nothing wrong, buy him a mansion.][Auntie Tessa, quit being bitter, you rank below a houseplant.]People chased Tessa around calling her “Auntie Sprout” until she deleted her account overnight.I laughed until my stomach hurt.Then I got down to business.Mr.

  • The Crash Left My Husband With the Mind of a Child   Chapter 5

    When I got there, the guard at the door stopped me.“Private venue.”I held up my phone and started a livestream.Title: [Rich simpleton kidnapped by his own uncle. Wife storming in to get him back.]By the time I burst into the club, the stream had over ten thousand people in it.I kicked open the door of the top private room.Inside, Gerald had Adrian by the wrist, trying to press a red thumbprint onto the transfer agreement for the Southbridge project.Adrian still clutched half a slice of cake, eyes rimmed red.He saw me like he was seeing a rescue. “Boss.”“Gerald.” My voice cracked like a whip.His face changed. “Romy Bell, you don't get a say in here. He has to sign this today.”“He's legally incompetent. His print is worthless paper.”I held up the phone and took a step closer.Gerald dropped his voice. “Don't forget, your dad's rotten debt is still in my hands. Stop him from signing and I'll have your dad in a cell tonight.”Half a day ago, I might have hesitated.Now I just l

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