Chapter 3 A Heart

Time kept ticking. Joseph and Irene refused to admit defeat just like that. So, she grabbed her phone and went to the balcony. She called the relatives and bankers who called themselves her closest allies just to get a loan for this crisis.

In the past, they would immediately answer her call. But now, they would either refuse to take her call, or their phones were straight-up dead.

When her call did go through, they would make up a flimsy excuse and hang up right after they heard it was the Sawyers.

Joseph was in a corner in the living room, calling overseas venture capital firms. Alas, the answers he got only killed his hope bit by painful bit. All his financial avenues were blocked, so much so that not even the money from their mortgaged items could come through.

The business world was a cruel, merciless place. Everyone wouldn't hesitate to kick a dog while it was already down.

Zack opened his eyes and hummed an unknown tune. He looked like a predator perched on top of a roof, watching its prey squirm right before it swooped in for the kill.

He started sizing me up as well, like I was some sort of cattle. Irene put her phone down, her face white.

Eventually, she couldn't hold it back anymore as she crouched down and started quietly sobbing into her hands. Joseph walked up to the floor-to-ceiling window, forlornly looking at the night view.

Philip was leaning on the back of his chair, his eyes closed. He seemed to have aged ten years since the conversation with Zack began.

I remained in my corner, watching these elites fall from grace.

I thought they would point fingers at one another or get into a brawl for the last scraps.

After all, family meant nothing to these aristocrats, at least that was what I thought. So, what happened next surprised me. Joseph took a deep breath and turned around. He went to the coffee table and took off his watch.

Then, he took out his car keys and wallets and piled them up. Irene stopped crying and shakily rose to her feet. She then took off her sapphire earrings and put them together with Joseph's stuff.

Zack snickered. "What's wrong? Are you two going to sell everything you have on your person to scrape up some money, Ms. Sawyer and Mr. Sawyer?"

He kicked the coffee table with the tip of his shoe and mocked, "These only come up to millions at most. Do you really think that's enough to cover up a billion-dollar hole?"

Jonathan was confused. "Irene, Joseph, what are you guys doing?"

Joseph didn't look at him. Instead, he turned to me. "We aren't planning to fill the hole with this. Felicia, this might be it for our family."

I stared at them, utterly stunned.

Irene sidled up to him. She looked at me with red-rimmed eyes and spoke with what was left of her pride. "You love money, don't you? You want one last payout before the breakup? Pawn these things off, then. You can get enough money out of them to last you for a while."

She inhaled deeply.

When she spoke again, there was resignation in her voice. "You can consider it as us pitching in for Jonathan to compensate you. Take it and leave. You'll only be leered at if you stay."

I didn't move. I looked at the pile of shiny items, my heart surging with a well of emotions. These people only saw me as Jonathan's plaything, but they didn't use me as a shield when the going got rough for them.

Instead, they gave me the last of their assets as compensation and told me to leave.

Zack found this scene before him utterly absurd. The mocking smirk playing on his lips deepened as he drawled, "Ah, rich people with a heart of gold. No wonder gold diggers are drawn to you lot."

He slowly approached me and declared arrogantly, "Felicia, what future will you have, staying with a loser like Jonathan, especially when he'll be saddled with debts? Why don't you become my woman?

"The Sawyers are doomed. You can be my plaything and bear me a child. Ah, but here's a disclaimer. I'm not as foolish as Jonathan. You won't be getting that much money from me. However, I will feed you. Just enough so you wouldn't starve to death, though."