To Court His Crush, He Left My Mom to Die

Clutching my mother's death certificate in my trembling hands, I felt like an empty shell. My eyes were dry, unable to shed even a single tear. I was too numb to cry.I called Zachary over and over again, but he never picked up.When my mother's condition worsened, I begged him to pull some strings, to move her up the transplant list faster. He knew how desperate I was, but he still refused."If I did that," he said, "what about the patient who's next in line? That person has been waiting just as long. It wouldn't be fair."Zachary grew up in a small border town and was the only child to graduate from a prestigious university. He had no family connections or privileges, and he became a well-known professor entirely by his own efforts and talent. He despised injustice, both at the hospital and the university.That was why it was so hard to believe that the man who claimed to uphold fairness had stolen my mother's kidney and given it to someone else!I rushed to the door of Ella'

When Ella first started appearing around Zachary, his behavior changed in ways that were impossible to ignore. He would sit at home, eyes glued to his phone as if waiting for something. Then he went and bought a privacy screen protector for his device. When I asked, he claimed it was to stop people at the hospital from snooping because some people liked to do so.I didn't say much at the time, but a woman's intuition was rarely wrong. Little by little, the name Ella began slipping into Zachary's conversations. That was when I knew something was off. What I never expected was that he would go so far as to bend the rules and sacrifice my only living family member for her.After that call, Zachary stopped contacting me altogether. I knew what he was waiting for. He was waiting for me to give in and admit my fault. Unfortunately, I had no time to talk to him because I was too busy planning my mother's funeral.My mother had always told me she didn't want anything extravagant. As long

I don't remember how I left the café. Zachary said he was going to be promoted to associate director at the hospital. "I can't afford any problems right now," he said, as if that justified everything. He reminded me that my mother had passed away and that he was the only family I had left. "Think it over," he added coldly. "What good will it do you to leave me?"Online advice would often tell women not to stay with a man while he "grows up," yet some people, like me, always thought they were the exception, that they had chosen wisely. That confidence would almost always be shattered. It happened to me, too.Somewhere along the way, Zachary had changed. The compassion and sense of justice that once defined him as a doctor had eroded. All that remained in his eyes was an insatiable hunger for power and control. There was no reasoning with him anymore. He had become a man I could no longer communicate with.I had my lawyer file for divorce.A week later, we were in court. Unfortun

I took out my phone, looked up Ella's Facebook, and showed him one by one.He only looked at two and then glanced elsewhere."Zachary, I used to think that you were sincere, careful, responsible as a doctor, and loving. I was proud of you. You were upright and never showed any favoritism. Even when my mother was sick, I didn't push you to go against your principles."But then Ella came into the picture, and I realized those so-called principles only applied depending on who was involved."If you love her so much, why do you keep coming back to me?" I asked.Zachary's face twisted in embarrassment, his lips moving as if he wanted to say something but couldn't.Just then, Sean appeared. He strolled over, still talking on the phone, and shot me a subtle glance.Without saying anything, he activated the speaker. Desperation laced Ella's tone as she spoke over the phone. "Sean, don't listen to Zachary's rubbish. We've broken up for a long time."If it wasn't for my mom needing a kid