Beranda / She Paid His Way With Mine / Bab 1 - Bab 8

Semua Bab She Paid His Way With Mine: Bab 1 - Bab 8

8 Bab

Chapter 1

I froze, struck dumb, like I'd been hit by lightning.Just then, the bank manager's voice came through, shaky with fear, "Ms. Cooney, Steve Deaton tried to withdraw thirty thousand dollars from the fund a little while ago. I managed to stop him just in time. It was close.""Good."Donna Cooney's cigarette glowed and dimmed in her hand, a shadow of worry crossing her eyes. "Andrew's been spoiled his whole life. I don't want people mocking him for being useless when he gets married. Every dollar in that fund came from Steve's hard work. Having it behind Andrew will make his future in-laws think more of him."The manager gave an awkward chuckle, then asked hesitantly, "But Mr. Deaton's hundred-thousand-dollar share hasn't come together in a while now. That doesn't seem like him..."Donna stubbed out her cigarette, unhurried, "That's all my doing. Andrew isn't ready to bid his singlehood goodbye yet. I have to wait until he's married before I marry. There's no rush."The moment she

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Chapter 2

Three straight days of funeral rites were enough to cry every tear I had left.The whole world knew my mother had died. Donna was the only one who didn't.She knew I'd gone without food and sleep in order to save three hundred thousand dollars. I'd even treated the office and business dinners like my real home.I'd drunk myself into a stomach bleed at one of those dinners, and she'd once sat by my bed, worried sick. "Steve, you don't have to push yourself this hard. If it really comes down to it, you have me."I'd taken that as real affection. I never imagined that she was using my blood and bone to pave the way for her adopted brother.Maybe it was because I was too raw, too fragile right then, but a thought crossed my mind. Donna should have sensed something was wrong with me. She could have at least called to check on me.But the trending topics showed her running from one auction house to the next, sparing no expense collecting gifts for Andrew's future wife.[Cooney Group's

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Chapter 3

Donna walked in, her eyes sweeping over the scorched proposal, and she scrambled to pull it out of the fire.My throat tightened with a bitter ache, but I forced my voice steady. "It's nothing. It fell in by accident."Donna didn't think much of it. She stayed up all night printing me a brand-new copy. "Be there on time for tomorrow's bidding conference."The next day, the bidding conference was packed, every corporate heavyweight in the city showing up.But all the attention in the room was on Andrew, dressed in an extravagant tailcoat, his arm wrapped intimately around Donna's waist as he charmed the crowd.He might as well have been the guest of honor that night.Then, the moment my proposal went up on the big screen, the whole room erupted. "Isn't this Andrew Cooney's idea? How shameless does someone have to be to steal another man's work?""Let's call it what it is: plagiarism. He'll do anything to marry into money and finish that fund of his!""Good thing Andrew already

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Chapter 4

For a long moment, I stood there stunned, unable to process that those words had actually come out of Donna's mouth.My mother's family home was the only thing she'd left me, the one keepsake my father had given her before he died.Even when my mother's life had hung by a thread, I hadn't dared sell it for medical bills. "No."My voice came out firm, but it only earned me a performance of guilt and remorse from Andrew. "Steve must still be angry at me for embarrassing him. I'll sign my proposal over to him, as long as he agrees to auction off his family home instead of dragging Donna's name through the mud."Blood rushed to my head, and I came close to losing it entirely. "That's mine! It was always mine!""Enough!"Donna's hand cracked across my face before I even saw it coming. "What exactly are you being so dramatic about? Worst case, you rent your mother a place to live in. Is that really worth causing trouble for Andrew?"My head snapped to the side from the blow, but

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Chapter 5

After everyone had cleared out, I meant to take one last look at the family home before rushing to catch my flight.I never expected the door to slam shut and lock behind me.A group of rough-looking women in black came toward me, already pulling at their clothes. "Andrew already sold you off to us. I want to see for myself just how good Donna's fiance really is!"My ears rang. I spun around and pounded on the door like a madman, but no one answered.In the middle of my struggle, they forced a pill into my mouth, and my mind went hazy almost instantly.Through my swimming vision, I saw my mother's portrait, and it looked like she was crying, grieving for me...-Donna sat in the car, typing out a message. [There's only a hundred thousand dollars left to save. Push a little harder, and our wedding day will be here before you know it.]But the message vanished without a trace, like a stone dropped into the sea.Before she realized it, her car had already pulled up to Steve's fam

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Chapter 6

Looking at the photo and the candles on the table, Donna was too stunned to speak."Steve's mother... is dead?"Out of everyone, Steve's mother had been the one most in favor of her and Steve being together.Just a few days ago, she'd called, anxious, asking about the wedding date.How could she possibly have died so suddenly?Then her assistant found the medical records. "That's right. She suffered a sudden stroke and needed a large sum for treatment right away. Unfortunately, Mr. Deaton couldn't come up with the thirty thousand dollars in time, so..."Thirty thousand dollars. The number hit her like a bullet between the eyes.She suddenly remembered Steve trying to withdraw thirty thousand dollars from the fund, then coming to her, out of character, to ask for a loan.Could his mother's life have already been hanging by a thread back then?And if that was true, she realized with a jolt, Steve must hate her down to the bone.The feeling in her chest only grew heavier.It re

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Chapter 7

By the time my former boss, Samantha Gilmore, pulled me out of the family home, my mind was already scattered, every second of the humiliation I'd just endured still fresh. "Just get me out of here..."Once the plane took off, it felt like I was truly saying goodbye to that city.More than that, I'd finally left Donna behind. I no longer chased after the idea of marrying her.But I hadn't expected Donna's wedding announcement to dominate the trending topics.[Wasn't the Cooney family's future son-in-law supposed to save three hundred thousand dollars first? Why the sudden exception for this wedding?][But the groom still hasn't shown up to confirm anything. Could this just be wishful thinking on Donna's part?][No way. Steve Deaton practically clawed his way into the Cooney family. He's probably thrilled and just playing it cool.]...I scrolled through the photos from the venue, trending online, every detail of it meticulously arranged.The old version of me would have rush

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Chapter 8

Donna's hand froze in midair, her lips parting in shock.She probably never imagined, not in her whole life, that I'd be the one to say the word "finished" to her face.After all, I'd once buried myself in work without a thought for my own life, just to earn the right to marry her, too busy to even pick up my own physical exam results.My stomach, still torn up from drinking, hadn't even healed before I was out again with a briefcase, entertaining clients over contracts.Back then, Donna had still cared about me, at least a little. She'd said, "Or, I could help you, you know."But I hadn't caught even a trace of guilt in her voice; she only smiled and said, "It's fine. We'll be married soon."Soon. How soon was that supposed to be?A month. A year. Maybe five years.She would never understand how much it hurt, saving toward that last one hundred thousand, every time some sudden "setback" knocked me back to zero.Especially the helplessness I'd felt when my mother needed money

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