Chapter 4

I paid the last of my money toward Grandma's hospital bill, then filled a basin with warm water, wrung out a towel, and began to wipe her down.

The illness kept her mind clouded most days, but today, for once, she knew me.

"Georgia, you've gotten thin."

My hands stopped for a second, then went on wiping her arm. I smiled.

"Grandma, I've been on a diet lately."

She said nothing, only looked at me, her eyes full of hurt for me.

"I know you've swallowed a lot for me. If it's too much, we can stop the treatment. Grandma's lived over seventy years. That's more than enough."

I dropped the towel back into the basin and turned to wring it out, biting down hard to force the tears back, and when I turned around my face was still smiling.

"Don't think like that. Just rest and get well."

"When you're better, I'll take you to see the school where I studied abroad. Wouldn't that be nice?"

She nodded and said yes, smiling too.

When I got back to the apartment, I found Neal sitting in the living room.

"Where were you?"

I answered with something else entirely.

"Why aren't you with your fiancée? What are you doing here?"

His face went a shade colder.

"Answer me."

"Neal, you know what I hate most is being controlled."

He didn't say another word. He simply scooped me up crosswise and carried me toward the bedroom, and no matter how I struggled, he didn't let go.

He said,

"Georgia, do you still think you're that proud little heiress?"

I'd thought that somewhere in Neal's heart there was still a trace of feeling for me, and that with that much I could keep Grandma and myself alive.

But now it seemed I had misunderstood him.

What Neal wanted was to grind every last shred of my dignity into the ground.

Afterward Neal leaned against the headboard and lit a cigarette.

"Georgia, remember this. You're in no position to question me anymore."

A wave of exhaustion came over me.

He was no longer the man I'd once been willing to stake everything on.

I stared at the ceiling and said, one word at a time,

"What exactly will it take for you to let me go?"

Neal was silent for a long time, so long I thought he wouldn't answer, and then he said it slowly.

"I can let you go."

"Give me a child, and maybe I'll consider giving you and the child a proper title."

My whole body went rigid, and I refused almost on instinct.

"No."

His face changed in an instant.

"No?"

He let out a cold laugh, threw off the covers and got out of bed, and turned his back to me to dress.

"Then there's nothing to talk about. As for your grandmother's medical bills…"

Before he finished, his phone rang, and mine rang too. It was the hospital.

The doctor said Grandma had developed a sudden complication and needed surgery right away, but the deposit already paid wasn't nearly enough to cover it.

I gripped my phone and looked at Neal. He was still gently soothing Layla on the other end of the line, and only made a shushing gesture at me.

I climbed off the bed, shaking so hard I could barely hold myself together.

"Can you lend me the surgery fee first? I'll work myself to the bone to pay you back, my grandmother, she…"

Neal hung up and cut me off, impatient.

"Georgia, I'd think it through before you open your mouth."

I knew he meant the child. But there was nothing I could promise him now.

"I'm begging you…"

He clearly had no wish to hear any of it. He walked past me to the front door, and when he opened it I saw Layla standing outside.

She stood in the doorway as if she hadn't seen the wreck of me at the bedroom door, then turned with a bright smile and slipped her arm through Neal's.

"Let's go. The driver's waiting downstairs."

I threw on my nightgown any which way, meaning to rush forward and beg Neal to just wire me the surgery fee first. If it would save Grandma, I would pay any price.

But Layla's bodyguard blocked me at the elevator.

He passed on a message for her.

"Stop wasting your effort."

By the time I reached the hospital, Grandma had one breath left.

I held her in my arms and watched her mouth open and close without any sound coming out.

I think she wanted to say that once she was gone, I had to take good care of myself.

So I answered her softly.

"Okay."