Chapter 3

My hands were shaking so badly it took me several tries to get Luke on the line.

"Luke, why did you move the money out?"

He let out a short, contemptuous laugh.

"Nanette, and here I thought you were so tough."

"Turns out I just had to move the money and you couldn't hold out anymore?"

"That's my grandmother's surgery money!"

My voice cracked with panic.

"What gives you the right to take it?"

"The right?"

He gave a cold snort.

"Thanks to Eva reminding me, yesterday was the last day of the contract."

"You ran off partway through. You didn't finish the agreement, so that two hundred thousand? You're not getting a cent of it."

A vast absurdity rose up in me.

Even if I didn't marry him, I'd cared for him for three years. Curing his depression was real, something I'd actually done.

What gave him the right to trample me like this.

I forced the anger down, softened my voice, and begged.

"Luke, my grandmother can't wait any longer for the surgery. Please, just give me the money first…"

Before I could finish, Eva's coy voice came through the other end.

"Mr. Henson, we're relighting our spark today. Stop wasting your breath on her."

The call cut off.

I called back, and it was nothing but the busy tone, unreachable, over and over.

I scrambled to my feet, ready to go straight to Cheryl and beg her to help.

A nurse came running.

"Miss Pruitt, it's bad, your grandmother's had a sudden heart attack, they're trying to resuscitate her!"

I rushed into the room.

Doctors and nurses crowded around the bed, working without pause. Her face was ashen, her chest heaving hard.

A nurse handed me a phone, her voice choked.

"Someone just sent your grandmother a video and a message. She collapsed the moment she finished watching."

Hands trembling, I picked up the phone. On the screen was yesterday's wedding footage, and one vicious line of text.

Broke old woman, sending your granddaughter to wait on Mr. Henson, dreaming she can marry into money. Keep dreaming!

My grandmother forced her eyes open, tears sliding down from the corners.

Nan, I'm sorry, your grandmother was useless, I put you through so much…

"No, Grandma, it's not your fault, it's them, they're the bad ones, you're the best grandmother in the whole world!"

I collapsed over the edge of the bed, sobbing until it tore me apart.

"Please, don't leave me."

But the doctors gave everything they had, and still there was nothing they could do.

The flat line on the monitor was like a knife, cutting away every last thing I'd been holding on to.

My heart was completely dead.

My phone chimed. A message from Luke dropped in.

"Nanette, since you only got close to me for the money, I'll give you a chance. A hundred thousand a year, and from now on you serve me personally."

"A woman like you, who can't do anything but wait on people, a hundred thousand is already a sky-high price. Don't be ungrateful."

A hundred thousand a year?

For three years, when his depression struck he couldn't sleep a single night, and more than once he tried to kill himself.

I racked my mind to soothe him, sat with him through to daybreak, and pulled him out of the dark inch by inch.

And in the end, in his eyes, I was worth only a hundred thousand a year, fit for nothing but being a servant who waited on people.

Expressionless, I blocked his number and deleted it, then called my university advisor.

"Professor, three years ago I gave up the chance to do my graduate studies abroad. Is it still open to me now?"

His delighted voice came quickly from the other end.

"Nan, of course, I've kept your place for you all along."

"I always believed in your talent for psychology. Someone will come to take you to leave tomorrow."

I hung up and gently took my grandmother's hand.

"Grandma, we're leaving this place, and we're never coming back."