Chapter 2

If I'd had a glass of juice in my hand right then, I would have thrown it in her face.

If I'd had a stick, I would have swung it straight at her forehead without a second thought.

But I had nothing.

And I was a pregnant woman who could barely move.

All I could do was clench my fists until my nails dug into my palms.

Ten dollars. That was all.

An amount I once wouldn't have glanced at twice, and now I had to beg someone for it.

And my husband's eyes were already flat with impatience.

"Tessa, stop standing there. The bus stop's two hundred yards up ahead."

"Keep dawdling and you'll have to wait for the next one."

Cindy chimed in, sweet as sugar.

"Tessa, if your bus card's out of money, I can put in a request for a five-dollar top-up for you."

Five dollars.

She had the nerve to hand that out like charity.

"I don't need either of you."

I stepped back and waved down the next cab coming toward me.

Cindy leaned back against the car, smug all over her face.

"Tessa, I'm just giving you a friendly heads-up."

"You've already gone over your approved living allowance for the month. If you take a cab now, you'll be borrowing against next month."

I ignored her. Behind me came the sound of Dean and Cindy laughing together.

"Cindy, hiring you at fifty grand a month to manage my assets really was worth every penny. What do you want for dinner tonight? My treat."

"CEO Matthews, I'd love French tonight."

Dean didn't hesitate. "Sure. Book it. That three-star Michelin place from last time."

Cindy shot me a sidelong glance.

"Isn't that too extravagant?"

"That place runs over two thousand a head..."

Dean rolled up the window, smiling. "You're worth it."

A cloud of exhaust, and Dean hit the gas, the car peeling away.

But those words kept echoing in my head. "You're worth it."

The cold seeped through me, all the way into the marrow.

The last time Dean took me for French dinner was a year ago.

Three months ago, the pregnancy made my appetite picky.

I said I wanted French food, and Dean told me,

"That falls under living expenses. Go request it from Secretary Farley."

"If she approves it, I'll take you."

But the second he said it, I'd already given up hope.

Sure enough, the moment Cindy heard I wanted French food,

her mouth dropped open in shock.

"Tessa, do you have any idea how tight things are for the company right now, how carefully CEO Matthews watches every dollar?"

"You're the only one in this family throwing money around. One French dinner is two thousand dollars. That's half a month's living allowance gone."

"So you can eat one meal, you're just not going to live for the rest of the month?"

All I wanted was a meal, and I got chewed out by a junior secretary until I had nothing left.

In the end I was the one who caved.

But Cindy had tasted victory, and after that she only got worse.

She squeezed my living expenses in ways that bordered on cruel.

She wouldn't even approve a ten-dollar cab fare.

Not that I needed it from them anymore.

After the fifth cab driver refused me,

it wasn't long before an expensive black car pulled up in front of me.

"You... you actually came."

Quinn got out, his face dark. He'd come to get me after all.

Once I was in the car, he carefully adjusted my seatbelt for me, then just sat there in silence. He didn't drive. He didn't speak.

I wanted to break the awkwardness, so I reached for something to say.

"Didn't you say you had a meeting today and couldn't get away?"

Silence.

"Ha, it's been half a year, and then I suddenly call you to borrow money. It's kind of embarrassing..."

Still silent.

"Look how nice the weather is out there. There's even a stray dog over there."

Quinn still said nothing.

"Not going to talk to me? Fine, then I'm getting out."

I made a show of reaching for the seatbelt, and only then did I hear the catch in Quinn's voice.

"Tessa Winfield, look at what you've done to yourself."

"I told you not to marry that piece of trash, and you wouldn't listen. You acted like I was the one out to hurt you."

His voice came fast and furious.

"Marry a man like that, and see where it got you."

I froze, and only then did I see his eyes had already gone red.

"You used to buy new clothes every month. You looked so sharp, so stylish. Now look at what you're wearing. It's washed out until it's gray."

"And your phone. The screen's cracked into a spiderweb. Why haven't you replaced it yet?"

"Back then you insisted on marrying him. I thought you were living the good life as some rich man's wife. I never imagined you wouldn't even have ten dollars for a cab..."

I listened quietly to him lay into me.

It was true. Back then, as the boy who'd grown up beside me,

the moment he heard I was going to marry Dean,

his face went black with anger.

I thought at the time it was sour grapes.

So I snapped back at him.

"So marrying you is the only right choice?"

"I know you like me, but you're not mature enough. You're not my type."

"Dean's a little frugal, sure, but it's for a stable life. It's for our good."

"I believe choosing him won't be a mistake."

But it wasn't long before that blew up in my face.