Chapter 4

I hung up and looked down at my hands. There was dried mud under my fingernails, and my bandages were starting to seep with fresh blood.

Strangely, the physical pain from my torn flesh didn't hurt as much as his accusations of me being "selfish."

I braced myself against the sofa and stood up with difficulty.

Since I was leaving, I needed to take what was mine.

I walked into the bedroom and opened the closet.

It was packed with expensive designer clothes Harvey had bought for me over the years. But every single piece was tailored to Chloe’s style.

Soft, muted, delicate colors.

But I was a trauma surgeon who rappelled down helicopters in thunderstorms.

I hated white.

I yanked the clothes off their hangers and tossed them onto the floor like garbage.

At the very bottom of the closet, I pulled out a worn-out, faded canvas backpack.

It was the backpack I used back when I first met Harvey.

I was a sophomore in medical school back then.

Harvey was the golden boy of the campus—brilliant, wealthy, and admired by everyone.

And by his side, there was always Chloe, looking like a graceful white swan.

But during our senior year, the Williams family went bankrupt overnight.

Shortly after, Harvey was critically injured in a car crash and ended up in the ICU.

The very same night, Chloe boarded a flight to New York.

She said she couldn't handle the struggle. She said her family had arranged a wealthy marriage for her. She said she was sorry.

She left without looking back.

I was the only one who stayed.

I sold my late parents' house, worked three part-time jobs, and paid off his astronomical medical bills.

When the hospital ran out of his rare blood type, I donated 800cc of my own blood in one sitting, almost dying on the donation chair.

While he was comatose, I knelt in that chapel for three days and three nights.

I told God I would gladly trade ten years of my own life just to see him wake up.

And he did.

He held my hand, his eyes red, and swore: "Maya, my life belongs to you now. From this day on, I, Harvey Williams, will only live for you."

For eight years, I stayed by his side. I watched him build his empire from nothing to a multi-billion-dollar corporation.

I thought my love had finally melted his cold heart.

But three years ago, Chloe came back to the States with a clinical depression diagnosis.

The day Harvey went to pick her up from the airport, we were supposed to be choosing our wedding rings.

He took a phone call and abandoned me in the middle of the jewelry store.

From that day on, everything changed.

Chloe was afraid of the dark, so he spent nights at her apartment.

Chloe liked the design of my engagement ring, so he asked me to choose a different one.

And yesterday, he took the cross that had saved his life and hung it around her neck.

How pathetic.

The man I saved with my own blood would crawl back to his first love the second she whistled.

I opened the nightstand drawer and pulled out the cheap backup ring he had bought me.

I placed it on the coffee table, right next to all the black cards and the keys to the Maybach he had given me.

I didn't owe him anything anymore. In fact, he owed me everything.

Suddenly, my phone rang. The caller ID flashed: Harvey.

I watched it vibrate until it was about to go to voicemail before I finally answered.

"Maya! Have you lost your mind?!"

Harvey’s furious voice exploded through the speaker.

"Why did you cancel the venue?! And why did you order the boutique to shred the wedding dress?!"

His breathing was heavy. He was clearly livid.

"That dress was a custom piece! Do you have any idea how much money we have to pay for breaking the contract?!"

I put the phone on speaker and tossed it onto the table.

Then, I went back to packing my old t-shirts into my canvas bag.

"Whatever the cost, I’ll cover it," I said calmly.

There was a sudden silence on the other end.

He clearly didn't expect me to be this calm.

"Maya, what is this tantrum about?" his tone softened a fraction. "I already told you, I’ll take you to the fitting as soon as I get back from Switzerland."

"Do you really have to use such extreme measures just to manipulate me?"

"Manipulate you?" I let out a soft laugh. "Harvey, you highly overrate your own importance."

"What... what do you mean?"

I zipped up my canvas bag and slung it over my shoulder.

"Exactly what I said. The wedding is off. We are done."

"Stop playing games!" Harvey’s voice escalated again. "We've been together for eight years! You’re throwing it all away?"

"Over a stupid cross? Because I postponed a dress fitting by a few days?"

"Maya, when did you become so childish and unreasonable?!"

Listening to his rant, I felt nothing but a deep, suffocating exhaustion.

"Harvey, that wedding dress... was it really designed for me?"