Chapter 4

I sat frozen at the funeral home the whole night.

Cindy posted another picture to her feed.

Stanley was leaning back against a hospital bed, tenderly stroking her hair.

"In the moment I was falling apart, thank God you were there beside me. If you hadn't been willing to donate a kidney to my mom, I might not have a mother anymore."

While my mother went into the crematory furnace and I was screaming out my grief, he was there soothing another woman's feelings.

He wouldn't give me fifty thousand dollars to save my mother, but he gave one of his kidneys to Cindy's mother.

Good people are looked after by heaven. All of it lies, all of it to fool me.

A fine, needling pain spread through my chest.

Another transfer notification came through on my phone.

Stanley called: "How's your mom? I've already sent the money over."

He thought my mother was still alive.

"There's no need."

My voice broke.

My mother was already dead. What good was the money now?

Beside him, Cindy laughed and cooed.

"See? I told you your mom's the type heaven looks after. She'll pull through without any surgery at all."

"Yes, yes, my Cindy is right. How about I get you this bag?"

Stanley's voice was thick with indulgence.

Cindy answered with righteous conviction: "There's no need. One bag costs fifty thousand dollars. I'm not that kind of shallow woman. How could our love ever be measured in money?"

"If I don't buy it for you, how do I prove how much I love you?"

Stanley turned around and had someone buy ten of them, just to prove his heart to Cindy.

I laughed until the tears streamed down.

Half a million dollars in bags, and he bought them for her without so much as a blink.

But my mother's life wasn't even worth fifty thousand dollars.

The month passed quickly.

Three more days, and I could go with Stanley to file for the divorce.

But Stanley showed up at the door in a fury, gave a single order, and had my mother's home smashed to pieces.

The photos of me and my mother lay shattered across the floor.

Her clothes were all burned, not a single piece left.

I broke, screaming at him, "Why? What exactly did I ever do to you?"

Stanley's eyes were cold. "Drop the act. You had Cindy’s smoothie stand trashed, didn’t you?"

"She was badly shaken. She nearly had a miscarriage!"

Back when we were together, whenever I got hurt he was the first to protect me, just like that.

"Something happens to her, and I'm the first person you suspect? We're already divorced. What reason would I have to hurt her?"

But Stanley didn't believe it.

"Cindy wouldn't approve your prenatal checkup, and then she wouldn't let me lend you money for your mother's surgery. You've been holding a grudge."

“Cindy only makes three dollars per smoothie. Do you have any idea how many she has to sell just to make a hundred dollars? And you destroyed her stand without a second thought. Go apologize to her.”

The pain in my chest was choking me.

I slapped him across the face. "In your dreams!"

Stanley sneered and ordered them to bring out case after case of Cindy’s detox smoothies. When I refused to drink them, he had his men force bottle after bottle down my throat.

Only after I vomited did he step forward, unable to bear it, and pat my back. "Will you dare do it again?"

The tears surged like a tide. I shoved him away, hard. "Get out!"

A flight departing in three days popped up on my phone.

"Where are you going? Don't forget, in three days we're getting the divorce papers. If you don't show, Cindy won't be able to deliver in peace."

Stanley's gaze fell on my phone screen, but I covered it quickly.

"It's a flight I booked for a coworker."

Stanley's pitch-black eyes fixed hard on me.

But he didn't press any further.

Three days later, outside the county records office.

Once the divorce papers were signed, Stanley offered to give me a ride.

I thought that was fine. This was probably the last time we would ever see each other.