Chapter 4

04

5

The moment Chester left, the little crowd of onlookers scattered too.

I shut the door and looked at the broken shards of porcelain all over the floor,

and it left a tangle of feelings in me.

The truth was, I wasn't as cold-blooded as I made myself out to be.

It was just that over all these years, I'd learned to hide my soft heart away.

Otherwise they'd have picked me clean long ago, down to the bone.

Just then, my phone suddenly rang.

It was my mother-in-law.

I hit answer without a second thought.

A moment later her gentle voice came through: "Nia, sweetheart, off work yet? I made your favorite braised pot roast. What time will you be home?"

Warmth spread through me, and my voice softened. "Mom, I just finished up here. I'll be home soon."

"Good. Drive safe. I'm heading out in a bit, so if the food's gone cold, remember to have Des heat it up for you."

"Okay... thank you, Mom."

When I hung up, my eyes suddenly stung with tears.

Back when I married Desmond Henson, my mother didn't give me a single cent as a dowry.

She said a married daughter was water poured out, and I shouldn't count on Whitney money to help an outsider.

I'd expected Desmond's parents to look down on me, maybe even try to stop the marriage.

But once they heard what I'd been through, they said right then that they didn't want any dowry at all.

They even worried I might feel some kind of way about it, so they gave me an eight-hundred-thousand-dollar wedding gift on their own.

And in all our years married, my mother-in-law has treated me like her own daughter.

Sometimes I even wonder whether I'm her daughter or my own mother's.

But it's thanks to her and the rest of them.

They gave me the backbone to stand up to that mother and son.

Otherwise...

I'd probably still be living down in the Whitney mud, afraid to lift my head.

Afterward, I swept up the broken porcelain in the office, changed into my street clothes, and left for the day.

But the second I stepped off the elevator, I saw my brother crouched at the end of the hallway.

The calm I'd just gotten back sank right down again.

6

Seeing me come out, Chester scrambled to his feet.

He said, all fawning, "Nia, you're off? Look, I was wrong before, I shouldn't have flown off the handle, don't be mad at me over it... I already talked it out with your sister-in-law, she chewed me out, and I know I was in the wrong now. Mom's surgery money, I'm willing to pay for it... but... I really can't come up with a hundred and fifty thousand right now. Can you front it for me first? I swear... I'll pay you back a hundred percent this time."

I looked at him, and I couldn't name what I felt.

All these years, he'd always been like this.

As if I was born to pick up his tab.

"I can lend it to you." I looked at him.

"But you have to sign an IOU, with interest at the bank rate. Agree to that, and I'll lend you the money."

When he heard me ask for interest, the smile froze on Chester's face.

"Nia, we're brother and sister by blood, what's this about interest? Don't you think you're going a little too far..."

"Haven't you heard the saying? Even blood siblings keep the accounts straight." I gave him a flat, expressionless look.

"This money didn't fall out of the sky. I earned it one surgery at a time, standing on my feet. I pay interest even when I borrow from my in-laws, so why would I not charge you? Agree, and I'll go arrange Mom's surgery. Don't agree, then keep dragging it out. Whatever happens to Mom, the responsibility isn't on me anymore. It's on you, the son who couldn't come up with the money."

Chester saw I'd really set my mind on it this time, and knew no amount of playing pitiful would work.

On top of that, once Mom's life was saved, he could go on living off her pension every month.

So he gritted his teeth and said, "Fine! I agree! It's just interest, right? I'll pay it!"

I took out the IOU template I'd prepared ahead of time and held it out to him.

From the moment I learned my mother was in the hospital, I'd known those two would pull exactly this.

So I'd had Desmond draw up the template in advance, then printed it out at a print shop nearby.

Chester's finger was shaking as he pressed his red fingerprint onto it.

As if it wasn't borrowing a hundred and fifty thousand, but carving out half his life.

I put the IOU away and immediately transferred three hundred thousand to the hospital's payment account.

The moment he saw the screenshot, Chester finally let out a breath.

He looked like he wanted to say something more, but I just picked up my bag and walked off.

With a bloodsucker like that, I honestly had no idea what there was left to say.