After Seven Years, I Chose Leave, He Begged Too Late

I was packing when the phone cut through everything—sharp, insistent. Grandma Charity's number.

Dread hit me before I even answered.

"Willow? It's Uncle Ferris."

"Your grandma collapsed. Acute leukemia. The surgery alone is over three million. What are we going to do?"

"I've got eighty thousand saved up, that's my funeral money, it won't last her a week."

Grandma raised me. She was everything I had.

I looked at the bank card on the table. Then I lowered my head.

"Don't panic, Uncle Ferris. I'll figure something out."

I pulled that familiar number out of my blacklist and dialed, swallowing every shred of dignity I had left.

The call cut off almost immediately. I couldn't reach him. But when I turned to the TV, there he was:

*Simmons Group sole heir spotted with fiancée at baby appointment—Harbor City's golden couple.*

So today was Zelda's checkup day. And Drew was right there beside her.

I transferred every cent I'd saved, a little over three hundred thousand, to buy what time I could.

Drew didn't call back until evening.

"Please. Can you save my grandma? I need the money on that card."

I'd never heard my own voice that low. I wasn't asking for anything except her life.

On the other end, Drew let out a cold, satisfied sound. In his mind, I was exactly what he'd expected: crawling back.

"Come to River Isle Estate tonight. Bring yourself."

That voice—someone who owned everything and knew it—made my whole body go numb.

But the hospital bill Uncle Ferris forwarded left no room for hesitation.

I clenched my teeth and forced out a single word: "Fine."

River Isle Estate. The home Drew had prepared for Zelda. Their future marital home.

Every hallway, every room was lined with photographs of the two of them.

"How's your grandma doing?"

Drew's voice came from behind me.

Behind him, their wedding portraits covered the entire living room wall.

In the largest frame, Zelda nestled against his chest, smiling like she'd won the world.

I forced my voice out, rough and scraped raw:

"She's still in the ER. Waiting for the money so they can operate."

Drew walked toward me slowly, stopping close enough to look down at me.

His dark eyes held no warmth at all. Only possession, bare and undisguised.

"Save her? You were about to leave me. Why would I save anyone for you?"

I bit down hard on my lip, tears of humiliation burning at the edges of my eyes.

"Then what do you want?"

He leaned in close to my ear. His breath was warm against my skin, and it turned me cold all the way through.

"Stay. No more talk of leaving. No interfering with me and Zelda. Be my mistress. For the rest of your life."

My whole body shook. My knees nearly gave out. My nails dug into my palms until they broke skin, but I couldn't feel it.

I closed my eyes, summoned every last scrap of strength in my body, and said, word by word: "Okay."

As long as Grandma lived, I could bear it.

He beckoned me over the way you'd call a pet.

He buried his face in my neck and bit down, hard.

"There you go."

He seized my waist and yanked me into him so roughly my arms ached from the force.

"If you'd been this obedient from the start, you could've saved yourself the pain."

"Willow, I love you."

He said all the pretty things that night. All I felt was the humiliation.

A long time later, he was finally satisfied. He lit a cigarette.

"Relax. As long as you behave, I'll cover all of your grandma's treatment costs."

I turned my face away so he wouldn't see the tears sliding down.

The moment I had the money, I transferred it to Uncle Ferris. But I was one step too late.

"Willow, it came on too fast. Your grandma's gone."

My legs went out from under me. My forehead cracked against the corner of the table and I didn't feel a thing.

I still couldn't save her.

Before the grief had even begun to loosen its grip, my phone lit up with a message from an unknown number.

"Let's meet. This is Zelda Harding."