Seven Years of Love, Traded for One Night

The moment she saw me, Blair immediately smiled. “Go chase your dream. Pick it back up. The caregiver will take care of me.”

Only parents loved like that, unconditionally. I collapsed into her arms, tears spilling freely.

I had finally made the decision to leave Blair.

Even after my application had been approved, Blair still hadn’t come home.

I sent her the divorce papers and began clearing out my things from the villa.

Once everything was gone, I realized the villa felt different; maybe I had been the intruder all along.

While I was on the phone with a professor overseas, Blair suddenly walked in with Dawson.

Dawson looked around, gave a little “Oops,” and awkwardly asked, “Did we interrupt? Were you talking to Senior Landers?”

Blair snatched my phone from my hands, her face clouded with frustration.

Seeing the number wasn’t even saved in my contacts, she smirked.

“To piss me off, you’re talking to some random woman?”

This “Senior Landers” Dawson had mentioned, and I had only exchanged a few words during the student council days. But to Dawson, it was something much worse.

I clenched my fists, trying to reclaim my phone, but Blair hung up on the call and looked at me with a smug grin.

“I didn’t even bother to check what you sent. Stop with these games. Dawson and I are just regular siblings.”

My gaze fell on the hickey on her neck, and a bitter sneer escaped my lips. “Siblings?”

No blood relation, yet doing everything lovers do, hiding behind the disguise of siblings.

She never allowed me to speak to any woman, yet shamelessly flirted with Dawson, her hypocrisy was maddening.

Blair sighed in frustration. “No matter what I say, you won’t believe me. What do you want me to do?”

“Do I need to cut ties with Dawson to make you happy?”

“How can you be so cold-hearted? Dawson’s family saved my life, and now he’s alone. I can’t just turn my back on him. Can’t you understand that?”

Every word she spoke accused me of being unreasonable, blind to her “sacrifice.”

Once, I would have yelled and begged her to see things from my side.

But now, I just stared at her calmly. “If you can bring my dad back to life, then maybe I’d understand.”

She rubbed her temples in frustration, her anger palpable.

Dawson wrapped his arm around Blair’s shoulders possessively and spoke, his voice dripping with condescension.

“Blair and I both went to the hospital. Your mom is there, your dad isn’t.”

“If you want pity, fine, but there’s no need to curse your own father as dead.”

My mother’s condition couldn’t bear any emotional stress. She didn’t even know about Blair and Dawson.

I grabbed Dawson’s hand, my voice trembling with alarm. “What do you mean? You went to the hospital to see my mom? What did you tell her?”

Dawson cried out in pain, and Blair shoved me away with a sudden force.

I slammed into the table with a sickening crash, my lower back hitting the edge hard. The sharp pain drained the color from my face.

Blair instantly scowled at the faint red mark on Dawson’s arm and snapped at me.

“What are you doing?! I’m your mom’s daughter-in-law; what’s wrong with visiting her? Do you think I’d curse her to death like you?”

I didn’t want to fight. All I wanted was to get to the hospital and see my mom. But then my phone rang, its urgent tone slicing through the tension.

I answered quickly, a cold dread washing over me.

“Is this Mr. Maddox? Your mother’s in critical condition! She’s been calling out for someone named Dawson. Was she calling for you? Please, come right away.”

The blood in my veins seemed to freeze. I could hardly believe what I’d just heard.

I could barely find my voice as I repeated, “What did you say?”