I shoved his hand away. The bank card flew from my grip and clattered into a far corner of the hallway.
Pearl's face went white with fury.
"Don't push your luck, Marcus!"
I stared at her, my voice shaking with a rage I could barely contain.
"Self-respect?"
"He's a parasite who'd be on the streets without my charity, and he wants to talk about self-respect?"
"Where was his self-respect when he came crawling to me in tears, begging me to pay for his education?"
"Where was his self-respect when he was in bed with you on that island?!"
Ronnie flinched as though I'd driven a knife into his softest wound. Tears spilled down his cheeks.
"How can you humiliate me like this, Marcus?"
"I know I owe you. I'll pay it all back, every last cent, I swear!"
Pearl pulled him behind her, shielding him with her body. The look she turned on me was pure disgust.
"You're out of your mind, Marcus!"
"You think throwing money around gives you the right to own someone's life?"
"You've always been like this. Domineering, steamrolling everyone, never once caring how anyone else feels. I've had enough of you!"
"If you weren't so goddamn suffocating all the time, do you think I would have fallen for Ronnie?"
"Do you think I would've slept with him while you were in the hospital vomiting blood?!"
The words hit me like a wall of static. My mind went blank. I couldn't even form a sentence.
"What...?"
Last week, to lock down the most critical round of funding before her company's IPO, I'd sat across from the investor and drained three full bottles of liquor. I drank until I was coughing up blood and they rushed me to the ER.
I'd been curled up in that hospital bed, half-delirious with pain, calling Pearl over and over. Her phone was off every single time.
Afterward, she'd come to me with guilt written all over her face, wrapped her arms around me, and said she'd pulled two all-nighters at the office and passed out from exhaustion.
I believed her. I even felt sorry for her, working herself to the bone for the company.
But the truth was...
The truth was that while I lay there bleeding, she was tangled up in the sheets with Ronnie.
The tears I'd been holding back finally broke loose, hitting the floor one after another.
"Pearl, are you even human?"
I lunged at her like something inside me had snapped, wanting nothing more than to tear apart this woman I no longer recognized.
Ronnie rushed forward and grabbed my arm.
"Marcus, don't hit her!"
In the struggle, I wrenched my arm free.
Ronnie let the momentum carry him backward. He crumpled to the floor, clutching his ankle, moaning in pain.
"Ow... it hurts..."
Pearl immediately shook me off and rushed to his side, pulling him to his feet.
When she turned back to me, her eyes were ice.
"You're beyond saving, Marcus. Stay here and think about what you've done."
She propped Ronnie up and walked away without another word.
I slid to the floor, staring at the empty hallway where they'd disappeared. I couldn't even muster a bitter laugh.
Then the doors to the emergency room burst open. A doctor stumbled out, sweat plastering his hair to his forehead.
"Who's the family of the patient Violet Abbott?"
I scrambled to my feet, half-crawling, half-running, and grabbed the front of his white coat.
"Me! I am!"
"Doctor, how is my grandmother?"
He pulled his mask down and let out a long breath.
"She made it."
"But her condition is still very serious. It could deteriorate at any time."
"We'll move her to a room for observation."
They wheeled Grandma into a private room.
An oxygen mask covered her face. The gentle, warm expression I'd known my entire life was gone, replaced by something still and lifeless.
I sat at her bedside, holding her wrinkled hand in both of mine. Tears fell silently onto the sheets.
"You have to pull through, Grandma. You're all I have."
I prayed in silence.
If she would just wake up, I would give up everything else without a second thought.
