Mike dropped all pretense and went on, “Oh, and by the way, I’ve already taken out loans with the house and car as collateral. After the divorce, you won’t get a single penny, but you’ll still have to pay half the debt. Didn’t you want to play the saint? Fine, I’ll let you — you can help me pay off that loan.”
His words hit me like thunder in June. I stared at him, stunned, never imagining the man beside me in bed could be this scheming.
Stella gripped my hand tightly. I could feel her trembling, just like I was trembling with rage.
Mike looked at the two of us with a careless expression.
After a moment, I came back to my senses and knelt in front of him. “I don’t want anything else. I only want that 40 thousand. Give me that money and I’ll leave with nothing.”
Mike sneered. “You don’t want to take anything? Wow, such a saint. You still have to help pay the loan back.”
“She’s your real sister, I need that money to save her life,” I said.
“She’s just my half-sister, not my real sister. I have no duty or responsibility to support her. I’m not wasting my money on this. Besides, how is a half-sister from the same mother but a different father— even a ‘real sister’?”
He looked at Stella coldly and said, “Don’t think I don’t know—Mom was already pregnant when she married Dad. You’re the bastard she was carrying.”
Mike spoke coldly again and threw the divorce papers at me. “For the sake of our marriage, I’ll let you off the loan repayment. But you leave with nothing. Sign it. If you don’t, you’ll have to help pay the loan.”
Outside the door, a crowd had gathered. Many people were scolding Mike.
He glanced toward them and said, “Stop pretending to be kind. If you pity these two cheap women so much, why don’t you pay for the surgery yourselves?”
People were angry, but in a hospital, who wasn’t short on money?
Seeing that no one spoke up, Mike looked back at me. “You have three minutes to think. If you still want a divorce after that, then be ready to help pay off the loan.”
“Sign it,” Stella said to me, wiping away my tears. “Spending 40 thousand to see someone’s true face is worth it.”
I picked up the divorce papers and read them carefully.
After working so hard for this family all these years, now I was being kicked out with nothing.
The bitterness hit me so hard that tears fell uncontrollably again.
I wiped them away fiercely, then picked up the pen and signed my name.
“Go on being her holy saint. When she dies, you can bury her yourself. I’m starting a new life,” Mike said before walking away without looking back.
Inside the ward, Stella stayed silent. She had tried to hold herself together in front of him, but now her tears kept falling.
Her heart was broken—and I could see the fear of death in her eyes.
She had never truly realized that her illness could be fatal. I believed that too—until today, when Mike said it so bluntly.
I didn’t try to comfort her. Quietly, I walked out of the ward.
A few hours later, I arrived at the payment counter.
My credit score had always been good, so I took out various online loans totaling 17 thousand dollars.
And when I called the friends I’d helped over the years—people who knew my character—l one by one, they all did what they could.
After dozens of calls, I finally managed to gather the remaining 25 thousand dollars.
In the past, when my world collapsed, Stella was the one who held it up for me.
Now that her world was falling apart, it was my turn to hold it up for her.
Just as I was about to pay the hospital fees, Stella stopped me. She looked at me and said softly, “I’m sorry.”
“Come on, Stella, what are you apologizing for? It’s just 40 thousand. I’ve got it covered.”
“That’s not what I meant,” she said, her eyes complicated and heavy. “I lied to you.”
She handed me a medical report.
