And him? He lavished everything on his obsession.
Thirty million dollars to make her smile, without so much as a blink.
My life, my family's lives, weren't worth fifty dollars in his eyes.
"Chester Henson, you have the nerve to bring up that night?"
"Let me make something clear. You were the one who grabbed onto me. You were the one who called my name, said you wanted to marry me. I never begged you for anything!"
"I must have been blind to believe a single word out of your mouth! I was a fool to endure three years in the cage you built for me!"
"You think I actually wanted your pathetic fifty-dollar-a-month handout? You think I wanted this revolting excuse for a marriage?"
"You and Florence Cox deserve each other! One heartless, the other shameless!"
I paused.
"Starting today, we're getting a divorce."
I screamed the last word and slammed the phone down.
I had just shoved the last piece of clothing into my suitcase when the door lock exploded with a deafening bang.
Chester kicked the door open, and his gaze locked onto my luggage.
"Ella Swanson, you dare mention divorce to me?"
He crossed the room in three strides and jerked his chin at the bodyguards behind him.
Two hulking men surged forward and pinned me to the floor.
I clenched my teeth and didn't make a sound.
Florence crouched down and ran her fingers through my tangled hair with a look of mock concern.
"Ella, sweetie, why do you have to make things so difficult?"
"Chester was just angry. All you have to do is apologize, admit you were wrong, and this whole thing blows over."
"Do you really want to drag this to a divorce and make yourself a laughingstock?"
I jerked my head sideways, shaking off her hand.
Chester seized my jaw in a vise grip.
"Apologize to Florence. Now."
"I didn't do anything wrong." Each word dropped like a stone. "I have nothing to apologize for."
"Because you don't know what's good for you!"
The words had barely left his mouth when his phone erupted with vibrations.
The caller ID flashing across the screen was the same number the kidnappers had used.
Chester let out a derisive snort and answered with obvious irritation, putting it on speaker.
"Where's the money? You've got thirty minutes! If we don't get the transfer, we kill the hostage!"
Then a weak, desperate wail tore through the speaker.
"Chester... Chester, save me... they're going to kill me... save your mother..."
It was his mother's voice.
My entire body went rigid. I lifted my eyes to Chester.
But there wasn't a trace of panic on his face. If anything, he looked amused, like he'd just heard a joke.
He tilted his head down and stared at me.
"Well, well, Ella."
"So now you've got your hillbilly mother pretending to be mine to con money out of me? She thinks calling me 'son' will open my wallet?"
"Delusional. Take a good look at herself and ask if she's even worthy."
He spoke into the phone without a shred of hesitation.
"Nice performance, old woman. You actually have the gall to call me son?"
"Go ahead and kill her. I'm not spending a single cent on some worthless hag."
He hung up.
I lay on the floor, staring at him, at that coldness carved so deep it reached the bone.
Three years of swallowing my pride. Three years of lying to myself. Three years of clinging to some pitiful, laughable hope.
In that moment, every last shred of it shattered.
I wrenched free of the bodyguards' grip and screamed with everything I had, my voice raw and breaking.
"Chester Henson! Open your eyes!"
"The woman they kidnapped isn't my mother! It's yours! Your own mother!"
Chester froze, as if the words hadn't registered.
A split second later, the shock on his face was swallowed whole by blinding fury.
He lunged forward, grabbed a fistful of my hair, and slammed my head against the floor.
"You've lost your mind! You're absolutely vicious!"
"My mother called me from Switzerland this afternoon! She's on vacation!"
"And you have the audacity to curse her with a kidnapping? Ella Swanson, how rotten is your heart?"
