She not only had trouble with one leg, but she also had a very severe case of pneumonia.
The last time she cooked food for me, her hand was badly burned. Even though she hurt a lot herself, she still smiled at me and gently soothed me.
“Mom, don’t cry.”
“I was only hurt a little. Mom can just blow on it…”
I passed the stick of candied hawthorn to Tanya. She cheered with joy and softly kissed my cheek.
After I lulled Tanya into sleep, I sat beside the bed holding my phone, thinking again and again. In the end, I still sent a message to Jameson Stevens.
[I know I’m troubling you, but can you help me introduce a client to me? Someone who can stay long-term.]
At my lowest point, Jameson had kept me for some time.
But before long, his family found out and forced him to cut ties with me.
Even the money he had access to was frozen.
He had no way to support me anymore. Once in a while, he still sent me some cash to help me survive so I wouldn’t go hungry.
But last year, he got married. I no longer wanted to interrupt his life.
Yet the doctor told me that Tanya’s sickness couldn’t wait any longer.
If it grew worse, it might very easily turn into lung cancer.
As long as there was even a single path forward, as long as I could gather the treatment money, I was ready to do anything at all.
Jameson replied to me, [I will try.]
I gratefully answered with thanks. The following day, just as I was getting ready to head out again to make money, a figure blocked my path.
He seized my arm. “Belle, are you badly lacking cash?”
Austin’s voice sounded low and dull.
I nodded truthfully. “Yes. Do you have a way for me to make a lot of money?”
“I keep you. I give you twenty thousand each month. Is that enough?”
I showed a painful smile and agreed right away.
“But can you give me half a year all at once? I need it right now.”
Austin’s face went pale. He pulled out his phone, asked for my card number, and sent the money to me.
“Starting today, don’t stand on the roads anymore. From now on, you belong to me. And your daughter. I can take care of her, too.”
I lifted my head in surprise and looked at him, yet I accepted everything he offered.
Tanya was very small and had stayed underground for a long time, and that had harmed her body. Because of the money Austin gave, she was finally able to come with me and move into the Coleman home, living in the helper’s room.
When Austin found out that I was staying in the helper’s room, his face showed anger at once. “Who set this up?”
The young woman who had sat in the sports car that day stepped out in high heels, her face calm and lazy.
“Isn’t she just the maid you hired? If she doesn’live in the helper’s room, should she live in a guest room?”
She looked at me with dislike. “Someone like her is already lucky to stay in the helper’s room.”
“Get out.”
Austin spoke in a cold voice. The young woman froze. “You mean me?”
“That’s right. We’ve broken up.”
The young woman panicked right away and tried to beg, but Austin didn’t hold back and pushed her out.
He led me to the room on the second floor that had the best light and told me that I would stay there from then on.
I looked out the window without showing feeling, at the yard outside covered in blooming wisteria.
I knew this place well. Four years earlier, when Austin and I were together, we had kissed deeply under that curtain of hanging wisteria.
He had told me that when we married someday, this place would become our home.
Thinking about all that had happened before, I smiled faintly.
“No thanks. A helper doesn’t deserve to stay in such a high-end place.”
Austin stopped. “You think you’re a helper?”
“Then what am I, Austin? After that night four years ago, didn’t you already believe I was dirty?”
“Are you willing to touch me?”
As I spoke, I loosened my clothes by myself. Austin’s face shifted again and again, and in the end, he turned and left with a cold face.
Austin seemed to quietly accept that I had taken on helper duties. From time to time, he teased Tanya, and now and then he stood at the second-floor railing and watched me.
The older helper smiled as if she understood everything.
“Young Master, this must be the woman you haven’t been able to forget for four whole years, right?”
“Back then, I saw her photo kept in the drawer. Even though times change and people change, since you meet again, it must be fate. Young Master, you should treasure her.”
Austin smiled and was just about to turn and look at me when his face suddenly shifted, and he shouted in panic, “Belle!”
I passed out from anemia.
Austin said nothing and carried me straight to the hospital.
The doctor said a family member had to sign the papers. Before he could find one, another nurse nearby recognized me and spoke up.
“Her parents passed away long ago. She has no relatives. Same rule as before, treat her first, she pays later.”
Austin suddenly looked up, his face turning white as he grabbed the nurse by the collar.
“…What do you mean?”
