4: 4
The surgery lasted three full days.
The first time, the doctors said the transplant had failed, so they went straight into a second operation.
I thought I'd die on that cold operating table. Somehow, I pulled through.
The day I was discharged, I went back to the mansion alone to get my things. Inside, a lavish party was underway, celebrating Theodore's recovery.
Grace and her friends sat clustered together, laughing about me.
"There's a reason people say to marry your own kind. Men like Morton Delgado, dragged up out of some backwater, they're low and cheap right down to the bone. They see money and they can't help themselves."
"Don't ever say his name in front of me again. Just thinking about him makes me sick."
Her tone was pure contempt, like she was talking about a heap of garbage.
Standing outside the floor-to-ceiling glass, I pressed a hand to my mouth and started coughing.
Theodore saw me.
He narrowed his eyes and murmured something into Grace's ear.
A moment later he pushed the door open and walked over to me, the sapphire ring on his finger glinting hard.
I lifted my head. My face was bloodless from all I'd lost.
Theodore held up a bank card and waved it in front of me.
"This is Grace's breakup money for you. Guess how much is on it?"
I pressed my lips together. I already had a rough idea of the answer.
Theodore's mouth curled with satisfaction.
"Three thousand dollars! Ha. Five years as Grace's lackey, and this is all you scraped up in the end. Three thousand! Morton Delgado, you really are pathetic."
"But this is what you get for crossing me."
He opened his fingers. The card hit the floor.
My nails dug into my palms. My heart felt like it had been stabbed, a deep, tearing pain.
Five years ago, Grace fell for me at first sight.
Back then I'd just clawed my way out of the mountains on my SAT scores. Patched clothes, an outdated haircut, a clumsy accent when I spoke. All of it made me a target, and it left me insecure and thin-skinned.
But Grace, an heiress, set her pride aside and chased after me for half a year.
She tutored me in English, drove me to and from my part-time jobs, even sat up all night at my bedside when I was sick.
She wore down the ice around my heart with nothing but sincerity.
I never imagined that five years on, she would cut me loose like this, in this humiliation.
I crouched down with a hand over my chest and picked up the card. The tears slipped free before I could stop them, splashing onto the back of my hand.
When I looked up, Grace was standing in front of me. I hadn't noticed her come over.
I straightened my spine, stopped looking at her, and turned to walk out.
Behind me, Grace said coldly:
"Morton Delgado, take the money and get out. Don't ever let me run into you again."
Something vicious flashed through my eyes.
I found the earlier message about the loan and typed a reply.
【Fine. I'll marry you. But on one condition. I want the Sanchez family ruined.】
