Five years of marriage, and Maxwell Gilbert had never once truly looked at me.
His heart belonged to a dead woman.
His first love, his untouchable ideal. Isabel Henson.
Until today, when I snatched the documents my husband had been hiding.
A gratuitous transfer agreement.
Three properties under his name, forty percent of Radiant Holdings' shares, all gifted to Antonia Henson.
Antonia Henson. The younger sister of his dead first love.
Tucked behind the last page was another sheet of paper.
A bone-marrow donation consent form. Recipient: Antonia Henson.
All it needed was my signature.
I slammed the documents down in front of him.
"Maxwell, what the hell is this?"
He didn't even lift his head. Just reached over and slid the papers away.
"Amy Fox, this is what we owe Isabel. If you hadn't insisted on marrying into this family, she wouldn't be dead."
"Antonia has leukemia now. We have to save her."
Five years. Five years I'd been his personal ATM, all because Maxwell Gilbert carried guilt over his precious first love.
Now he wanted to force me to donate bone marrow on top of it.
If Maxwell couldn't see me or our daughter as his family, he could play the lovesick martyr on his own.
...
When I pushed open the study door, Maxwell was locking a thick stack of documents into the safe.
I was faster. My hand shot out, blocking the door before it closed, and I yanked the papers free.
Black ink on white paper. Crystal clear.
Thirty percent of Gilbert Group shares. Three luxury apartments in Cloudvale Bay. All transferred to Antonia Henson, free of charge.
Attached at the bottom was a bone-marrow match donation consent form, waiting for my signature.
I slammed the documents onto the mahogany desk so hard the pen holder rattled, and fixed Maxwell with an ice-cold stare.
"Maxwell Gilbert, have you lost your mind, or did you just sell your conscience wholesale?"
"Handing over our marital assets to fill that bottomless pit is one thing. Now you want to drain my bone marrow too?"
"On what grounds?"
Maxwell's brows knitted tight, his eyes brimming with impatience.
"Amy, do you have to be this selfish?"
"Isabel died in that fire trying to save me. Burned beyond recognition. Nothing left to bury."
"Antonia is her only sister, and now she's been diagnosed with leukemia. If we don't save her, who will?"
"Those assets are just material things. If they can buy Antonia her life, it's worth it."
A laugh tore out of me, sharp and ugly enough to cut glass.
"You owe Isabel Henson a life? Then pay it back yourself."
"You want bone marrow extracted, roll up your own sleeve. Stop volunteering my body like it's yours to give."
My words hit a nerve. Maxwell shot to his feet, the chair scraping back behind him.
"My marrow wasn't a match. Yours is. That's fate."
"You're the lady of the Gilbert family. You've enjoyed years of wealth and luxury. Giving a little blood and bone is too much to ask?"
"Besides, if you hadn't insisted on marrying me back then, Isabel never would have left heartbroken, and she never would have been in that fire."
"This is your atonement, Amy."
My hand moved before my mind caught up. The slap connected with Maxwell's face so hard the crack echoed off the study walls.
"Maxwell Gilbert, if you've contracted rabies, go get a shot. Don't stand here frothing at me."
"You were the one who knelt in the rain begging me to marry you. Begging for my family's money to bail you out of bankruptcy."
"Now that the crisis is over, you want to play the devoted lover? Is that it?"
Maxwell cupped his cheek, staring at me like he couldn't process what just happened.
"You actually hit me."
"And I'll do it again if that's what it takes to knock some sense into that thick skull."
I couldn't stomach his face for another second. I turned on my heel and headed for the stairs.
The moment I reached the landing, a sound rose from below. My daughter Lily Abbott, screaming and sobbing like her heart was being ripped apart.
My chest seized. I flew down the steps, taking them two and three at a time.
