He Faked Poor, So I Walked Away

Chapter 4 Now We're Even

The hotel security guards forced me to kneel outside the entrance.

They stood nearby and timed me, making sure I stayed there for every last second.

Passersby slowed down and stared.

Soon, a crowd gathered. People pulled out their phones, took pictures, and posted them on Snapgram. Laughter and jeers rose around me, wave after wave.

My knees dug into the cold marble floor, sending sharp, grinding pain through my legs.

I raised my hand and slapped myself across the face, again and again, until my cheeks were swollen and burning.

But the pain in my knees and the sting on my face were nothing compared to the pain tearing through my chest.

Elias walked out through the front doors with his arm around Daphne.

He saw me kneeling there, but he only glanced at me once before looking away, as if even one more second of seeing me would dirty his eyes.

That long, agonizing half hour finally came to an end. By then, the crowd had already dispersed.

I pushed myself up with trembling hands. My legs were numb and aching, and my cheeks throbbed so badly they barely felt like they belonged to me anymore.

I dragged myself home, one painful step at a time.

The walk usually took ten minutes. That night, it took me half an hour.

By the time I made it through the door, my strength was gone. I collapsed against it and slid to the floor, too weak even to crawl to my bedroom.

Elias called me again and again, but I never picked up.

The irony was almost unbearable.

Back when he had been pretending to be deaf and unable to speak, we had never spoken on the phone. We had only ever sent each other messages.

Back then, he had looked at me with those gentle, serious eyes and signed, "If I can speak one day, I will call you every day. I want you to hear my voice no matter where you are."

I had known it was impossible, but I had still nodded with a hopeful smile. "Okay."

Now he really could speak, but I never wanted to hear his voice again. I put my phone on silent and tossed it aside.

A while later, the screen lit up with a new message from Elias.

Elias: [One hundred thousand dollars. I'll have someone drop it off tomorrow. After that, we're even.]

I stared at the word "even" on the screen until my eyes began to burn.

I wanted to cry, but no tears came.

So in his eyes, our relationship, those two years, and every piece of myself I had given him were worth only one hundred thousand dollars.

He was not trying to make things right. He was only trying to buy his way out of guilt.

The next evening, someone knocked on my door.

When I opened it, Daphne was standing outside in a designer dress, carrying the new bag Elias had just bought her.

She gave me a bright, sweet smile. "Evening, Maisie."

I stared at her warily. "What are you doing here?"

Daphne walked straight in as if she owned the place.

Her gaze swept over my shabby rented apartment, and she let out a soft, disdainful laugh. "You live in a place like this? You really are pitiful."

"What do you want?"

Daphne turned around and pulled a bank card from her bag.

"There is one hundred thousand dollars on this card," she said. "Elias asked me to give it to you."

Daphne paused. Then she raised an eyebrow, her eyes gleaming with spiteful satisfaction.

"But I told him you had already taken the money."

Her smile widened.

"Then I told him you gambled it all away."

She let out a soft laugh.

"You know, gambling is the one thing Elias hates most in this world. He is utterly disgusted with you now."

At last, I understood.

"You..."

"I've known about you for a long time," Daphne cut in.

She lowered her eyes and admired her freshly manicured nails with lazy indifference.

"Elias pretending to be deaf and mute, dating you, lying to you. I knew about all of it from the very beginning."

She looked up at me and smiled.

"You thought you were hiding it so well? Please. I knew everything."

Her smile deepened.

"I just didn't want him having any more contact with you, so I made sure he never would."

Daphne tilted her head, her eyes bright with satisfaction.

"Tell me, wasn't my plan brilliant?"

My whole body was shaking. I pulled out my phone and called Elias. He answered after a few rings.

"Maisie."

His voice was ice cold, with suppressed fury buried beneath it.

"I never imagined you were a gambler. Of all the people in this world, gamblers are the ones I despise most."

He gave a cold laugh.

"Thank God I hid who I was from the beginning. A cheap woman like you would have drained my family dry years ago."

"Elias, I never gambled. It was..."

"Don't bother explaining."

He cut me off before I could finish.

"You took the money and gambled it away. That was your choice, Maisie. There is nothing left between us now."

His voice turned even colder.

"Don't call me again."

The line went dead.

I called him back at once, but the call would not connect. He had blocked me.

Daphne clapped her hands, beaming with satisfaction. Then she turned toward the door and called, "Come in."

Two men walked in and seized my arms.

My blood ran cold.

"Where are you taking me?"

Daphne only smiled.

"Somewhere fun."

The two men tied my wrists and ankles, shoved me into a car, and pulled a blindfold over my eyes.

The car drove for what felt like a very long time before it finally stopped somewhere loud and chaotic.

I was dragged out of the car, and the blindfold was yanked away.

When my vision cleared, I found myself in a dark alley behind a bar. Empty bottles and garbage littered the ground, and the air reeked of alcohol, smoke, and rot.

My stomach turned.

"Where is this?"

Daphne stood at the entrance to the alley and looked down at me.

"Didn't you say you needed money?" she said. "There are plenty of men here willing to pay."

She clapped her hands.

Several drunken men staggered out from the shadows deeper in the alley. They reeked of alcohol, and their cloudy eyes moved over me with open malice.

I trembled uncontrollably and turned to run, but Daphne shoved me back.

"Enjoy yourself, Maisie," she said with a smile.

My back hit the wall, and I shook from head to toe as the men closed in on me. I fought with everything I had and screamed until my throat burned.

Then my phone rang.

Daphne, who had been watching the whole scene with obvious enjoyment, bent down and picked it up.

"It's Elias," she said with a smile. "Let me answer that for you. No need to thank me."

She pressed answer, put the call on speaker, and set the phone on the lid of a trash can.

One of the men grabbed me.

The world spun violently, and a scream tore out of my throat before I could stop it.

The man laughed.

"Don't be scared, pretty girl. We'll take good care of you."

On the other end of the line, Elias went silent. A moment later, his voice came through, cold and full of disgust.

"Maisie, you're filthy."

My heart seemed to stop.

"I regret ever knowing someone like you," he said. "Any man will do for you, is that it?"

Then the call ended.

I thought that was the last time Elias would ever speak to me.

Daphne let out a soft laugh.

"See? Now he is even more disgusted by you."

Then she walked away.

My tears had already run dry.

The men moved in around me. I fought until there was no strength left in my body.

After that, everything dissolved into darkness, pain, and the sound of laughter I could not escape.

I had no idea how long it went on. When it was finally over, they left.

The alley fell quiet again.

I lay on the cold ground, covered in wounds and blood, staring up at the dim streetlight flickering above me.

It looked like a life struggling through its final moments.

The bar next door was still roaring with noise. Something seemed to be happening inside, and the crowd was cheering so loudly that their voices drowned out even the music.

Suddenly, I remembered the time a friend had invited me to a bar, and Elias had talked me out of going.

Back then, he had signed to me with absolute seriousness.

"Someday, when I have money, I will take you out for the finest drinks in the world."

I gathered the last of my strength and slowly pulled myself up from the ground. Then I walked to the river nearby.

The river was wide and deep, and the wind before dawn cut across my body with a bone-deep chill.

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and stepped off the riverbank.

Water closed over me, flooding my mouth and nose. I let myself sink.

'Elias. Now we really are even.'