Married To Bury His Secrets: Caught Between Two CEOs

Sophia In my junior year in college, I got a call from the hospital. My father had collapsed at work and was rushed to the hospital where he was diagnosed with end stage lung cancer. He had never smoked a cigarette in his entire life — of this I was sure. The doctor said it was likely an "occupational hazard." How easy it was for him to slap a label on my father's condition without knowing anything. Dad had once been head of finance at a prestigious company, before he was fired and imprisoned for admitting to fraud. After his release, the only work he could find was at the local steel plant. "I suspect the fumes affected his lungs over time." Doctor Carter said, stoic as ever, reciting the words from the chart in his hands as if he were giving a presentation. "Ten months, if we don't start treatment immediately. One, maybe two years if we start now." "No! No chemo," my father had woken up in the middle of our conversation. The bitterness in his voice cut through the room. "I'd rather die than go through that torture." But his resolve soon faded after I broke down in tears. The thought of losing my father — my only remaining family — to cancer had started to settle in, and he could not bear to see his only child cry. So he started chemotherapy that same day and stayed on the treatment ever since. The first three months went smoothly enough. He still looked himself. The drugs helped with the aching in his chest and the breathlessness that crept in at night. The insurance company covered the hospital bills for those three months. Then, without any warning at all, they stopped. At the hospital, an insurance representative held out a thin, white envelope to me. "This is the best we can do for your father. We're willing to settle for five thousand dollars." I did not know when I started laughing. A hysterical, broken sound escaped my lips. This had to be a joke. Five thousand dollars would barely cover the hospital bills for a week. "Is this how you repay my dad?" I managed, tears caught in my throat. "After all the money he pumped into your wretched company." "Twenty years!" My voice cracked. "Twenty whole years of health insurance premiums. He paid them all. All for what?!" The representative did not spare me another moment. His empty black eyes barely flinched at my display of tears. He had the look of a man who had delivered bad news like this countless times. He merely tucked the envelope in my hands, almost forcing me to take it before walking away. "I will sue. I'm going to sue your rotten company!" I shouted after him, but the man was almost gone by then. He kept walking, calm and unbothered, as if the screams were not directed at him. I never saw the man again. I never sued. With the new burden of paying hospital bills out of my own pocket, I just could not afford to. Ten months later, I became the sole breadwinner of my family. I did odd jobs like serving tables and being the cashier at the small stores on campus. It didn't matter that I barely had any time for extracurricular activities, I could barely even make out time to study. All that mattered was that my father was being taken care of. Until the evening that changed everything. In my dorm room, I was getting ready for my next shift when my phone rang twice. "DAD", with a hospital icon next to it, popped up on my pitch-black screen. "Hello?" Almost immediately, a familiar voice rang back at me. "It's your father. Come quickly!" I rushed out, without even changing out of my work uniform, and headed straight for the hospital. When I arrived, a group of doctors and nurses huddled around my father's bed. I could not even see his face. The male nurse standing at the entrance to the room stopped me before I could enter. "He just suddenly fainted. We are trying everything to resuscitate him." But I pushed past him and walked in anyway. "Please dad…" Tears gathered in my eyes. "Don't leave me." The monitor was showing a flat line already. From the side, I took my father's hand in mine and wept into it. Then something strange happened. The beeping from the monitor resumed. The green line went from a straight dash across the screen to a series of rising and falling lines. "It's a miracle!" one of the nurses exclaimed. My heart sank in relief, and fear too, as if I knew that there was more to come. It was not until the next morning, after I had left the hospital, that Doctor Carter broke the bad news. "We can't continue to manage him," his voice sounded different over the phone, concerned maybe. "His case is now too severe for us to handle. But we can refer him to a specialist hospital where he can receive the care he needs." "So what's the bad news doctor?" There was a short pause. "His bills would potentially triple." After he hung up, I began calculating. I would just need to take more shifts, find another job, maybe two. I was still lost in thought when Lily White, my closest friend — and possibly my only friend — barged into my dorm room with her phone clutched in her hand. "Have you heard?" I looked up reluctantly from my bed at her but said nothing. Lily loved gossip so this was probably another one of her silly celebrity news. I was right but never could I have been more wrong. "Turn on your phone, Soph." Lily tugged at me, eyes gleaming with interest. "New York City's biggest billionaire playboy, Dominic Coleman is getting engaged. His father just announced it." Of course. Celebrity news. I was about to say something when my phone rang again. DAD again? The voice that came from the other end was sure as hell my father's. He sounded strangely calm for the news he was about to deliver. "I know you won't like this Sophie…" Silence. What a terrible way to start up a conversation. "But you're getting married to Dominic Coleman."