His $5.2, I Quit As His Wife

Chapter 4

I lunged at Sebastian like a woman possessed. "It’s the hospital! My mom’s in emergency rescue! Give me back my phone! Let me go to her!"

But he flung the phone away hard, his eyes glinting with cruel mockery, like he’d just heard the funniest joke on earth.

"Emergency rescue? When did your mom get hospitalized? Why didn’t I hear anything about it?" he taunted, as if I was sputtering lies to fool him. "Last time you begged me for surgery money and I said no, you told me you already scraped enough together, didn’t you? Now you’re using this as another excuse. Don’t even try to trick me again!"

He didn’t know?

I trembled so hard my whole body shook, hot tears pouring down my face.

"My mom never got fully better. I’m begging you, let me go see her one last time. Just one time!" I then turned to my son standing off to the side, begging him with my eyes. "Matthew, your grandma came to visit you, remember? You haven’t forgotten, have you?"

Back when he was still a tiny baby swaddled in a blanket, my mom tickled him until he gurgled and giggled nonstop.

But my own son stepped back, his whole face twisted with disgust. "I don’t have a grandma that embarrassing!"

Stacy stared at me, her gaze dripping with malice. "You’d even use your own mother just to run off with your secret lover. How can someone like you ever be a good mother to Matthew!"

She bent down, pinched my chin hard in her grip, and breathed right into my ear. "You and your mom, a pair of broke nobodies... you both deserve to die!"

I thrashed wildly, begging Sebastian through my sobs. "Let go of me!" I yelled. "Please, I’m begging you. Think about how my mom gave every last penny of her savings to help you start your business."

Back then, my mom didn’t want him to feel burdened, so she secretly slipped her entire retirement fund right into his pocket.

She didn’t leave a single cent for herself. That’s why her illness got worse and worse the longer she waited for treatment.

A metallic, bloody taste flooded my throat at the memory of my mother's selflessness, and my heart ached so bad I could barely breathe.

I tried to lunge for the door, but he slammed me down and pinned me to the floor, hard.

"Seriously, Fiona, haven’t you made enough of a scene?" His voice oozed disappointment and loathing. "I built my business with my own two hands. What does that have to do with your family?!"

Right then, the phone, which lay discarded on the floor, buzzed to life again.

The screen lit up, and it was still the hospital calling.

Stacy snatched it up before anyone else could move, and the doctor’s heavy, somber voice spilled out from the speaker.

"Ms. Johnson, please accept my condolences. Your mother… she didn’t make it through rescue. She has passed away."

Every other sound in the room just vanished. All I felt was a searing, heart-stopping pain that ripped through my chest.

I stared blankly up at the ceiling, and suddenly, I couldn’t cry anymore.

Mom… she’s gone?

Sebastian frowned, snatched the phone out of her hand, and hung up.

"That’s enough. Aren’t you done putting on your little act? Happy now?" He wrenched my hair hard and hauled me to my feet. "Hurry up and pay the class fee, then apologize to Stacy!"

"That’s right, stop faking it. If your mom really died, why aren’t you even crying? It’s obviously a fake," Stacy chimed in right from the side.

"Fake?" I mumbled the words to myself, then suddenly burst out laughing, laughter that quickly brought hot tears streaming down my face. "You two will get what's coming to you!"

I wrenched my arm free of his grip in one brutal jerk, launched myself at Stacy, and wrapped my fingers tight around her throat.

I was going to make her pay for this.

But before I could press harder, a rough force flipped me backward, and I crashed hard onto the floor. Sebastian drove his boot straight into my gut, sending white-hot pain exploding through my body.

Blinded by rage, he slapped me hard across the face. "You dare lay a hand on her? You've got a death wish!"

Agony tore through me, and I curled into a shaking ball on the ground, gasping for air that wouldn't fill my lungs for what felt like forever.

"Lock her up at the police station. Let her sit in there and think about her bullshit. Teach her a lesson so she never dares lie and cheat anyone again!" he exclaimed.

I lay broken and bruised on the floor, my vision starting to swim and my consciousness slipping away.

Through the fog, I spotted my son standing huddled in the corner. His eyes darted away from mine, and his small hands twisted the hem of his shirt so tight his knuckles turned white.

Gone was the arrogant sneer he'd worn just moments before. All that was left was panicky, guilty fear.

He opened his mouth like he was about to say something, but one sharp look from Stacy shut him up instantly.

All of a sudden, a voice erupted loudly.

"Who's the one with a death wish? I think it's you!"

Abruptly, the office door went flying open with a brutal kick.