He Loved Me, Then Hurt Me, I Said No

Chapter 2

I had no idea how long it took before they finally pulled themselves out of that state of abandon.

Zane helped Yara get dressed, then called me over and pointed at the tip of his shoe.

"Lick it."

I looked up at him in shock.

This time, Zane clearly had very little patience left. He reached out, pressed down on the back of my head, and forced me lower.

"Do it properly, or your grandmother's medical bills..."

He let out a soft laugh after that and said nothing more.

But those few words were enough.

I closed my eyes and leaned in with grim determination.

If I clung to my dignity and let my grandmother suffer because of it, I would never forgive myself for the rest of my life.

My grandmother was the last person I had left.

That somehow seemed to upset Zane all over again.

He immediately shoved me away and looked coldly at me, still kneeling on the floor.

"Get out."

With a bitter smile, I got up from the floor and brushed off the legs of my pants.

Only after I forced away every trace of that smile did I speak expressionlessly.

"Mr. Sloan, that costs extra."

Zane's face stiffened.

He glared at me, pulled a card from his wallet, and threw it onto the floor.

"There's $500,000 on it."

I kept bargaining.

"How is $500,000 supposed to be enough?"

Before Zane could speak, Yara covered her mouth and laughed.

"Looks like some people really are used to asking for handouts. Why don't you just give it to her, Zane?"

She was right.

I was poor.

Desperately, painfully poor.

Zane took a deep breath, then threw another card onto the floor.

"There's $1 million on that one. Take the money and get out."

I quickly picked the card up from the floor.

"Come find me again next time you need something like this, Mr. Sloan."

Zane stared at me for a long moment.

Then he asked, "Are you really that desperate for money?"

My hand paused on the door.

"Yeah. Of course I'm desperate for money. What, you didn't think I let myself get kept by you for some other reason, did you?"

Before Zane could lose his temper, I shut the door first.