Chapter 5
881 Words
Yara froze.
"What? Wasn't the money supposed to be pulled from the card automatically every month?"
"It was, but the account came back with insufficient funds this month."
It hit Yara right away—the bank card for her mother's medical bills was in Shawn's hands.
A wave of dread washed over her. She hung up in a rush and checked every account she had. Except for the thirty thousand left in her salary card, all her other accounts combined didn't even add up to a hundred bucks.
'Shawn had moved the money. Why?'
Yara called Shawn.
"Hello? Who's this?"
A lazy female voice answered. It was Annie on the line.
Yara went silent for a few seconds, hung up, and dialed Ryan instead.
"Tell Shawn I need to see him. Have him meet me at Angel Garden in one hour. Otherwise, don't blame me for showing up unannounced."
"I'll go get him right now."
With that, Yara headed straight to Angel Garden.
Less than half an hour later, Shawn came striding toward her, a look of unmistakable surprise and delight on his face.
"Yara!"
For a split second, Yara's mind blurred. But she snapped out of it fast, her voice icy. "Why hasn't my mom's medical fee been paid to the hospital this month?"
"You got me here just to ask about that?" Shawn's tone turned cold just as quickly. "You've been dodging me for days, and the second we meet, you're hitting me up for money?"
"This isn't me hitting you up—this is life or death."
"If that payment doesn't go through by eight tonight, my mother's special medication gets cut off. You know her condition. She can't miss a single day of it."
Tears crept into Yara's voice. "Shawn, I'm not asking you to walk away with nothing. I just want what's legally mine. Once we're divorced, we go our separate ways. You walk your road, I'll walk mine."
Shawn's dark eyes went deep and stormy. "It's a fake divorce. There's no need to split assets."
With that, he shook her off and turned to leave.
He'd been making the payments on time, every month. He had no clue what Yara was throwing a fit about.
Yara lunged forward and grabbed his arm, jaw clenched. "If you won't give me the money, then give me back the jade plaque."
The jade plaque had been her love token, her gift to him.
Shawn stared at her, incredulous, his voice gone hoarse. "You want the jade plaque back? You're throwing away everything we had?"
"Yes," Yara said, steady as stone. "That plaque is my family heirloom. My mother told me to give it to the man I loved. Now that we're divorced, it's time for it to come back where it belongs."
"Divorce, again!" Shawn roared. "I told you, it's a fake divorce. How dare you keep using that as an excuse to push me?"
He pried her fingers off, one by one. "The plaque is gone. I can't give it back."
"Gone?" Yara went rigid.
That was her last shot at scraping together money for her mother's treatment.
Shawn dropped his gaze. "Annie thought it looked interesting, took it, and accidentally smashed it. She said it was nothing but a cheap knockoff—worth maybe a few dozen bucks, tops."
As he spoke, he pulled out his wallet, plucked out a few hundred-dollar bills, and flung them right across Yara's face. "You wanted money? That enough for you?"
The edge of a bill sliced her cheek, a tiny bead of blood welling up. But Yara just stared at him, eyes heavy and hollow, and spoke each word with fierce certainty. "Not enough. That jade plaque was worth at least a million."
Enough to save her mother's life.
Under her unblinking gaze, Shawn's expression darkened completely.
He seized her by the shoulders, teeth gritted. "Yara Dye, you're pathetic. You'll cook up any excuse just to squeeze money out of me."
And with that, he shoved her away, heartless.
"It was always Cecilia before, and now it's money. When did you turn into this?"
Caught off guard, Yara hit the ground, pain flashing across her face.
At the sight, Shawn's hand twitched. He took two steps forward on instinct—but right then his phone buzzed. He glanced down, and his face shifted.
"Annie? What's up?"
"Nothing, just missed you," Annie cooed sweetly. "Oh, and I found the gift you hid... that five-million-dollar gemstone necklace from the auction last month. How come you never told me about it?"
"Do you like it?" Shawn said into the phone, his eyes still on Yara.
"I love it, of course."
"Good." Seeing Yara sitting there silent, head bowed, Shawn clenched his fist and said coldly, "You deserve the finest things in life. Not like some people—so cheap and petty I barely recognize them anymore."
He ended the call, turned on his heel, and strode off without looking back.
Yara collapsed onto the ground, gasping. She clamped a hand over her mouth, trying to ride out the suffocating grip of her asthma.
A long while later, when she'd finally steadied herself, she dialed her lawyer.
"I'm suing Shawn Ewing. Charges: infidelity during marriage, illegal transfer of assets, and intentional bodily harm."
- Writer
