Chapter 3

Audrey POV:

The hospital finance office gave me an ultimatum: pay thirty thousand dollars by noon, or the mobile cardiac transport team would be reassigned to another critical patient.

I stood by the payphone in the hospital lobby, dialing Aaron's cell phone over and over again.

On the ninth try, he finally answered.

"What do you want, Audrey?" he sighed. The background noise was filled with soft classical music and the crisp clinking of champagne glasses.

"I told you I have important things to do today."

"Aaron, the transport team is leaving in thirty minutes," I said, biting my lip hard to desperately hold back the burning sobs in my throat.

"That fifty thousand dollars in our joint wedding fund... thirty-five thousand of it was deposited directly from my mother's pension! It is my family's money! Transfer the thirty thousand dollars right now!"

"Bella's wealthy relatives are visiting from out of state today, constantly pressuring her into an unwanted marriage," Aaron answered coldly. "I agreed to play her fiancé this afternoon to accompany her and help her deal with the social pressure. We are getting ready to head to the Pinecrest Club right now."

My mind went completely blank.

"My father is dying, and you are playing house with another woman, pretending to be her fiancé?!"

"It's just a harmless social performance to help a friend out of a tight spot, Audrey," Aaron said casually, completely unbothered. "Don't make it sound like a scandal. If you want that wedding fund, come straight to the club this afternoon, behave yourself, apologize to Bella for your rudeness this morning, and help us entertain her family. As long as you do all that, I will approve the transfer."

"You are holding my father's life-saving money hostage to blackmail me with my own family's money?" My voice dropped to freezing point, every word dripping with blood. "I am not begging you, Aaron. Transfer what belongs to me."

"Then figure it out yourself." Aaron said, and mercilessly hung up the phone.

I stood frozen in the lobby, looked at my mother who was slumped on the bench in despair, and made a decision.

I dialed my personal bank, liquidated my entire individual retirement account even with the severe early penalty fee, maxed out three credit cards for cash advances, and used my old commuter car as collateral to take out a high-interest emergency medical bridge loan.

By eleven-forty-five, I handed the cashier thirty thousand dollars in cashier's checks.

The transport team secured my father into the mobile ICU unit and transferred him all the way to the university hospital under blaring emergency sirens.

Once my father was safely wheeled into the university cardiac center's ICU and prepped for surgery, I left my mother in the care of the head nurse and took a cab to Elm Street.

I needed to grab a few changes of clothes, and go to the master bedroom safe to get my birth certificate, passport, and the property documents for the condo to complete the loan procedures.

Arriving at the front door of apartment 14B, I pressed my thumb against the smart biometric lock.

A harsh red light flashed, and a mechanical synthetic voice announced:

"Verification failed. Unrecognized user fingerprint."

I punched in the master passcode we had been using for months.

"Incorrect passcode. System locked for five minutes."

The door suddenly swung open from the inside.

Bella stood in the doorway. She was wearing the custom monogrammed bridal silk bathrobe that my mother had gifted me at my bridal shower.

She held a delicate cup of black tea, looking me up and down with a lazy, mocking gaze.

"Oh, Audrey," Bella said dismissively, leaning against the doorframe. "Aaron changed all the smart lock passcodes this morning. He said since I'm living here alone now, it would be so unsafe if random people could just open the door."

"This is my house," I took a step forward. "Get out of my way. I am going into the master bedroom to get my legal documents."

"You can't go in there," Bella said, a faint, mocking smirk hooking the corner of her lips as she casually picked up a thick leather binder from the entryway console and waved it around.

"We're actually using your old wedding planning binder. Aaron gave me your handwritten guest list and seating chart. He said it would save us a lot of trouble by just copying the format for our engagement party this afternoon."

I stared in shock at the binder in her hand.

That was the notebook my mother and I had spent six whole months filling out stroke by stroke by hand. It contained my mother's neat cursive handwriting, detailing every single relative's dietary restrictions and seating preferences.

Now, Aaron was simply handing over the wedding plans I had poured my heart and soul into, just to throw an engagement party for him and another woman!

Behind Bella, Aaron walked out of the master bathroom. He was dressed in a custom navy blue tuxedo, casually adjusting his silver cufflinks.

"What are you doing here acting crazy, Audrey?" Aaron asked, his brows immediately knitting into a deep frown when he saw my pale face and mud-stained clothes. "Didn't I tell you? If you want to talk, change into something decent and come find me at the club."

"You let her wear my clothes, changed my locks, and gave her my wedding binder?!" I looked at the man I had loved for two years, my voice trembling uncontrollably.

"That binder was just sitting in the drawer gathering dust," Aaron said self-righteously, without a single trace of guilt. "Your father is lying in the hospital right now, so our wedding is obviously postponed indefinitely. Bella's engagement party urgently needed a ready-made template. Why let a perfectly good planning book go to waste? What's wrong with letting her borrow it? When did you become so petty and mean?"

He checked his gold watch and grabbed his car keys.

"We have to head to the main ballroom. If you still want to get that medical transport fee, just be a good girl, sit at the spare table next to the kitchen, and keep your mouth shut tight. I'll consider transferring the money to you."

I looked at Aaron, looked at Bella wearing my bridal robe, and looked at that notebook where my mother's and my hard work had been utterly ruined.

I didn't say a single word. I turned around, walked back down the carpeted hallway, and pressed the elevator button.

As the elevator doors slowly opened, I heard Aaron speaking arrogantly to Bella:

"In less than an hour, she'll have to obediently rush to the club. She has no other way out. Sooner or later, she will have to crawl back begging and do exactly as I say."