“Didn’t I tell you? Don’t go soft on her. If she dies here, she deserves it.”
“Go now. I’ll come find you later.”
After sending Carmen away, Walter crouched in front of me, still icy.
“Don’t worry. I won’t let you die before Grandma wakes up. You’ll apologize to her yourself.”
His words chilled me—Grandma was still unconscious in the hospital. The poison would destroy her cells slowly, and in a few days she might never wake again.
With all my remaining strength, I pointed at the bag in the corner.
“T—the antidote… take it… save her…”
Walter smirked, dumped the bag’s contents, and spotted the small vial that rolled to his feet.
“So many poisons. Were you planning to silence me too when you got caught?”
He crushed the vial under his heel, snuffing out Grandma’s last hope.
Even if I flew back to my hometown, she wouldn’t survive until I returned.
“Jada, pray Grandma wakes up soon.”
He left, locking the door behind him.
I stared at my bruised body and thought back to the day we met.
We were in college then—he was a student council leader under me.
By chance, we grew close. My family was poor, and I lived on the cheapest food.
He never handed me cash, afraid to hurt my pride. Instead, he brought an extra bowl of food every day and shared it with me.
Whenever Carmen sent people to bully me, Walter would stand up for me—even at the cost of cutting ties with her family.
Half the trouble I faced in college was solved by him.
After graduation, I started working. Each month, after sending money home, the rest was just enough to cover our shared expenses.
When Walter Shaw’s family found out we were together, they were furious and immediately froze his credit card.
Walter, stubborn as ever, refused to back down and moved out with me into a cheap rented apartment.
We barely had two thousand dollars a month, and after rent and utilities, we were left with almost nothing.
Walter was born into privilege, and after a while he couldn’t stand living like that. One day, he grabbed my hand and took me back to the Shaw Family Mansion.
When I saw his mother, I wanted to speak, but Walter stopped me.
He let go of my hand and suddenly dropped to his knees.
“Mom, please don’t make things hard for Jada. She’s a good girl.”
His parents glanced at me with disdain.
“A good girl should understand the difference in status between our families. Don’t you think we know how much you’ve done for her?”