I Traded Three Years of Love for One Perfect Revenge Chapter 07
My phone slipped from my hand and hit the floor.
Cracks spread across the screen like a spiderweb.
I dropped to my knees and scrambled to pick it up. Shards of glass cut into my fingers, and blood ran down my hands.
I needed forty thousand dollars.
Even if I sold plasma and every last thing I owned, I still couldn’t scrape together that much.
I sat there in a panic, calling every relative and friend I could think of.
All I got were apologies and long, helpless silences.
I had nowhere left to turn.
I stumbled out through the campus gates.
I would find work, take out a predatory loan, do anything I had to do.
A black sedan suddenly pulled up in front of me and blocked my path.
The driver’s window rolled down.
Cole was behind the wheel, staring at me without a trace of sympathy.
Brielle sat in the passenger seat, touching up her makeup in the visor mirror.
“What, thinking of turning tricks?”
—
Cole’s words hit with deliberate cruelty.
“You’re not exactly anyone’s fantasy. You couldn’t make forty grand that way even if you tried.”
I went completely still.
“How do you know?”
Cole gave me a contemptuous smile.
“The doctor overseeing your mother’s case at the local community hospital is a relative of mine.”
“I know more about her condition than you do.”
“She’s dying.”
I lunged toward the car and grabbed the edge of the open window like it was my last lifeline.
“Cole, give me back my seven thousand dollars!”
“That’s my money!”
“I’ll do anything. Please!”
Cole pried my hands away in disgust.
“Don’t get my car dirty.”
“Seven grand isn’t going to save your mother.”
He grabbed two documents from beside him and tossed them out the window.
—
The papers scattered across the pavement.
One was a statement from Brielle saying she would not pursue the theft accusation.
The other was a voluntary withdrawal form from Aldercrest.
“Sign the withdrawal form.”
“Then record a video admitting that you stole Brielle’s necklace and switched the speech because you were jealous of her.”
“After that, get on your knees, slap yourself three times, and beg her to forgive you.”
“I’ll send seventy thousand dollars to the hospital immediately.”
“That’ll cover her surgery and the best treatment available.”
I stared at the papers on the ground, breathing hard.
So this was what they wanted.
They wanted to destroy me completely.
They wanted me branded as a thief and a plagiarist for the rest of my life, then driven out of Aldercrest in disgrace.
“Not a chance,” I said through clenched teeth.
“I will never confess to something I didn’t do.”
Brielle lowered her compact and let out a theatrical sigh.
“Cole, forget it. Let’s just go.”
—
“Her mom won’t make it through tonight anyway.”
“A cheap urn won’t cost much.”
The engine revved.
The car began to pull away.
“Wait!”
The word tore out of me with a desperation I barely recognized as my own.
I watched them back the car toward me.
My knees gave out, and I dropped onto the papers scattered across the pavement.
For my mother, I would have given my life.
What did pride matter anymore?
What did my innocence matter?
With shaking hands, I picked up the pen.
I signed my name on the withdrawal form.
Then I lifted my head and looked straight into Brielle’s phone camera.
“I stole Brielle’s necklace.”
“I was jealous of her, so I switched the speech.”
“I’m sorry.”
I hit myself hard across the face.
—
Again.
Then a third time.
By the last blow, my lip had split and blood was running down my chin.
I lifted my swollen, bloodied face.
“Where’s the money?”
Cole looked satisfied as he collected the withdrawal form.
He tapped at his phone for a moment.
“I sent it to the hospital.”
“Now get lost. Don’t ever show your face around us again.”
The sedan sped away, leaving a cloud of exhaust in my face.
I sank onto the pavement, laughing and crying at the same time.
I was ruined.
But my mother had a chance to live.