Late to Arrive, Warm to Stay

Synopsis

[Monthly salary: 150,000 dollars. Room and board included. Take care of a four-year-old kid.] I stared at my phone, wondering if my eyes were playing tricks on me. I double-checked it. Then triple-checked. Still the same. One hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Not 1,500 grand, not 15,000 grand, but 150,000 dollars. I was squatting in a corner of the hospital hallway, with only 100 dollars left in my pocket. Three days ago, my fiancé, Jason Reed, kicked me out of the bridal suite. He said, "Sophia, I'm marrying your sister. You move out." My sister, Claire Winters, was actually my step-sister from my dad's second marriage. She was wearing the wedding dress I picked out, standing in the room I spent six months decorating, and she said to me with a smile, "Thanks for getting everything ready for me, sis." I didn't cry. What was the point? My mom was still in the ICU, and the bills were piling up like water. And my dad? He was on Claire's side. He said, "Sophia, if your sister marries into the Reed Family, the money they give will save your mom. You ought to give up." Gave up. Give up my fiancé, give up the bridal suite, give up my dignity. In the end, they didn't spend a single cent on my mom. So now, I needed the money. A whole lot of cash. I called the number from the ad.