Chapter 4

After a terrifying night of emergency stabilization, Grandma’s surgery was pushed up.

Ethan was a wreck, surrounded by a swarm of surgeons confirming the final risk protocols. Because of the trauma from yesterday, and without my presence to ground her, Grandma woke up in a state of extreme agitation.

She ripped the IV out of her hand and flat-out refused the final pre-op scans.

"Get Lina... I want Lina..." her weak, stubborn voice drifted out of the ICU.

Ethan pinched the bridge of his nose, looking utterly exhausted. He looked up and saw me standing at the far end of the corridor. For the first time ever, those arrogant eyes were silently begging me for help.

I looked at him coldly. But remembering everything Grandma had done for me, I walked forward and pushed open the door.

The moment I reached her bedside, Grandma weakly waved her hand, ordering all the doctors and nurses out. Ethan tried to follow, but she fiercely barred him from entering.

The room emptied.

Grandma struggled to lift her hand, gripping mine tightly. Her eyes were red, but her gaze was suddenly piercingly clear.

"My good girl, don't cry..." Her rough thumb brushed a tear from my cheek. "These past two years... the grievances you swallowed, the coldness you endured for that foolish boy... I saw it all."

"I forced him to marry you because I thought, one day, you would melt his heart. I thought I could leave this world knowing you were safe." Grandma took a ragged breath. "But he is blind. He doesn't deserve you. When I saw that woman yesterday, I finally understood."

"Lina, leave him. Don't let a dying old woman and this godforsaken family's obligations drag you down anymore. Go live your own life."

My tears spilled over. I nodded hard, gripping her hand back. "Grandma, you have to make it out of that operating room. I'll be waiting for you."

Hours later, the red light above the operating room finally clicked off.

The lead surgeon stepped out, pulled down his mask, and announced the surgery was a complete success.

The suffocating tension in the hallway instantly evaporated. Ethan let out a massive, shuddering breath. He turned his head, trying to push through the crowd to say something to me.

But while he was swarmed by the medical team, I turned my back and walked out the hospital doors without a word.

The night wind was freezing, but for the first time in my life, I felt completely, utterly free.

I went back to the mansion. I placed the signed divorce papers and the wedding ring that had imprisoned me for three years dead center on the living room coffee table.

I blocked Ethan’s number on everything. Then, I grabbed my suitcase and got into the taxi waiting to take me to the airport.

...

Late that night, an exhausted Ethan pushed open the doors to the mansion.

"Lina, Grandma is okay. We can..."

He wasn't greeted by the warm light that was always left on for him. He was greeted by dead air, and the divorce papers sitting on the coffee table.

His hands shaking, he pulled out his phone and dialed the number he knew by heart.

From the other end of the line, a cold, mechanical voice echoed in the empty house:

"We're sorry, the number you have dialed is no longer in service."