Emily's POV
The next three days blurred together in a nightmare of desperation. I went to every place I'd ever worked, hat in hand, begging for loans I knew I'd probably never be able to repay. I even considered going to a payday loan place before talking myself out of it.
By the end of the seventy-two hours Victor had given me, I'd managed to scrape together $2,300.
Not even a quarter of what I needed.
I sat in our apartment on the third evening, staring at the pitiful stack of cash and checks on the table. Lily was asleep in her room. The silence pressed in on me from all sides.
I picked up my phone with shaking hands and stared at Victor's number.
This was it. The moment of truth. The point of no return.
I pressed the call button.
It rang once. Twice. Three times.
"Miss Greene." His voice was calm, controlled, like he'd been expecting this call. Like he'd known exactly how long it would take before I broke. "I trust you've had time to think."
"Your offer," I said, my voice barely above a whisper. "Is it still on the table?"
There was a pause. "It is."
I closed my eyes, feeling the last of my pride crumble to dust. "Then I accept. But I have conditions."
"I'm listening."
"I want Charles Bennett to come to the hospital tomorrow morning. I need to discuss my terms with him directly."
"Done," Victor said without hesitation. "Charles will be there within the hour."
"Thank you."
"Miss Greene?" His voice stopped me before I could hang up.
"Yes?"
"You're making the right choice."
I ended the call before I could tell him there was no right choice here. Only the least terrible option.
---
True to his word, the next morning Charles arrived at the hospital. I met him outside, too exhausted for the pretense of going somewhere private.
"Emily." His expression was gentle, understanding. "Victor told me you've agreed."
"I have conditions," I said without wasting any time. "If I'm moving into that mansion, my family comes with me. My mother and my daughter. They live there too, with proper care for my mother and daughter. And Victor follows through on everything he's promised. Everything."
Charles nodded slowly. "Let me call him."
He stepped a few feet away and called Victor, putting the phone on speaker so I could hear.
"Victor, Emily's condition is that her mother and daughter move into the mansion with her," Charles said. "She wants her family with her, and she wants assurance that you'll provide proper care for her mother and daughter."
There was a pause. Then, "Agreed. Tell Miss Greene she'll have a week to arrange the move and get her affairs in order. I'll have rooms prepared."
"Understood." Charles ended the call and turned to me. "There. It's done."
I nodded, too numb to feel relief. "Thank you, Charles."
"Emily, before you go..." He hesitated. "I know this isn't what you wanted. But Victor will keep his word. And who knows? Maybe this arrangement will work out better than you think."
I didn't have the energy to respond to his optimism. Instead, I turned and walked back into the hospital, ready to tell the doctor that my mother's treatment could proceed.
As I walked through the corridors, I realized I hadn't seen my mother since I'd arrived. I headed to the room where she'd initially been admitted, but when I pushed open the door, the bed was empty.
Panic seized me. I ran to Dr. Alex's office, but he wasn't there either. My heart pounding, I rushed to the reception desk.
"My mother, Margret Stevenson, where is she? She was in room 247."
The receptionist checked her computer. "Oh, Mrs. Stevenson moved two days ago. She's now in the VVIP wing. Room 512."
Two days ago. The day after I'd first spoken to Dr. Alex about the costs.
Confused, I made my way to the VVIP wing, a part of the hospital I'd never even known existed. Room 512 had its own sitting area outside. Through the window in the door, I could see my mother sitting up in bed, looking better than she had in months. A private nurse sat nearby, reading.
I pushed open the door, and my mother's face lit up. "Emily! Sweetheart, look at this place. It's like a hotel!"
"Mom." I rushed to her bedside, tears already forming. "How... when did they move you here?"
"A few days ago, dear. The nice doctor said there had been some changes to my treatment plan." She squeezed my hand, her grip stronger than it had been in weeks. "And look, I have my own nurse. Mary here has been so kind."
The nurse smiled warmly. "Your mother's responding beautifully to the new medications."
I felt like I'd been punched. Two days ago. While I'd been running around the city, begging for money, making desperate phone calls, Victor had already paid for everything. He'd moved my mother to the best room in the hospital, hired a private nurse, started her treatment.
He'd known all along that I would eventually say yes. And he'd made sure my mother was taken care of while he waited for me to come to that conclusion.
I didn't know whether to feel grateful or manipulated. Maybe both.
When Charles found me outside my mother's room twenty minutes later, I was still trying to process it all.
"He already paid," I said without looking at him. "Two days ago. Before I even agreed."
"Victor wanted to make sure your mother was cared for," Charles said quietly. "Regardless of your decision."
"Why?" I turned to face him. "Why would he do that if I hadn't agreed yet?"
Charles met my eyes. "Because despite everything you might think about him, Victor Hawthorne isn't a monster. He's just a man who's forgotten how to connect with people without it being a transaction."
I wanted to argue, but I was too tired. "Tell him I'll need that week. To pack, to tell Lily, to... prepare."
"Of course."
"And Charles? Thank you. For everything."
He smiled sadly. "Just doing my job, Emily. Though I hope, in time, we might be friends too."
After he left, I went back to my mother's room and sat with her for a while, listening to her chatter about the nice nurses and the comfortable bed. She didn't understand what any of this meant, what I'd sacrificed to give her this care.
Maybe that was a blessing.
That night, I sat Lily down at our kitchen table and tried to explain that we'd be moving to a big house, that it would be an adventure, that Grandma would have the best care there.
"Is it because of your new job, Mommy?" she asked, her eyes wide.
"Yes, baby. Something like that."
The week passed in a blur of packing and paperwork and quiet goodbyes to the only home Lily had ever really known. True to his word, Victor arranged everything—the movers, the transportation, even settled the recent one month lease with Mr. Grissom.
On the last day, I stood in our empty apartment one final time. Mrs. Johnson found me there, tears streaming down my face.
"This isn't goodbye, you know," she said, pulling me into a hug. "I'll visit all the time. And you're going to give that little girl opportunities you never had. You're doing the right thing, Emily."
"I hope you're right," I whispered.
When Victor's driver arrived, a kind man named Steve, I helped him load our few precious belongings. Then I collected Lily from Mrs. Johnson's apartment, and we picked up my mother from the hospital.
---
The drive to Victor's mansion felt both too long and too short. Lily pressed her face against the window, Mr. Hops clutched in her arms and her favorite locket tucked inside her shirt, as the grand structure came into view.
"Mommy, is that a castle?" she breathed.
"Something like that, baby."
Jenkins was waiting at the entrance, his expression warm despite the formal setting. "Welcome home, Miss Greene. Young Miss Lily. Mrs. Stevenson. We've been preparing for your arrival."
He showed us inside, and I tried not to feel overwhelmed by the marble and crystal and luxury that would now be our daily life. Lily stayed close to my side, her usual chatter subdued by the grandeur around us.
"Your mother's room is on the ground floor," Jenkins explained, guiding her wheelchair through the mansion. "We've arranged for twenty-four-hour nursing care. And Miss Lily, your room is right next door to your mother's, also on the ground floor."
He showed us each room in turn. Mom's suite was equipped like a high-end medical facility disguised as a bedroom. Lily's room was right close to mine.
"Is this room mine?" she whispered.
"Yes, Miss Lily," Jenkins said kindly. "Mr. Hawthorne wanted you to feel at home."
My room was elegant and spacious and utterly overwhelming. But I barely had time to take it in before Jenkins cleared his throat gently.
"Miss Greene, Mr. Hawthorne has asked that you meet him in his study once everyone is settled."
My stomach dropped. "Now?"
"At your convenience, miss."
After helping Mom get comfortable and making sure Lily was settled with her new toys, I made my way through the mansion's familiar corridors.
My heart pounded harder with each step, even though I'd walked this path countless times during my work here.
I stopped in front of the door to Victor's study and took a deep breath before knocking.
"Come in."
I pushed open the door and found myself in the room I knew well. Victor sat behind the desk in his wheelchair, and Charles stood beside him. On the desk between them lay a thick stack of papers.
The marriage contract.
Victor's dark eyes met mine across the room. "Miss Greene. Please, sit down."
I moved forward on shaking legs and lowered myself into the chair across from him. The contract sat there like a living thing, my future written out in legal jargon and signatures.
"I believe," Victor said quietly, "we have some papers to discuss."
The door clicked shut behind me, and I realized with a jolt of finality that there was no going back now.
This was really happening.
I'm about to sign away three years of my life to a man I barely knew, a marriage made out of desperation.