"Ah!" Sarah yelped.
Her scalp burned as her hair was yanked back. "Let me go!"
"How can you be this stingy, even to your own family? I won't let you go!" Her aunt's grip tightened, nails digging into her scalp. "Can't you sacrifice for your cousin? After everything your uncle and I have done for you since you were a child, you can't even treat her like your own sister?"
For a moment, Sarah didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
She struggled, trying to pry her aunt's hand away, but the grip wouldn't loosen. Pain throbbed at the roots of her hair, forcing her to tilt her head back.
"Aunt Kathleena, do you even hear yourself?" she gasped. "What sacrifice? That is my fiancé, Abel!"
That morning, Sarah had only gone out to refill her medicine. Her pills had finished, and the pharmacy was just a short drive away.
But halfway there, she realized her purse which had her cards, her cash, everything, was still at home.
So she turned back.
When she pulled into the driveway, she noticed an unfamiliar car parked beside her aunt's.
Voices drifted from inside the house. She heard laughter, bright and loud, nothing like the heavy silence she had grown used to. It sounded like a celebration, like a reunion.
The moment she opened the door, the sound became clear. They were clapping and cheering with joy.
Her aunt, the woman who had raised her, the only mother she had ever known stood beside her fiance Abel's mother, both of them smiling and applauding.
Applauding Christy. Christy… who was kissing Abel.
The world had tilted.
Sarah didn't remember crossing the room. She only remembered the sting in her palm as it collided with Christy's cheek.
Then immediately, her aunt gripped her hair.
Kathleena finally released her, but not gently. She shoved Sarah which sent her stumbling backward.
Sarah fell hard, her nose turned red and began to trickle down blood.
From the ground, she looked up, stunned.
Her aunt knew she was sick. Her aunt knew she was fragile. And still...
"What is that sacrifice compared to everything we've done for you?" Kathleena said coldly.
Something inside Sarah snapped.
She pushed herself up, voice rising. "Sacrifice? What about everything I've done for this family? Was it not enough? Now you want to hand my fiancé to Christy?"
She turned to Abel, searching his face for anything. Maybe some guilt, hesitation.. something!
But he just sat there, calm and silent.
Three years together. Three years, and he said nothing.
Her aunt scoffed. "What sacrifices have you made?"
Sarah's chest heaved. "This house is mine. The money this family uses, the cars, the clothes, the shoes, the bags, it is mine. The company that feeds all of you, it's all mine!"
Kathleena suddenly collapsed to the floor, wailing theatrically.
"Oh, look how ungrateful she is! Mrs. Lane, do you see the daughter-in-law you wanted?"
Abel finally stood up and stepped forward.
He shielded Kathleena. "That's enough, Sarah. Don't say another word to mother."
Sarah froze. Mother? Since when?!
She looked from him to Christy, still clutching her cheek, then back to him. Then she laughed.
"Did you just call her mother instead of aunt?"
Abel ignored the question, instead reached into his bag and threw a stack of papers at her.
"The art gallery isn't yours anymore," he said flatly. "It belongs to Christy now."
The words didn't make sense.
Sarah picked up the documents, hands shaking. Recognition hit instantly.
"These… these are the papers you asked me to sign yesterday," she whispered. "You said they were a contract for Mr. Bourne—"
"Mr. Bourne, my foot," Abel cut in. "They're transfer documents. Your cars, your house, your mother's art gallery, everything is now under Christy's name."
The room spun.
Sarah forced herself to stay upright, clinging to the last thread of reason. This was probably just a joke. All of it. It had to be!
"Why are you all acting? I know this is all a joke? But I'm not well so why pull such a joke… you all know I'm not well…"
Mrs. Lane stood, voice sharp. "That's exactly why. You're going to die soon anyway. Do you want my son to become a widower? All this property, you want to take it to the grave? Give it to your aunt. Give it to your sister."
"Don't you dare," Sarah said, raising a trembling finger. "Don't you dare call her my sister. And don't talk about my property—it's my mother's."
Slap!
The slap came out of nowhere and landed on Sarah's cheek.
Her head snapped to the side.
"I told you," Abel said coldly, "it's not yours or your dead mother's anymore. I can forgive you for hitting Christy, but I won't forgive you for calling her property yours. Now leave. This house doesn't belong to you."
Sarah stared at him, the sting on her cheek nothing compared to the hollow cracking open in her chest.
A fiancé… driving her out of her own home.
****
Sarah didn't know how she found herself in Brim Hot Hotel.
Oh, she knew. Her best friend doesn't work there but goes to wait there for his stripper boyfriend who worked there.
"Jade, I knew I'd find you here. Come, take me to watch your boyfriend dance." Sarah grabbed Jade's hand, pulling him.
"Nay, Sarah since when do you watch strip dancing?" He could tell that something was off with Sarah. Her eyes carried pain and he could read them vividly. "Wait, let me call Abel."
Hearing that name, Sarah felt her head and heart hurt.
"He's probably fucking my cousin so don't bother them with your call."
Jade's mouth fell open. "Did you just cuss? No, that's not important. What do you mean by what you just said?"
Sarah explained everything to Jade.
Jade couldn't believe his eyes. He pulled Sarah to a chair nearby and made her sit. "How did you let this happen Sarah? So... everything is gone?"
Sarah nodded.
She didn't want to say a word. If she tried to, it'd probably be a loud cry that would come out of her mouth.
Jade was in huge disbelief. "Damn! It's how you went from hundreds of millions of dollars to nothing. From taken to single."
Sarah forced out a smile. "You know Jade, all I wanted was a happy life in a small cottage of a country house after marriage, with a dog and four cats."
Toward the end of her sentence, Sarah began to choke. "Now all I want to do is drink to death."
"Shut that mouth up, Sarah!" Jade cautioned. "You should be thinking of a way to get back at them and get everything back. That.is.what you should want!"
"And how would I do that? How would I do that in just 99 days huh?"
Jade kept silent.
He too was just realizing Sarah had roughly three months to live. Just a few months ago when they found out about her condition, she had like over half a year to live.
Sarah buried her head in Jade's chest as she hugged him. "I wish I could make them feel how hurt I feel right now. I wish I could humiliate them and then leave them with nothing."
Jade patted her. "I understand. I understand."
Sarah sniffed, crying on his chest. Suddenly she paused and looked up at Jade's face.
"What?"
"Humiliate them and then leave them with nothing."
"Yeah, I heard you the first time, Sarah."
Sarah wiped her tears. "I can do that!"
Jade raised a brow, puzzled. "O...Kay....?"
Sarah stared at Jade. Like stared, intensely. To that, Jade squinted. "Sarah Beth... What are you thinking now? I hope it's not suicide?!"
"No, it's not. I'm thinking of how to find a criminal."
Jade paled. "You want to harm your family and ex. How ruined have you become in just a few minutes, Sarah?!"
Sarah shook her head. "No, I want to humiliate them and then see to it that they are left with nothing. I need like.. a criminal, a mafia to do that. The kind who wouldn't kill them but do something bad to them."
"Oh... Like a mafia boss. They don't really kill you know. They let their subordinate do the killing." Jade said, out of his own personal knowledge.
And Sarah bought it.
"Really? So, where can I find one? A mafia boss."
Jade rubbed his chin. "Well... I know a place one of Cameron's huge clients used to visit. It's a pub for mafias and dangerous men."
Cameron is Jade's stripper boyfriend.
Sarah paid attention, listening carefully.
"But the thing is... You can't pay a mafia boss to do your bidding. He is the boss after all. You only provoke him so he can have you on the bad side of his book. By the time you're X, he'd come to take revenge on your family since you are no more."
"..."