Chapter 4

The knife-like pain in my stomach returned at midnight.

Curled in bed, I trembled as I reached for the painkillers on the nightstand.

Half a month. It had been half a month since Andrew was gone, and my body was failing me day by day.

I forced down three pills, but my stomach rebelled almost instantly, rejecting even the plain water I tried to wash them down with. The cancer cells were spreading through my body like wild summer vines across Emerald City, relentless and unchecked.

The doctors gave me two months at most. But I needed to hold on until Christmas. It was Andrew's favorite holiday. He'd always talked about hanging his stocking by the fireplace and making a little wish.

A knock sounded at the door.

"Isabella? It's me." Daniel's voice came from the hallway.

I wiped my tears and pushed myself up. He'd been checking on me every few days since I left the Johnson household.

"What are you doing here?" I made my voice cold, distant.

He stood in the doorway, holding a takeout container from an old Emerald City diner and a bag of nutritional supplements. His frown deepened as he looked at me. "You look worse. You need to be in the hospital."

"I'm fine," I said, turning my back to him.

"Isabella—"

"Dr. Wilson." I cut him off, pulling a stack of bills from my purse. "Thank you for your concern, but I don't need it. Take this and please don't come back."

He froze, hurt flashing in his eyes. This was for the best. I'd already dragged Andrew down with me; I wouldn't let Daniel get entangled in this too.

"You think I'm here for money?" His voice trembled slightly.

I closed my eyes, forcing out the cruelest words I could muster. "What else could it be? Do you actually think you can save me?"

In that moment, the loneliness was more crushing than the pain. But this was right. Dying alone was the only ending I deserved.

Daniel stared at me for a long, silent moment before finally turning to leave.

I thought he was gone, but then I heard raised voices from the street below. Dragging myself to the window, I saw Daniel and Michael facing off on the cobblestones.

"Who do you think you are, bothering my wife?" Michael's voice was thick with anger.

Wife? I almost laughed. Did he remember I was his wife when he was cozying up to Sophia?

"I'm her doctor," Daniel replied, his tone calm but firm. "She needs treatment."

"That's none of your business," Michael sneered. "Isabella has me to take care of her."

Take care of me? Had he visited even once in the last two weeks? Not a single call.

"Take care of her?" Daniel's patience finally snapped. "Do you even know she's dying? Advanced stomach cancer! She can't keep water down!"

Michael's body jerked as if struck. Shock flickered across his face, quickly hardening back into icy disdain.

"Is that your new line to get close to her?" Michael's lip curled. "Don't think I don't see what you're doing. You've wanted her since college. Now you're swooping in when she's vulnerable. Pathetic."

Daniel's fists clenched. "You don't deserve to be her husband."

"Whether I deserve her or not isn't your call." Michael adjusted his cuff. "Stay away from her. Or else."

I couldn't watch any longer. I stumbled down the stairs and pushed between them.

"Enough!" My voice was a strained shout. "Daniel, please. Just go."

He looked at me, eyes full of worry. "Isabella—"

"Please," I whispered, my voice breaking. "Stop worrying about me."

After a final, searching look, Daniel turned and walked away, leaving Michael and me alone on the dimming street. The setting sun cast long shadows over the old buildings.

"So you've already found a replacement," Michael said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "No wonder you're so eager for the divorce."

I looked at this man and felt nothing but profound exhaustion. "Think whatever you want." I moved to go back inside.

"Isabella." He stopped me, his tone suddenly complex. "I heard… about your illness."

"Just a stomach issue," I said, meeting his gaze calmly. "You should be pleased. Now you can be with Sophia openly. No more annoying wife in the way."

His expression shifted. "Don't talk nonsense."

"It's not nonsense." I pulled out my phone and opened Sophia's social media from earlier that day. In the photo, her delicate hand was held up, a massive diamond glittering in the sunset. The caption was simple: Finally.

Dozens of congratulatory comments followed, including likes from several Johnson relatives.

"Congratulations," I said, holding the screen toward him. "May you live a long and happy life together."

Michael paled when he saw the image. "Isabella, let me explain—"

"There's nothing to explain." I put my phone away, my smile more painful than any sob. "We have nothing left to say to each other."

"Don't you dare regret this!" he snarled, furious in his humiliation.

His words were a blade to my heart, but I had no tears left for his cruelty.

Back in my room, I collapsed on the bed, memories washing over me. The cancer's agony made me yearn for death—only then would I see Andrew again.

I thought of my five years of marriage. I had been like a devoted servant, pressing his suits, packing his lunches, managing his household. I endured his coldness when work stressed him, pretended not to see the distance in his eyes when he longed for Sophia. I'd believed my devotion might soften his heart, but I was wrong. It had always belonged to her.

"If you hadn't trapped him, did you really think you could marry him?" Sophia's words from a phone call still echoed. "A scholarship student from the countryside, thinking she's fit to be a Johnson? You're just a shameless homewrecker!"

"When he's tired of you, he'll come back to me. And you'll have nothing."

Now her prediction had come true. Michael was back with her, and I was dying with nothing. Perhaps it was the punishment I deserved.

Clutching my stomach against another wave of pain, I knew I had to go to the hospital tomorrow. Not for a cure, but for enough medication to see Christmas. I had to fulfill Andrew's last wish—to hang that stocking by the fireplace. Then, I could go to him.

The next day, I forced myself to Evergreen Hospital. The doctor studied my latest results, his expression grim.

"The cancer has metastasized to your liver and lungs," he said carefully. "Ms. Isabella, I must strongly advise immediate hospitalization…"

"Just the pain medication, please," I interrupted.

With a heavy sigh, he prescribed a large bag of pills. Leaving the hospital, a wave of dizziness hit me, and I stumbled.

"Isabella!"

Daniel's arms caught me just in time.

"What are you doing here?"

"Just finished my night shift." He frowned at my pallor. "You can't get home like this. I'll drive you."

"It's not necessary—"

"I'm not taking no for an answer." He guided me firmly toward the parking lot. "Michael warned me to stay away from you yesterday. But I won't listen to him."

I stared, stunned.

"He's been threatening me since college to stay away from you," Daniel continued, a bitter smile touching his lips. "Said he'd ruin my career in Emerald City if I so much as looked at you. I thought he was being protective. Now I see he just wanted to possess you. He never loved you."

The pain that hit me then was suffocating. From the very beginning, I had been a pawn. My mother schemed to marry me off, Michael kept others at bay, all while his heart belonged to Sophia. I was a caged bird, stripped of freedom yet expected to be grateful for the scraps.

Outside the car window, Emerald City's autumn colors blazed. I remembered my first autumn here, when Michael first met me. He'd draped his coat over my shoulders, bought me hot cocoa when I was sick, gently stroked my hair when I cried from homesickness.

"Don't cry, Isabella," his voice had been soft as a spring breeze. "I'll take care of you for the rest of your life."

But that tenderness vanished when Sophia appeared.

"Isabella is just like a little sister to me," he'd announced to our classmates. "If not for her father's connection, she wouldn't even be that."

The humiliation that day was absolute. That very night, my mother called.

"Isabella, I told you not to aim above your station. A family like the Johnsons is out of our reach."

"Mom, I wasn't aiming… I just…" I'd sobbed.

"Just what? Just fell for someone you shouldn't have?" Her voice was mocking. "Wake up. Men like Michael are never short of better options."

Yet two months later, her tune changed completely. It was she who masterminded the scheme that left me in Michael's bed.