Chapter 4

The phone rang for a long time.

The moment it connected, Chloe's soft, drowsy voice came through the receiver:

"Who is it... Liam's already asleep. Is something wrong this late?"

After a while, she chuckled softly: "Oh, it's Aurora. Are you short on money? Let's talk tomorrow, don't wake him up..."

The call was immediately disconnected.

I scrolled through my contact list, hundreds of names, but I couldn't find a single person to ask for help.

Finally, my gaze stopped on a familiar name—Ethan.

A transfer student in senior year, always skipping class and getting into fights, with the worst grades, but seemingly from a very wealthy background.

He always teased me. Once, he handed me a crumpled business card, grinning mischievously, "If you're in trouble, call me."

With trembling fingers, I dialed the number I thought I'd never call in my life.

"Where are you?"

The moment the call connected, Ethan didn't waste a single word.

Half an hour later, a black Aston Martin screeched to a halt in front of the hospital.

Ethan, in a loose black T-shirt, with messy hair, but sharp eyes, rushed straight to the payment desk without a word. He paid all the overdue fees with his card, and even pulled strings to get the best neurosurgeon from out of state transferred overnight.

He still had that playful, rebellious look, leaning against the hallway wall, twirling his car keys.

"Don't look at me like that. This money is a loan, and there'll be interest."

I cried in front of him like a broken mess, and he just handed me a pack of tissues.

"Alright, someone taller will bear the weight if the sky falls."

With Ethan's help, my mother's condition temporarily stabilized, and I finally got a moment to breathe.

To repay the money and earn college tuition, Ethan asked me to do a short-term internship in one of his company's project teams. Although it was mostly running errands and odd jobs, the pay was surprisingly generous.

A few afternoons later, I walked out of Ethan's company building, carrying a stack of files.

A familiar BMW was parked at the bottom of the steps.

Liam got out of the car and blocked my path.

"Aurora, are you really going to stoop this low?"

I looked at him coldly: "Move."

"For money, you'll throw away all your dignity, and hang out with trash like Ethan?"

Liam gritted his teeth, "After leaving me, are you only fit to be a plaything for people like him!"

I found it utterly ridiculous and couldn't be bothered to explain anything to him.

"Does it concern you what I do?" I walked around him.

Liam grabbed my wrist: "I offered you money, but you refused! Now you're here selling yourself? Are you being fair to your parents?"

I swung my hand back and slapped him hard across the face.

"Don't talk about my parents, you're not worthy."

I shook off his hand and walked away without looking back.

However, the very next day, several candid photos suddenly went viral in the class SnapChat group.

The photos were blurry, but clearly showed me getting into Ethan's car, and also a picture of me and Ethan talking outside a fancy restaurant, from an extremely ambiguous angle.

The caption was vicious: "No wonder she used to follow Liam, and now she's not. Turns out she's latched onto a richer branch. Pretending to be so pure, but still just a plaything for rich men."

I looked at the messages in the group, my hands and feet turning cold.

Immediately after, Chloe Snapchatted me privately.

She sent a screenshot of her chat with Liam.

Liam: "She's changed. She'll do anything for money. I really misjudged her."

Chloe replied: "Forget it, Liam. To each their own. I just didn't expect her to be so eager. It's only been a few days since her mom passed away, and she's already in the mood to hook up with a rich guy..."

What? My mom was clearly still in the ICU, and Chloe was cursing her like that behind my back!

Just as I was about to be crushed by this overwhelming malice, my phone rang with a jarring sound.

It was the hospital.

"Aurora! Come to the hospital immediately! Your mother suddenly developed severe complications and urgently needs brain surgery! You need to pay eight hundred thousand for the surgery right away, or she won't make it!"

I rushed to the hospital like a madwoman.

Ethan's phone was temporarily unreachable. He had gone out of town with his father to handle an urgent project.

The whole world seemed to shrink to just me, rapidly plummeting into the abyss of despair.

Just then, my phone screen lit up. It was a text message from Liam.

It contained a picture and a sentence.

I trembling clicked on the picture.

In the photo, my father was kneeling on the ground, humbly before Eve, holding a pen, ready to sign an agreement that waived all claims and accepted the exorbitant penalty.

Liam's message said:

"Beg me. Or, let your dad go to jail."