Chapter 3

"Be patient?!"

My dad's voice shook with anger.

"You threw us out of our own home. It's the middle of the night now, we have nowhere to go, we can't even afford a $380 room, and you're telling us to endure it?!"

"Sir, I truly am sorry."

Sabrina bowed deeply again, as if it were her signature move.

"Mr. Preston has it hard too. Overseas, he only sleeps four hours a night..."

She paused, then added, as though the thought had only just occurred to her.

"The truth is, this little bit of money is nothing to Mr. Preston. But he believes every little bit of savings counts."

Every little bit of savings counts.

The words cut straight to the heart, wounding my parents more deeply than any insult could have.

My mom burst into tears.

I let out a long breath and gently patted her shoulder, trying to calm her down. Then I pulled my savings card from my bag and handed it to the front desk clerk.

"Use this one."

I'd saved that money before I got married and hadn't touched it since. There should have been more than enough to cover a hotel room for my parents.

The clerk took it politely and ran it through the reader. Less than two seconds later, the machine let out a sharp beep.

The young woman frowned slightly.

"Ma'am, your card has been declined due to insufficient funds."

"Insufficient funds?"

"Yes. There's only $138 on this card."

That couldn’t be right!

There should have been at least $130,000 on it.

The moment I took the card back, the memory hit me. The very day Adrian left for overseas, he called me in a hurry just before boarding.

"Honey, one of the company's suppliers ran into a problem. I promised him I'd settle his account early. Can you handle it for me?"

I'd transferred $130,000 to the supplier straight from my savings account.

A flicker of doubt crept in before I could stop it.

Was Sabrina really acting on her own, or was there more to this than I'd realized?

And could I really trust the comments appearing before my eyes?

But my parents looked so worn out that I couldn't bring myself to dwell on it.

I handed the card, with its measly $138 balance, back to the clerk.

Thankfully, she was kind, and after calling over the manager on duty, they cleared out a small linen storage room and let my parents stay there for the night.

"Mrs. Preston, now that you're all settled, I'll be on my way."

Sabrina turned to leave, then glanced back and added one more thing.

"Oh, and Mr. Preston asked me to pass along a message. He's swamped with work these days and might not be able to answer your calls. If you need anything, just let me know, and I'll pass it along to him."

I pressed down the doubt in my mind and smiled.

"All right. Thank you for your trouble, Assistant Lowell."

Once we were in the room, my dad unpacked the luggage, his voice low.

"Adrian's cutting us off, isn't he? He'd even had the cards frozen."

My mom leaned back against the pillow.

"Do you think he's... seeing someone else?"

"Mom, don't let your mind run off like that."

I sat down beside her.

"Adrian isn't that kind of man."

"Then why won't he even pick up the phone? And why does he keep having his assistant tell you over and over not to call? What are we supposed to do?!"

My dad looked up at me.

"Call him. Right now!"

I'd barely reached for my phone when the comments flashed into view.

[You have to trust me! Calling right now is useless!]

[That woman tampered with the phone. You won't get through to Adrian himself!]

I hesitated. According to the comments, Sabrina had made sure the call wouldn't reach Adrian. But with my parents staring at me like that, I couldn't refuse.

Besides, a small part of me still hoped they were wrong.