He pulled out his phone and called the cops.

I was too weak to even get up. Blood filled my mouth, thick and metallic. My voice came out raw.

"They desecrated my mom's ashes like that, and you're seriously pretending not to see it?"

Pierce only checked whether Jared was hurt.

"He's just a kid. Why couldn't you talk things out? Besides, Daphne already tried to stop him."

The cops showed up fast. As they moved to put me in the squad car, I struggled. "Officer, I didn't even touch them!"

Daphne pointed at a bruise barely bigger than a fingernail on Jared's knee, tears pouring down her face. "She hurt my son like this. He's still so little. This could traumatize him forever!"

The two workers backed her up too.

I was taken to a detention center for disturbing the peace and sentenced to five full days.

The second I heard that, panic hit me. "Pierce, can't we settle this privately? You know Ellie's heart condition is serious. If she doesn't see me for five days, she'll panic. What if something happens to her?"

Pierce hesitated.

Daphne instantly wrapped herself around his arm. "Pierce, if you let this go now, Jared will think actions don't have consequences. He's still young. What if he grows up spoiled?"

Pierce's expression hardened immediately.

"Lucia, you were wrong. Let this be a lesson for both kids. I'll take care of Ellie. You can use this time to think about what you did."

"Pierce!"

I jumped up and tried to grab him, but an officer dragged me away to change.

I didn't even want to imagine what Ellie would go through after five days alone with Daphne and Jared.

The fear crushed me. I paced nonstop inside the tiny cell.

That night, I finally broke down.

I collapsed onto the hard bunk, and the pain from everything that happened finally hit all at once.

I closed my eyes, hoping sleep would make the time pass faster.

Less than five minutes later, someone jolted me awake.

A man in the next cell leaned against the bars and whistled. "You're hurt pretty bad. Figured I should wake you in case you died quietly over there."

I turned my back to him and ignored him.

Five minutes later, he woke me up again.

I barely got a second of uninterrupted sleep that whole night.

By morning, I was slumped against the wall, exhausted.

I tried to ask the guard to let me use the bathroom.

But the guy across from me always seemed to know. Every single time before I could speak, he called the guard over first.

I held it until my stomach cramped and cold sweat drenched my back.

Right before I blacked out, he smirked. "Pretty girl, that's what happens when you mess with people you shouldn't."

That's when I realized Pierce had paid someone to make my life hell in here.

I didn't even have the energy to hate him anymore.

I just wanted time to move faster.

By the fifth day, I'd been reduced to skin and bones.

Pierce was already waiting outside the detention center.

The second he saw me, pain flashed across his face.

He walked over and pulled me into his arms. "Did you learn your lesson? Your mom's ashes weren't completely ruined. I had someone gather what was left and place it in a new urn. She's been reburied in a better cemetery plot. Once you recover, I'll take you there."

I didn't answer. I shoved him away.

Then I pulled the papers from my bag and stuffed them into his hands.

"The money you paid for my mom's grave wasn't enough. Sign."

The second Pierce saw the words 'Property Transfer Agreement', his expression turned ice-cold.

"Wow, Lucia Leighton. Seriously? I actually felt sorry for you. I cleared my whole schedule to pick you up and take you somewhere to relax, and this is the crap you pull? I should've known not to waste my time on you."

He yanked out a pen and signed without hesitation.

Then he threw the pen and documents onto the ground before getting into his car and driving off without a single glance back.

I stood there watching the pen crack in half.

It was the gift I gave him for our third dating anniversary.

The first thing he ever signed with it was our marriage certificate.

I picked up the papers and pulled out the divorce agreement clipped behind the property transfer contract.

Staring at his bold signature, I laughed and cried at the same time.

Once Ellie's surgery was over, we'd really be over for good.

"Mommy!"

I spun around.

Ellie jumped out of a cab and ran straight into my arms.

"Ellie! Why'd you take a cab here by yourself? That's dangerous!"

She buried her face against my chest, voice shaking. "Mommy, I missed you so much. I snuck out."

My chest tightened. "Did anyone bully you while you were staying with Daddy?"

I held her face gently. She shook her head but wouldn't look at me.

My stomach dropped. I reached to check.

She grabbed her sleeve tight. "I'm okay, Mommy. Jared and I were just playing a game. I kept losing, so—"

"Be good. Let me see."

When I wouldn't back down, she finally let go.

I slowly rolled up her sleeve. The second I saw the cluster of red marks covering her arm, my heart almost stopped.

Ellie quickly wiped my tears. "Mommy, it doesn't hurt. Don't cry..."

I clenched my jaw. "Does Daddy know Jared pinched you like this?"

Her lips trembled. "He knows. He was gonna stop it, but Ms. Roach said it was just a game. If I lost, I had to take the punishment. Otherwise, when I grow up, I won't know how to handle losing..."

Just hearing it made it hard to breathe.

"Ellie, don't be scared. I'm not leaving you again. I won't let this happen again."

***

Finally, surgery day came. I watched them wheel Ellie into the OR.

I exhaled slowly and dropped into a chair outside, praying everything would go okay.

Before the surgery even finished, another deposit notification lit up my phone.

I hadn't even opened the note when the OR doors slammed open.

The doctors rushed out, blood still smeared across their gloves.

My whole body went numb. I grabbed the last doctor by the coat. "My daughter's still in surgery. Where are you going?"

I looked inside. Ellie's chest was already cut open.

The line on the heart monitor barely moved.

The doctor shook me off. "Mr. Emery's son had a sudden allergic reaction. The whole hospital's been called over to revive him. We have to pause the surgery."

"You're not leaving!"

My voice cracked. My hands shook as I yanked out my bank card. "How much did he pay you? I'll double it. Just finish my daughter's surgery!"

Scared it still wouldn't be enough, I grabbed my phone to transfer the money right there.

That was when I finally read the note attached to the deposit notification.

It was the fee Pierce paid to pull the doctors away.

"Ma'am, this isn't about money. We could lose our jobs."

No matter how hard I begged, the doctors peeled my fingers off one by one and walked away.

Ellie was left alone on the operating table.

Just thirty more minutes, and she could've had a whole new life.

Now, because of her own father, she lay there with her chest cut open, waiting to die.

A message from Daphne popped up.

In the photo, Jared only had a tiny rash.

But the room was packed with doctors.

Pierce sat beside the bed, feeding Jared Ellie's favorite strawberry cake.

Then Daphne called, smugness dripping from her voice.

"Lucia, weren't you the one acting all generous? Saying you only wanted the money, not the man? So how does it feel watching your daughter die right in front of you?"

She laughed softly.

"If you hadn't remarried Pierce, maybe I would've thrown you some money out of pity so my son could earn some blessings. But you seriously overestimated your place. That marriage certificate and your pathetic title cost your daughter her life."

I almost crushed my phone in my hand.

Every second crawled by. If this kept going, Ellie would wake up from the anesthesia in unimaginable pain.

I called Pierce again and again.

All I got was the same robotic voice.

Not one call went through.

As Ellie's heartbeat weakened, I turned on my camera and begged into it.

"Daphne, you can have Pierce. Please just let the doctors come back, okay? I'll give you every cent he transferred to me. Once my daughter's surgery is done, I swear I'll disappear. I'll never bother your little family again."

The second I sent the video, Pierce finally called back.

The second I answered, Pierce started yelling.

"Lucia! I only pulled away two assistant doctors. What kind of stunt are you trying to pull? You're seriously using your own daughter's life to frame Daphne?"

Daphne sniffled beside him. "Pierce, this is all my fault. Jared had an allergic reaction during Ellie's surgery, so you couldn't stay with Lucia..."

Something clicked for him instantly.

"Lucia, is this whole act just your way of reminding me I haven't paid you yet? Maybe you shouldn't be Mrs. Emery. You should be Mrs. Money."

Before I could say a word, he hung up.

At the same time, my phone exploded with news alerts tied to the bank notification.

[Mrs. Emery Will Rent Out Anything for Cash—Her Husband, Her Mother's Grave, Even Her Daughter's Life!]

[Heartless Mother Stops Daughter's Open-Heart Surgery to Film Video and Extort Money?]

The comments were vicious.

[What kind of monster calls herself a mother?]

[That poor kid seriously got cursed with the worst mom alive. Maybe she'll get a real mother in her next life.]

A second later, my phone was flooded with harassment calls and screaming insults.

My hands shook as I hung up call after call.

I finally got through to another hospital, begging them to send doctors over.

But the ambulance got stuck behind a swarm of reporters rushing in to film.

Camera flashes blinded me. Microphones were shoved in my face from every angle.

"Ms. Leighton, did you really 'rent out' your daughter's lead surgeon?"

"Your daughter's dying in the OR. How can you stand there so calmly?"

"If your daughter dies, what are you 'renting out' next?"

When I wouldn't answer, some reporters actually tried forcing their way into Ellie's operating room with cameras rolling.

"Get out! All of you, get out!"

I snatched up a scalpel and swung it around like I'd lost my mind.

I just wanted to clear a path for Ellie to survive.

More and more people shoved forward.

I struggled to breathe, like I was drowning.

I wanted to stab every single person blocking the way.

***

Third-Person POV

Meanwhile, Pierce couldn't sit still.

He kept refreshing the news updates, hesitating.

"Ellie's still in surgery. Am I taking this too far?"

Jared looked perfectly fine in his hospital bed. Pierce finally started to get up and head for the operating room, but Daphne hooked herself around his arm and pulled him back down.

"Pierce, if you go over there now, you're just proving Lucia's little tantrum works. She got her way once, so next time she'll pull the same stunt to make you cave again. Then everyone'll say you married some crazy control freak. Besides, Lucia's got plenty of people with her. Ellie's gonna be fine, so quit worrying."

Her words lit Pierce right back up.

"She's getting more ridiculous by the day. Pulling crap like this while Ellie's in surgery? She seriously needs to learn her lesson."

He shut off his phone, fully set on ignoring Lucia.

What he didn't know was that later, when he finally remembered Lucia and Ellie and checked the operating room footage himself, what he saw would almost drop him to his knees.