Chapter 3

The room went dead silent.

Every pair of eyes locked onto Ethan.

Between his career advancement and his dying ex-girlfriend, he didn't hesitate for a single second.

He bowed low, topped off Victoria's glass with ice water, and let her finger brush insolently across his cheek, grinning like a trained dog.

Then, he picked up the tumbler of bourbon, turned around, and shoved it directly into my face.

"Summer."

His voice was hushed, yet laden with entitlement.

"Ms. Montgomery is right. When you live off someone else, you have to bow your head. You took the bag, you took the cash. Drink this for me. Don't ruin everyone's night."

In a dizzying blur, my mind flashed back to our college graduation night. Back when a guy tried to pressure me, Ethan had intercepted every drink until he was hospitalized for gastric bleeding, swearing with bloodshot eyes that no one would ever force liquor down my throat again.

In just three short years, the boy who shielded me from drinks had become the man forcing the poison into my hand.

I stared at the amber liquid. It was a fatal dose.

The oncologist's words rang in my ears: "Your stomach lining is severely eroded. A single shot of high-proof alcohol could trigger a fatal hemorrhage."

I looked into Ethan's eyes, searching for even a flicker of hesitation or regret.

There was none.

Only impatience, desperation, and an unspoken demand.

In that quiet second, whatever remained of my heart died completely.

"Okay."

I took the glass and downed it in one swift, ruthless motion.

The scorching liquid tore down my throat, and an explosive, blinding agony ripped through my gut, as if a wire brush were frantically scraping open my ulcerated stomach wall.

Cold sweat drenched my blouse instantly. I clamped my teeth down so hard they cracked, using every ounce of willpower not to collapse to the floor.

Setting the empty glass down, I choked back the iron-metallic taste flooding my mouth and forced a ghost of a smile toward Ethan.

"It's gone."

Victoria arched an eyebrow, slightly surprised.

Ethan stared at the empty tumbler and let out a long sigh of relief.

He patted my shoulder, his eyes gleaming with pride.

"Good girl. I knew keeping you around was worth it."

He immediately spun on his heel to pour more wine for Victoria.

No one saw me turn away, pressing my hands into my abdomen so hard my nails dug through fabric into skin, yet it barely numbed a fraction of the agony burning within.

That night, after the bourbon tore my insides apart, I collapsed into a high fever and lost consciousness.

When I opened my eyes again, harsh morning sunlight flooded through the blinds.

Instinctively, I tried to push myself up, but my head spun wildly. More terrifyingly, my sensory world had fractured.

On my left side, total, deafening silence.

On my right side, a shrill, piercing buzz of white noise, hissing like broken electrical wires.

With trembling hands, I slapped the side of my left ear.

Nothing.

I pinched my earlobe viciously until it bruised. Still, nothing.

The toxic alcohol combined with chemo neurotoxicity had completely destroyed the auditory nerve.

My left ear was completely deaf.

Right then, the bedroom door flew open.

Ethan walked in, looking triumphant and refreshed, carrying a bag of artisanal breakfast pastries.

He was humming a tune, radiant with success, completely oblivious to my flushed face and cold sweat.

He dropped onto the edge of the mattress, seized my burning hand, his face manic with adrenaline.

"Summer! We did it! That glass of bourbon paid off!"

I watched his mouth opening and closing. I couldn't hear his words at all, catching only disjointed, muffled fragments in my right ear.

"...Ms. Montgomery... investment... huge check..."

His eyes burned with unbridled greed.

He leaned down, cupping my burning face in his hands, nearly shouting with joy.

"Once this project closes, my commission will be in the hundreds of thousands! I'll take you to get that Tiffany diamond ring you always wanted. We'll have a lavish wedding, and we'll never have to bow to anyone again!"

A ring? A wedding?

Did he really think I had that much time left?

When I didn't react, only staring blankly through him, the ecstatic grin on Ethan's face slowly froze.

His eyebrows knitted together. He dropped his hands from my face, his tone darkening into irritation.

Though I couldn't hear the words, the disgusted sneer on his face was unmistakable.

Desperate to decipher what he was saying, I tilted my head, straining with my half-functioning right ear to catch a vibration.

To Ethan, that head tilt looked like a deliberate, dismissive cold shoulder.