Chapter 2
Chloe’s smile froze. She immediately shot back, “No way! Liam is the apple of my eye! I can’t bear to let him go!”
Can’t bear to let him go? You mean, you can’t bear to let go of your cash cow, right?
I was tired of playing their games. I cut straight to the chase.
“Stop the act. I heard everything you said that night by the patient room. I walk away with nothing, you get all the assets, and I get custody of our son. That sounds fair to me.”
Chloe and her family’s faces instantly turned chalk-white, then twisted with furious indignation.
They realized their original plan was blown, but they immediately seized on my new “weakness”—my love for my son.
Frank cleared his throat, speaking in a sneering, condescending tone.
“Since you heard everything, let’s lay all our cards on the table. You want custody? Fine, but you’ll have to compensate Chloe for all these years she spent with you, right? Hand over half a million dollars, and we’ll agree.”
“Deal.” I agreed without hesitation.
My quick acceptance immediately made the shrewd Chloe realize I had far more money than they’d imagined.
Her eyes gleamed with even greater greed. She subtly signaled to her parents.
Brenda caught on instantly and began to wail dramatically.
“Oh, my heavens! My husband and I emptied our retirement savings to pay for our grandson’s medical bills! We even sold our house back home! Where are we supposed to live now? You can’t be so heartless!”
Frank chimed in, “That’s right! You need to buy us, the old couple, a house, and give us another two hundred thousand for our retirement! Otherwise, you can forget about taking the child!”
“Are you even human?!” I finally exploded, trembling with rage. “Liam is your own grandson! How can you use him like this?!”
Frank shot a disgusted look at my son, whose nose was still plugged with tissues, lying in the hospital bed. He pointed at him and snarled, “Just like his father, useless!”
Then, Brenda glared at me. “It must be your bad genes! Our Chloe is young, she can still have more kids! Get the divorce over with, don’t hold her back!”
Before our son was diagnosed, Brenda used to come to our house every day, holding Liam for hours. Now, she looked at him like he was the plague.
Seeing such a stark contrast, I sighed, feeling both helpless and utterly cold.
I still held onto a sliver of hope for my wife. I looked at her, pleading, “Chloe, can we please let the doctor check on Liam first?”
“No! What if you go back on your word?!” She said, then threw the divorce papers directly at my face.
Hearing that, my heart sank completely.
I couldn’t believe my wife was so materialistic.
I didn’t want to believe she had absolutely no feelings for me. So, almost begging, I said, “I can’t get that much money right away. Can you just let Liam get treatment first?”
Brenda’s face contorted into a hideous sneer.
“We’ve looked it up online! This ‘Advanced Hemolytic Syndrome’ thing is incurable! It’ll even consume his heart in the later stages! All that talk about treatment rates is just doctors scamming you, believe me. You’ll just end up losing everything, financially and emotionally!!”
Brenda, who I once thought was kind, now looked utterly repulsive.
Liam, wiping away his nosebleed, started to cry. “Daddy, Mommy, please don’t argue! I don’t want treatment if it makes you mad!”
My heart ached as I looked at him.
“Don’t worry, son. Daddy will save you, no matter what.”
“Tch… what a useless little brat.”
Brenda came over, tugged Liam roughly to the side, looking disgusted. “Come here! Don’t get in your mom’s way!”
Liam was yanked off the hospital bed.
I picked up the divorce agreement, pleading, “Don’t touch him! I’ll agree to everything!”