Chapter 3
Inside the mascot costume, it was stifling hot, but I felt as if I were plunged into an ice-cold abyss.
It was then that I saw him: in the spacious room, Caleb was sprawled lazily on the sofa, casually swirling the drink in his glass, looking every inch the aristocratic young master of incomparable status.
“Looks decent. I’ll call my daughter and ask her if she likes it.”
As Caleb picked up his phone, my daughter’s unique ringtone chirped beside me.
But soon, he frowned, his eyes instantly filling with confusion and worry, because Caleb had called Chloe several times, and each time, it went straight to voicemail.
My body trembled, tears streaming down my face.
Caleb, you killed our daughter! You’ll never be able to reach that number again!
Victoria was close by. Hearing my fingernails scratch against the mascot costume with a tearing sound, she glanced at me.
“Caleb! You truly have incredible patience. Pretending to be poor and sick for seven years, tricking Harper, a graduate from a top-tier university, into selling her eggs for you. It must have been such a sacrifice for a young master like you to play house with them.”
Caleb scoffed. “Once I win the bet, I’ll bring them back to the Shen family. They won’t have to suffer anymore.”
Catching the hint of guilt in Caleb’s voice, I looked at him sharply.
“Now you’re putting on an act of being a good husband and father. Why didn’t you give Harper money when she asked for it just now?”
“Mind your own business. She probably asked for my help because my mother-in-law’s condition worsened.”
Caleb’s tone was certain. “Next month, I’ll find the best doctors to cure my mother-in-law!”
“How could her mom help you pay if she’s sick?”
Victoria’s laughter was grating. Caleb felt humiliated.
“She’ll definitely help me! If you don’t believe me, I can call her right now and ask her for the money!”
My mind went blank. I instinctively raised my clumsy arm, trying to find my phone.
It wasn’t until I heard a busy signal that I realized I had left my phone in my bag before work.
“Damn it! What time is it? She’s not picking up my call!”
Victoria casually glanced at me.
“That’s why I say poor people are all the same. When money’s involved, what’s love? There are plenty who’ll sell their dignity.”
Caleb’s eyes grew colder and colder. Suddenly, he stood up and walked over to me.
The next second, his cold eyes stared directly at me, as if piercing through the bulky mascot costume to see me.
Had he finally recognized me?!
Just as tears streamed down my face and I prepared to lift my headpiece to demand who I was to him, he suddenly spoke.
“Would you sell your dignity for money?”
My hand slowly dropped. I didn’t speak.
Caleb took a stack of money from a box beside him and threw it at my face.
“Kneel for me!”
He yanked my arm, coldly laughing as he tipped the entire box of money over my head.
Under his icy gaze, I slowly bent down, kneeling before him to pick up the scattered bills on the floor.
I had no reason to refuse this money.
With this money, I could buy Mom and Chloe a decent burial plot.
“Figures, poor people. They grab money as soon as they see it! Hey, tell me, if I gave you money to die, would you obediently go and die?”
“But Harper isn’t like you! She’s with me purely because she loves me, not for money. So whatever I say, she’ll believe it!”
I looked up, meeting Caleb’s gaze through the headpiece. I laughed self-deprecatingly.
“You’re right!”
I am one of those poor people you talk about! For money, I too can sell my dignity!
Caleb’s pupils constricted the moment he heard my voice. He instinctively reached to pull off my headpiece.
But I didn’t dodge. I even felt a strange anticipation of his reaction when he saw me underneath.
Victoria pressed his hand down, mockingly saying, “Caleb, even if Harper upset you, you shouldn’t get angry at a mascot, right?”
Caleb flung Victoria’s hand away in disgust and glared at me. “Now get lost.”
Caleb didn’t come home that night.
It wasn’t until early the next morning that I received a text from him.
“Harper, my illness relapsed yesterday, and I passed out and was sent to the hospital. I just woke up.”
“How’s Mom’s condition? And have you gathered enough money for me?”
This wasn’t the first time Caleb had used this excuse to explain his staying out all night.
I expressionlessly packed all my belongings and shipped them away, then headed to the address Caleb’s assistant had given me.
As soon as I entered the upscale restaurant, I spotted Caleb’s familiar back from afar.
In my pocket, Chloe’s phone watch was still buzzing. Caleb had been calling it incessantly since last night.