Love's Bitter Edge (Eva and Leonard)
Chapter 3

We had an agreement before our marriage. He just wanted me to marry him, and I wanted money. He agreed to give me 200 thousand dollars every month. I could ask for more anytime if it was not enough. He said he knew I only loved money. If not, I would not have dumped him for that trust fund baby and gone to Manovia with him for two years.

To this day, he still doesn't know who that rich heir really was, but he was convinced that I was just a gold digger.

Ever since we got married, I rarely asked him for money, but I was barely making ends meet even with the 200 thousand dollars every month.

To prevent a relapse, I needed to support myself with expensive medications. The medical check-ups were not cheap either.

This was only the second time I had ever asked him for money. The first was when my mother passed away. Back then, he gave me a million readily and without question.

This time, however, he merely lowered his head as he smoothed Lily's hair gently. He comforted her softly as if he did not hear what I had said.

Only after Lily stopped crying did he look up at me with a cold smirk. "You want money? Sure. Get on your knees and apologize then. Since you've hurt Lily, you must apologize to her!"

Lily seemed shocked at first. Then, she had a satisfied smile on her face. She tugged at Leonard's sleeve coyly. "Leonard, it's fine. I'm not badly hurt. Maybe she didn't mean it."

"She should apologize to you whether she meant it or not. You're my darling." He picked Lily up and gently placed her on the sofa.

Then, he took out his checkbook and wrote a number. "If you kneel and apologize to her, five million dollars will be yours."

Staring silently at the figure on the check, the pain in my chest did not feel as horrible anymore.

He used to bring many women home just to humiliate me, but he would only do that at home. No matter how he behaved in private, he would still treat me as Mrs. Harmon publicly.

But this time, he was actually using money to humiliate me just because of Lily. He wanted me to give in and bow to him.

He clearly knew that I would never ask him for money if it was not for something urgent. He just wanted to destroy my self-esteem and make me feel worthless. Only then would he be satisfied.

Stunned, I stood there. I could sense all of the staff members' gazes on me. There was contempt, suspicion, and pity.

Lily looked at me with challenging eyes. I recalled what she had said earlier.

"The one that's not loved is the "interloper" in this relationship."

I pressed hard on my chest. It was indeed hurting. Even the pain from cancer was not this unbearable.

"Never mind then." Not wanting to humiliate myself any longer, I turned and strode out of the office.

He hated me, so he naturally wanted to torture me. Humiliating me was not enough for him.

If he found out later on that I needed this money to save my life, he would probably feel satisfied for not giving it to me, wouldn't he?

Using my last bit of strength to get home, I became exhausted. Even though I was tired and sleepy, the pain made it impossible for me to fall asleep. The agony and pain of cancer were terrible even though this was not my first time experiencing it. Remembering how miserable my mother looked before she died, I gritted my teeth and got up. I took two melatonin pills. Then, my phone beeped as I received a WhatsApp text from Patrick.

"Ms. Green, we can schedule the surgery for next Monday. You can drop by in the next couple of days to make your payment."

I checked my messages a few times. There was no notification of a bank transfer being made. Closing my eyes, I knew that Leonard was not going to give me the money.

Perhaps because Patrick had not received a reply from me, he sent another message a few minutes later.

"It's fine if you just pay the deposit first too. It's just so we can schedule the surgery."

My finger hovered over the reply box. In the end, I did not respond. How could I have surgery without any money?

Lying in bed, I tried to empty my mind. I had already decided that tomorrow I would break the glass of that cabinet and sell those bags. I just needed to rest now, otherwise I would not even make it through the surgery.

As I slowly fell asleep, I had a long dream. Back then, my family had not fallen on hard times yet. I was still the young heiress of the Green family. Meanwhile, Leonard was just an orphan.

When my father wanted to sponsor a student, I chose him right away. Since Leonard had a national scholarship already, he did not qualify for sponsorship. However, I pestered my father until he gave the spot to Leonard.

I was the one who pursued him later on as well. He was always very cold toward me. He had even rejected me several times.

There was one time when I was harassed by some thugs at the bar where he worked part-time. That was the first time he called me by name.

"Eva, don't be afraid."

That day, he was beaten to a pulp, but he still protected me without a care for his own life.

As I clung tightly to his neck at the hospital, I refused to let go of him no matter who came. I hung onto him shamelessly for fear that he would disappear any second.

"Leonard, you scared me to death. You have to take responsibility for me from now on!" With an ugly smile, he mumbled an "okay" through swollen lips.

After that, we started dating. The whole school looked down on our relationship. There were all kinds of rumors, but we persevered for three years. Before his college graduation, he sold off his prized software just so that he could buy me a proper birthday gift.

I cried the moment I saw the diamond necklace. Hitting him repeatedly, I asked him why he sold the software he had worked on for half a year. However, he simply grinned at me foolishly. "Because you deserve the best in this world."

"Beep!"

A phone notification woke me up. Seeing 100 thousand dollars transferred to my account, I was finally relieved. I wiped the tear stains from my face and quickly replied to Patrick's text. "I'll come over to settle the hospitalization procedures tomorrow."

I finally had money.