Belittle Me Now And Cry Later

Chapter 2

He had already borrowed from everyone he knew old classmates, former coworkers, even casual acquaintances. He'd maxed out credit cards he could barely afford. He'd sold everything of value he owned. There was nothing left, no stone unturned, no option unexplored.

Nothing except...No. He couldn't. He wouldn't.

But even as he thought it, Marcus knew he had no choice. There was only one place left to turn, only one source of money that might might be willing to help him.

His wife's family.

Lily family, with their mansion and their luxury cars and their hundred-million-dollar fortune. The family he had married into not for money never for money but for love. The family whose daughter he had saved, whose lives he had changed, to whom he had given so much of himself that he'd nearly died in the process.

Surely they would help him. They had to. He had saved their daughter's life not once, but three times. Three bone marrow donations, each one more dangerous than the last, the final one leaving him hospitalized for weeks, the doctors warning he might not survive.

But he had survived. For her. For Lily, the girl he'd loved since university, the woman who had been his dream long before she became his wife.

They had promised him a million dollars for marrying Lily and donating his bone marrow. That was the deal. But when everything was done, when Lily was healthy and the wedding was over, they had given him only ten thousand. Ten thousand dollars for three donations that had nearly killed him, for a marriage that had cost him his pride and his peace.

They had claimed he'd only married her for the money, that he didn't truly love their daughter. So Marcus had swallowed the injustice, accepting the insult rather than fighting over what he was owed. He had wanted to prove to them that his love was real, that he hadn't married Lily for their wealth.

But now his mother was dying, and pride was a luxury he could no longer afford.

Marcus stumbled toward the hospital exit, his mind made up. He would go to the Li estate. He would beg if he had to. He would humiliate himself one more time if it meant saving his mother's life.

The automatic doors slid open, and Marcus stepped out into the late afternoon air and immediately, the sky opened up.

Rain came down in sheets, cold and merciless, soaking him to the skin within seconds. The storm had come from nowhere, the kind of sudden downpour that turned streets into rivers and sent people scrambling for cover.

But Marcus didn't stop. He didn't even slow down.

He simply started walking, then jogging, then running through the rain, his clothes plastered to his body, water streaming down his face and mixing with the tears he could no longer hold back. The city blurred around him cars splashing through puddles, pedestrians huddled under awnings, umbrellas blooming like flowers on every corner.

Marcus ran past all of it, his breath coming in ragged gasps, his shoes squelching with every step, his entire focus narrowed down to a single destination: the Li family estate on the north side of the city, in the gated community where people like him were never supposed to belong.

By the time he reached the tall iron gates of Riverside Estates, Marcus was completely drenched, shivering, his teeth chattering from cold and exhaustion. Rain continued to pour down, turning the manicured lawns beyond the gates into a watercolor painting of greens and grays.

He approached the security checkpoint, and immediately the two guards on duty looked up from their shelter. Their eyes widened, then narrowed with recognition and contempt.

"Well, well, well," the first guard said, a burly man named Rick. He nudged his companion and pointed at Marcus with barely contained amusement. "Look what the cat dragged in. Or should I say, what the rain washed up?"

The second guard, a younger man named Tommy, burst out laughing. "Oh man, Marcus, seriously? You couldn't even find somewhere to wait out the storm? Just look at you you're soaked through like a drowned rat!"

"Please," Marcus said through chattering teeth, "I need to see Lily. It's urgent—"

"Urgent?" Rick snorted. "Let me guess you need money again?"

Marcus flinched. The accuracy of the statement hit harder than any physical blow.

Tommy shook his head in mock sympathy, though his eyes gleamed with malicious pleasure. "Unbelievable. This guy comes here every other week with his hand out, and he still claims he married her out of love. I've never seen a husband who has to beg his wife for money like some kind of charity case."

"Right?" Rick agreed, stepping out from under the overhang just enough to look Marcus up and down with obvious disdain. "And now he's going to track mud and water all over the property. Look at him he's filthy! He's going to stain the grass, for Christ's sake. You know Mrs. Sterling is going to have our heads if this loser makes a mess."

"I'll be careful," Marcus said quietly, hating how small his voice sounded. "I just need to speak with Lily. Please. My mother—"

"Oh, here we go with the mother story again," Tommy interrupted, rolling his eyes dramatically. "Hey Rick, how many times has he used the 'my mother is dying' excuse now? I've lost count."

"At least a dozen," Rick said with a nasty grin. "Maybe more. You'd think with all the times she's been 'dying,' she'd have keeled over by now."

The casual cruelty of the words made Marcus's hands ball into fists at his sides, but he forced himself to remain calm. Getting into a fight with the guards wouldn't help his mother. Nothing mattered except getting that money.

"Can I please just go in?" Marcus asked through gritted teeth.

Rick exchanged a glance with Tommy, then shrugged. "Sure, why not? I could use the entertainment. Go ahead, buddy. Go beg your wife for some cash. I'm sure she'll be thrilled to see her pathetic husband dripping all over her nice clean floors."

Tommy pressed the button to open the pedestrian gate, still chuckling. "Try not to leave a trail of poverty behind you, yeah?"

Marcus walked through without another word, his jaw clenched so tight it ached. Behind him, he could hear the guards' laughter echoing through the rain, but he didn't look back.