Chapter 1

“Get out! You lowlife son of a bitch.” Stacy yelled at the top of her voice, flaring up in anger as she paced about the living room.

Brooklyn stood by the side of the kitchen door, head bent as he looked down at his bare feet.

“Gosh! How did I get myself into this, to be with you? You must have put a spell on me.” Stacy said, blinking her eyes as she was still pacing about, she stopped in the middle of the room and facepalmed herself.

“I’m such a fool.” Stacy sighed, just then, her daughter coughed aloud, holding her chest.

“Shut up there, you!” She pointed a finger at the girl.

“Don’t you yell at her.” Brooklyn spoke and ran to sit beside her, “daddy’s here, my little angel.” He said and rubbed his daughter’s back, holding her close to him while his wife, Stacy stared at them with pure irritation.

“Daddy, it hurts, my chest hurts.” Olive said, her eyes brimming with tears.

“It’s okay, I got you.” Her father said, placing a kiss on her forehead.

“You dumb fuck! that won’t help her. We should take her to the hospital.”

“Language Stacy.”

“Or else what?” She retorts, mimicking him.

“I will never forgive you.” He said.

“I would never forgive myself for being with someone of a low status. When this is all over, I’d file for divorce.”

Today was another day, worse than other days, Brooklyn Ashland was sitting in the living room, it was just an hour ago his daughter had suffered another breathing problem, she was chronically asthmatic and because of his financial status he couldn’t afford any proper treatment for her.

Brooklyn could not afford the type of life he wanted for himself, but then, as a husband and father, he has been trying his best to give them the life they deserve, the good life but his wife, Stacy had often times shown him time without number that the good life Brooklyn thought he was giving her her wasn’t enough.

She barely appreciated his efforts and would not stop comparing him with men who had the luxury to do luxurious things.

She wanted more and Stacy would not stop to taunt him with his financial status and she would always get whatever she wants even though it meant to cheat on him with someone else, which she always did.

Brooklyn was too deep in love with Stacy to let her go. He knew that she had cheated on him and there was a point where he almost let her go, which would have been the best decision he could have made. But he decided to keep her because he would be lonely without her and he was still madly in love with her despite everything she had done. He was definitely a mess of a man.

Brooklyn buried his head in his palms as his body shook with tears, this was one of those moment in his life where he wished he had an helper or a miracle could happen.

He thought hard on what to do to raise at least half of the money for his daughter’s hospital’s bill.  He and his wife, Stacy had been managing his daughter’s health, hoping that one day the condition wouldn’t get critical to the point that drugs wouldn’t work and she would need to undergo a surgery.

A Bronchial Thermoplasty, a surgery that requires opening the airways, it was getting too hard for Halle to breathe.

If only he had not married Stacy, or if only she had told him earlier before they got married while they were courting that being chronically asthmatic runs hereditary in her family history.

When they had Olive and found out that she had asthma, Stacy had broke down in tears, saying that their daughter had been cursed and now that she’s starting her own family and generation, her first child was sick, Stacy had cried her eyes and maybe that was why she acted like she barely love Halle.

Stacy was always nonchalant about her health, often time she had said horrible things. Once she said that she would have preferred a dead child to a sick child, which broke his and Olive’s heart, but yet, she was always contributing to her medical fee.

By now, Brooklyn was done crying, as he knew his family was no go area and they would spit on him instead of helping him, there was only way to raise the money which was his boss, he would ask for a two week a month salary advance payment and work a two week full shift to pay it off.

Brooklyn got off the floor and decided to freshen up, if he was going to show up at work, he should look good.

He could have just easily given up and let his life be a waste. But he was the man of the household and no one else was going to help him. He had families but he couldn’t depend on them, they would not help him, since he was a grown man. Plus, he made the decision to have a wife and kids. So he had to show them that he could provide. He did not like that Stacy was bad mouthing him about his financial status. He thought wives were supposed to be supportive and understanding. Stacy did not shy away from telling how she truly felt.

Plus, he wasn’t surprised that Stacy would use their daughter’s sickness as an excuse to cheat on him again and blame him for his financial instability. But he had no time to be blaming anyone, that was not going to solve anything. It would have made things worse. All he wanted to do was make things better.

The only thing for him to do was to work extra hard to earn money and provide for his family. He wanted to prove his manhood and fix the relationship with his family. If there was a problem going on, he had to be the one to fix it.

He arrived at work and headed straight for the manager’s office.

“I promise you, I will do two weeks full shift, you know I keep to my words sir.” Brooklyn begged.

“I know Brook, I’m afraid I can’t help this time.” The manager said and Brooklyn shake his head, he wouldn’t take no for answer.

“Please, it’s for Olive, she is sick again.” Oliver said shakily.

“Again?” The manager asked and Oliver nodded his head and looked down in shame.