My boyfriend Silas Peterson was dead broke that year. I was scared I’d drag him down, so I broke up with him.

Years later, he became the youngest billionaire in Dallas. He chased me hard and finally made me his wife.

Everyone says Aubrey is his first love, the wife he treasures most.

But only I know the truth. For three years of marriage, he brought a different woman home almost every night. He did it to shatter my heart and turn me into the joke of our circle.

I used to scream and fight. Now I just quietly tell the maids to clean up after him and his mistress.

He lost it one night. He grabbed me, kissed me hard, and growled, “Aren’t you jealous?”

He has no idea I’m dying.

Every day he spends getting revenge on me, I’m counting down how many days I have left.

Today, I only have seven days to live.

…

I walked past the master bedroom. From my own room down the hall, I could hear them. Loud. Wild. They weren’t even trying to hide it.

I reached up and turned the photo on the wall face down.

Brenda, the maid, came up beside me and held my arm.

“Ma’am…”

I let out a breath. “That picture is from our third year together. Before he made it big. It was my birthday.”

“I saw this couple at a bakery sharing this huge, beautiful cake. I pointed them out to him. Silas said, ‘One day when I make it, Aubrey, I’ll buy you the biggest cake in the world.’”

“That winter, I scooped up a handful of fresh snow and smiled at him. ‘Si, doesn’t this look like cake?’”

“I never needed him to be rich. I just wanted us to stay happy.”

“I kept that photo because I thought it proved our love.”

“Instead, it ended up watching him cheat on me over and over.”

“You’ve been through too much, ma’am,” Brenda said, steadying me. My body was shaking now.

“That Sasha has no shame.”

Before Brenda could say more, the bedroom door flew open.

Sasha stepped out wearing my robe. Fresh hickeys on her neck. She looked at Brenda like she owned the place.

“Get me some water. I’m exhausted.”

Brenda had no choice but to let go of me.

Today was our third wedding anniversary. And my birthday. The first time I’d ever come face to face with Sasha.

I’d heard the rumors. Silas was keeping some young college girl. Sweet and innocent—his usual type. They’d been together six months.

“He bought her three million in diamonds.”

“She’s the longest one yet.”

“People say Silas might actually love her this time.”

I didn’t think much about it until today. When they were screwing in my bedroom.

The thought made my head spin. I covered my nose. Blood again.

“Oh my God,” Sasha smirked. “Is Mrs. Peterson bleeding because she’s jealous? You wish you had my body, don’t you?”

I fought the nausea and ran out of the house.

The truth is, six months ago the doctor told me I had brain cancer. I was dying. That’s why the nosebleeds wouldn’t stop.

I swallowed a handful of pain pills and had the driver take me to my private clinic.

“Your condition is very bad,” the doctor said carefully.

I nodded. “Just tell me. I can take it.”

“I’m not scared of dying. I’m just scared of the pain.”

The doctor shook his head, his face full of pity. “Based on the tests, you have about one week left.”

“There’s a new drug. Ten thousand dollars a dose.”

“It can help you feel better in this period.”

Ten thousand dollars.

Silas never let me work. He gave me gifts I couldn’t bring out of that house. And all I spend is under his control. I only had a card under his name.

But now, I didn't want to use his card anymore.

Over three years I’d saved about ten thousand of my own.

That money was supposed to be for my dreams. Then it became funeral money. Now it had to buy me a few days without pain.

I nodded with tears rolling in my eyes.

I handed my card to the doctor.

I didn’t want pain anymore.

“Ma’am, I’m sorry. Your card was declined.”

“Probably not enough money. Or it’s frozen.”

Only my husband could freeze that card.

I dragged my aching body to Silas’s office building.

I knocked and walked in. Sasha was there too—she worked as his secretary now.

They said he was in a meeting, so I sat outside on the cold leather chair and waited.

Sasha kept staring at me.

She acted like she hadn’t seen me at the house that morning. In her fake sweet voice she said to the other staff,

“That’s the boss’s wife? She looks so ugly and dried up. Like she’s already dead.”

“You all say I look like her. Where? I’m way prettier.”

The glass wall showed my reflection. Pale face. Baggy coat. I hadn’t had the energy to dress up in months. The pain had made me thin and tired. Of course I looked bad. I was dying.

One coworker pulled Sasha aside and whispered,

“She just didn’t bother with makeup. If she did, ten of you couldn’t touch her. And stop messing with her. The boss loves her more than anything. You piss her off and he’ll destroy you.”

Sasha didn’t like hearing that Silas loved me. She rolled her eyes in my direction.

She brought me a cup of tea and said in her little-girl voice,

“Mrs. Peterson, how come the boss makes you wait so long? That’s weird. Every time I come, no matter how busy he is, he drops everything for me. He says I’m the most important person in his life.”

“He cancels meetings and dinners just to take me shopping. Last time he bought me new heels.”

“But he told me not to wear them too much. He said I look hot in them, but he doesn’t want me to get tired walking with him.”

“Mr. Peterson is so sweet to me. I thought he was like that with everyone…”

She smiled. Big and bright. She looked just like the young me.

I thought about it. Silas really was different with Sasha.

He used to bring home a new woman every night to test me. He got bored fast—two days, maybe two weeks. Then he moved on.

But Sasha? He kept her in her own place. He took her to dinner, movies, shopping.

He gave her money and real attention. They acted like a normal, happy couple.

I smiled at her gently. “You’re so important to him. So how come he keeps you as his dirty little secret? You should tell him to divorce me and marry you.”

Sasha’s face turned red. She hissed, “The one who isn’t loved is the third wheel. You’re the extra!”

“You only got him first by a few years. Now you’re old and ugly. What do you even have left?”

Her coworker tried to pull her away.

Sasha got so mad she tripped on purpose and fell hard. The teacup shattered. Blood poured from her hand.

Silas saw it through the glass wall of the meeting room. He dropped everything, ran over, and scooped her up.

The second he walked in he snarled, “Who the hell hurt her?”

The nice coworker stepped back, scared.

I smiled coldly. “I did. She deserved it.”

Sasha cried and yelled, “Yes, it’s my fault! I fell in love with the wrong man and she called me a homewrecker!”

“But Mr. Peterson, as long as you love me, I’ll stay by your side forever. No one can tear us apart.”

Silas wiped her tears and cooed, “Aw, baby, you’re crying like a little kitten.”

He really was different with her.

I looked down. “You froze my card. I want my ten thousand back.”

“Not just frozen,” he said with a nasty smile. “I emptied the account.”

“Before we got married you promised me anything I wanted. Now you’re going back on it?” I laughed. “You said if I married you, money would never be a problem.”

“Aubrey, you’re still so greedy,” he said, holding Sasha tighter. “You left me when I was poor. You came back when I got rich.”

I almost cried.

After all these years he still didn’t know I broke up with him so I wouldn’t ruin his future. He never knew how much I loved him.

Silas ignored my tears. “You want money? Fine. Get on your knees and apologize to Sasha.”

He wanted to buy my dignity for ten thousand dollars.

“You have a few bucks and you still act disgusting, Silas. You make me sick.”

Sasha fake-cried, “You can curse me, but how dare you curse Mr. Peterson? He’s perfect.”

I clenched my fists and smiled.

Then the pain hit hard. I turned and walked out.

“I don’t need your money anymore.”

“Silas,” I said over my shoulder, “I’m really curious what your face will look like when you find out what that money was for.”

“Stop acting,” he snapped. “How long do you think you can last without my card?”

He laughed and carried Sasha away.

I went home, threw out everything they had used in my room, took some sleeping pills, and passed out.

For the next few days I either slept, popped pain pills, or erased every trace of myself from the house. I didn’t want to leave him anything.

One night my phone rang. I answered, half asleep.

“Aubrey,” Silas said.

In my foggy dream I was back in our early days. I smiled sweetly. “Si, it’s snowing hard. I want cake.”

I rolled over and fell back asleep before he could answer.

The teacup slipped from Sasha’s hand and shattered on the floor. Hot tea spilled over her skin and soaked her clothes.

A sharp piece of glass cut deep into her palm. Blood poured out and pooled on the floor.

Silas was still in the meeting room. Through the glass wall, he saw Sasha hurt.

Everyone watched as he slammed the papers in his hands onto the table, shoved the door open, and rushed over.

He scooped Sasha into his arms in one quick motion.

The second he stepped into the office, he growled, “Who the fuck hurt her?”

The kind coworker who had tried to stop the fight took two steps back, her face white with fear.

I saw the look on his face and smiled coldly. “I did it. And she deserved it.”

Sasha glared at me through her tears and cried out loud, “Yes, it’s my fault! I fell in love with the wrong man. She called me a homewrecker, a mistress.”

“But Mr. Peterson, as long as you love me too, I’ll stay by your side forever. No one can tear us apart.”

Her tears looked so pretty—clear drops like little pearls. Even her crazy words sounded brave and strong in Silas’s eyes.

Silas smiled at her. He gently wiped the tears from her face and spoke softly, “There, there, baby. You’re crying like a little kitten.”

I had to admit it—he really was different with her.

I lowered my eyes. I didn’t want to watch anymore.

I looked at Silas and said calmly, “You froze my bank card. I want my ten thousand dollars back.”

“Not just frozen,” Silas said, staring at me with pure hate. “I emptied the whole account.”

“Before we got married, we had a deal. You wanted my body, I wanted your money. Changed your mind?”

I laughed. “You said if I married you, I could have as much money as I wanted.”

“Aubrey, you’re still so greedy,” Silas said, holding Sasha tighter.

“You left me when I was broke. Then when I became a billionaire, you suddenly wanted me back.”

I almost cried.

After all these years, he still didn’t understand. I broke up with him back then because I didn’t want to hold him back.

He never knew how much I truly loved him. He had let me down so many times.

Silas ignored the tears in my eyes. He looked at me with a cold smile and said slowly, “You want money? Sure.”

“But first, Aubrey, get on your knees and apologize to Sasha. Right here.”

It was clear—he wanted to trade ten thousand dollars for my dignity, just to make Sasha feel better.

“A few dirty dollars can’t change how disgusting you are, Silas. You make me sick.”

“Ma’am, you can curse me all you want,” Sasha said, fake tears filling her eyes. “But how can you curse Mr. Peterson? He’s such a perfect man.”

I slowly clenched my fists and gave a small smile.

Then a wave of sharp pain hit me. I forced myself to ignore it, turned, and started to walk away.

“I don’t need your money anymore.”

“Silas.”

“I’m suddenly really curious what your face will look like one day when you finally find out what that money was for.”

“Stop the drama,” he snapped. “Let’s see how many days you can last without my card before you come begging.”

Silas let out a cold laugh, picked up Sasha, and walked out.

I went home alone. I threw out every single thing they had used in the master bedroom.

Pain covered me in cold sweat. I barely managed to sit up, swallowed some sleeping pills, and passed out.

For the next few days, I was either sleeping, popping pain pills, or wiping away every trace of myself from the house.

I didn’t want to leave anything behind for Silas.

One night, I was half asleep when my phone rang.

I answered it. Silas’s voice came through. “Aubrey.”

In my foggy mind, I slipped back to the winter when we first fell in love.

Half dreaming, I smiled softly and whispered, “Baby, it’s snowing so hard. I want cake.”

Before he could say anything, I rolled over and fell back into a deep sleep.

I slept straight through until the middle of the night, then woke up in pain.

This time I got lucky. I touched my nose—no fresh blood, just the dried crust from before. But everything still hurt like hell.

The pain pills in the bedroom were gone.

Brenda had been fired, so I couldn’t even get basic help anymore.

I didn’t know if Silas did it on purpose to hurt me for Sasha, or if he just didn’t care. At this point, I was too tired to figure it out.

He had never cared about how I felt anyway.

Silas was living his best life. He hadn’t come home in four days.

I dragged myself to the living room to look for more pills. That’s when I saw him.

He was back.

My phone kept buzzing with messages from my friend.

You know Silas bought Sasha a luxury penthouse in downtown Dallas?

She’s been showing it off everywhere, saying she didn’t want to see your face anymore, so he got her the new place as a gift.

She even said once you’re gone, nothing will stand in the way of their love.

Yeah, of course Sasha didn’t want to see me. She wished I would just disappear from Silas’s world completely.

She won’t have to wait long, I typed back.

I could feel my body getting weaker every single day.

After I replied, I finally looked up.

Silas was leaning against the floor-to-ceiling window, a cigarette hanging from his lips, staring right at me.

I kept my eyes down and tried to walk past him. He grabbed my arm.

His brow furrowed. In a soft voice he asked, “Why did you get so thin?”

His tone was so gentle it sounded like he still loved me. Like he had never brought other women home. Like all the cheating, the coldness, and the pain he put me through was just a bad dream I couldn’t wake up from.

His fake concern made me sick to my stomach.

I froze for a second, then yanked my arm away with every bit of strength I had left.

“Silas, what the hell is wrong with you?” I hissed. “Stay the fuck away from me.”

He looked at his empty hand. His face slowly turned cold again.

When I reached the dining table, I saw it—a beautiful cake covered in lit candles.

That phone call in the middle of the night hadn’t been a dream after all.

The cake looked expensive and perfect. Even nicer than the one I had seen through the bakery window.

Even though I couldn’t clearly remember what it looked like anymore, memories always seemed sweeter than reality.

I had said I wanted cake, so Silas went out and bought one.

What was this supposed to be? Some kind of peace offering?

Too bad I was almost dead. I had less than three days left.

I didn’t need a cake anymore. And I sure as hell didn’t need his late, half-assed love.

I snatched the cake and slammed it into the trash can.

Silas’s face changed instantly. He clenched his jaw, reached out, and shoved me hard against the wall.

Blood rushed up my throat. I swallowed it back down.

The cigarette was still burning between his teeth as he snarled, “Aubrey, are you fucking playing with me?”

I smiled and admitted it. “Yeah, Silas. I’m playing you. So what?”

“I said I wanted cake, so you ran out and bought one? You’re still so pathetic.”

I said the words on purpose, the ones I knew would cut him deep. I watched his face turn ice-cold.

He crushed the cigarette out violently, grabbed my arm, dragged me into the bedroom, and threw me onto the bed.

Silas had completely lost it. Like a wild animal, he ripped my nightgown open.

I got scared. I swung my weak fists at him. “Silas, you bastard! Don’t touch me! You disgust me!”

He pinned my legs down so I couldn’t move and bit hard into my neck. The pain made tears spill down my face.

He pressed his mouth against my ear and growled, “Aubrey, would it kill you to just give in?”

“Do you know how many years I waited for you to come to me first?”

“Do you know how happy I was when you said you wanted cake?”

“And you threw it away just to humiliate me.”

He lifted his head. His eyes were bloodshot, burning with rage.

I held back my tears and glared right back at him.

In the dark room, neither of us spoke. Neither of us wanted to lose first.

Just like our whole broken marriage.

Silas wouldn’t let me struggle. He leaned down closer and closer, his lips almost touching mine.

Then his phone suddenly rang.

It was Sasha.

Silas paused for a second, then answered the phone anyway.

I heard Sasha crying on the other end. “Mr. Peterson, are you really throwing me away for your wife? I know you like me. I know you do.”

“I’m at the bar right now. I drank too much, and some guy keeps bothering me…”

“I’m really scared. Please come pick me up and take me home, okay?”

Her fake crying was terrible. Even I could hear how phony it was.

Silas didn’t say a word to her. He just stared at me, a cold smile on his lips, and whispered, “Beg me, Aubrey.”

“Beg me to stay. If you do, I won’t leave.”

It was like he had forgotten everything we once had. He forgot that I broke up with him because I didn’t want to drag him down. He forgot that I never came back just because he got rich.

A long time ago, I had swallowed my pride more than once. I begged him in a small voice, trying to save us:

“Silas, can we just talk calmly for once?”

“Can we stop fighting?”

“Can we try to be together like normal people?”

“Can you please be a little kinder to me?”

But all I ever got was cold silence, distance, and his endless cheating.

Silas, the man who ruled our circle and got whatever he wanted, didn’t seem to care about anything.

Not about me. Not about our relationship. Not about everything we used to have.

I still remembered that day so clearly. He looked at me with cold eyes and said with a light laugh, “Aubrey, you don’t deserve it.”

Those three words had stayed stuck in my heart like a knife.

Today, I finally got to throw them right back at him.

His cold heart, his broken promises, his lies and betrayal—they were all burned into me.

I wanted to grab his collar with every bit of strength I had left and say each word clearly: “Silas, you don’t deserve it.”

Silas stayed quiet for a moment, then laughed at himself.

“Okay, Aubrey. I got it.”

It sounded like I was the one who always disappointed him, not the other way around.

He put the phone back to his ear and spoke softly to Sasha, “Wait for me. I’m coming to take you home.”

After that, he didn’t look at me again. He stood up, straightened the collar I had wrinkled, and slammed the door behind him without turning back.

When the loud bang finally faded in the empty room, I slowly came back to my senses.

The sweet smell of the cream cake made me feel even sicker. My head throbbed so badly from Silas’s rough handling that it felt like it was about to split open.

I rolled off the bed, crawled to the bathroom, and leaned over the edge of the tub. I threw up a lot of blood.

I didn’t even dare look up at my own face in the mirror—nothing but skin and bones.

I wasn’t sure if I would even make it to the seventh day.

The next morning, photos of Silas fighting another man at the bar for Sasha spread all over our circle.

I glanced at them quickly. In the dim bar lights, Silas had pulled Sasha behind him to protect her.

I didn’t want to see any more, but it was everywhere—local trending topics, social media, even the front page of the entertainment section in the newspapers. All of them had Silas’s face.

This was the first time his affair with another woman had become such public news.

A few reporters were already waiting outside our house. The moment I stepped out, they surrounded me, throwing questions from every direction.

Silas’s company had grown fast in the last few years. He had a lot of power in the business world.

He was young, rich, and good-looking. He was famous online and ended up on trending lists all the time.

As his wife in name only, I always got dragged into the mess whether I wanted to or not.

I walked a little way from the house, but a few people still followed me. Cameras blocked my path and microphones were shoved right in my face.

Their endless questions made it hard to breathe. I had no energy to answer any of them.

Until a tall girl stepped forward and asked, “Mrs. Peterson, do you have anything to say about Mr. Peterson and Sasha?”

I stepped around the cameras and kept walking without looking back. Over my shoulder I asked her,

“One is a married man who cheats. The other is a woman who sleeps with a married man knowing he has a wife. What else do you want me to say?”

The girl stayed right on my heels and kept firing questions. “But I heard that back when Mr. Peterson was broke, you dumped him for money.”

“Then when he got rich, you used guilt to trap him and forced him to marry you…”

“Now he’s finally found real love. He and Sasha are perfect together. You’re the one refusing to let go of the Mrs. Peterson title and calling her a dirty secret. Don’t you think you’re the bully here?”

“Don’t you think you’re the one stealing Mr. Peterson and Sasha’s happiness?”

I stopped walking and turned around with a cold smile. Now I could see her face clearly.

She was a social media influencer who spent every day digging up gossip in our circle. She even did live streams on location whenever she could pull strings.

I stared straight at her familiar face and asked calmly, “You’re Sasha’s friend, aren’t you?”

“Back then Silas did everything he could to marry me. You really think I wanted to marry him?”

“Everyone in our circle knows the truth. You don’t? Or did you come here on purpose to throw dirt on me so your little friend can take my place?”

Her face turned red. She quickly tried to hide behind something, then started defending herself in a righteous tone.

“Yes, we’re friends, but my live streams are professional. I would never spread rumors for a friend. Everything I say is fair and objective.”

“And why are you dodging my question? If you really didn’t want to marry Mr. Peterson, why don’t you just divorce him now that he’s in love with someone else?”

Why I didn’t divorce Silas… I figured he had more right to answer that question than I did.

I gave her a small smile and was about to speak when my nose started bleeding again. Warm blood ran into my palm. My body suddenly felt unsteady. I looked pathetic.

Someone on the sidewalk shouted on purpose,

“Mrs. Peterson says she doesn’t care and that she was forced to marry him. So why does she start bleeding the second someone asks a few questions? Guilty conscience much?”

I calmly wiped the blood off my lips with my fingertip.

I looked at them and said, “I’m not guilty. I’m sick. I’m dying. That’s why I keep bleeding lately.”

The noisy crowd suddenly went quiet. No one was laughing anymore.

Only that girl raised her voice even louder. “Stop acting! Bleeding a little and suddenly you’re dying? Playing the victim in front of people who don’t know anything. Don’t you feel ashamed?”

“I can’t stand women like you. Doing anything to keep a man, faking sickness every day, using every dirty trick in the book. You’re an embarrassment to all women.”

She flipped her ponytail and walked away.

Her back looked just as disgusting as Sasha’s.

I had never felt that the road to the hospital was so long.

Besides the entertainment reporters and that influencer following me, a bunch of nosy strangers had joined in too.

I hated being stared at by all these unfamiliar eyes, so I picked up my pace.

I hadn’t gone far when something cold and wet splashed onto my clothes. Ice water soaked through my thin coat and sent a freezing chill across my shoulder.

I stopped. Before I could turn around, something else hit me hard in the back.

A plastic drink bottle rolled on the ground. There was still half a bottle of water left inside.

My hair was wet at the ends. Everyone was staring at me. Water kept dripping down.

I didn’t answer any more questions. I just walked straight to the hospital. I knew I couldn’t let these stupid things delay my treatment.

I only wanted to know how many hours I had left.

While I waited for the doctor, I quietly took out my phone. There were dozens of unread messages, all from unknown numbers.

I didn’t want to see them, so I deleted every single text in my inbox.

I opened TikTok. The top trending video was from the same woman who had just mocked me in the crowd.

I hated being talked about. I hated being the main character in gossip. When I tried to block her, my weak hand shook so badly I could barely lift it.

Then I saw the comment section—tens of thousands of hateful messages, all aimed at me.

“Slut.”

“Gold-digging bitch.”

“She’s a parasite. I’m ashamed of her.”

“If I were her mom, I’d be embarrassed to have a daughter like her.”

“She’s faking illness, saying she’s dying. Why doesn’t she just go die already?”

But I really was dying.

I held back the sour ache in my chest and closed my eyes.

The video of reporters surrounding me quickly went viral.

Silas replied publicly. He posted on social media: “We will never get a divorce. Stop bothering my wife.”

His post immediately started trending.

That same afternoon, Sasha’s influencer friend got her account banned.

A lot of people online still wouldn’t let it go. The comments kept coming:

“This woman is disgusting. If she didn’t want to marry him, she shouldn’t have. Acting like someone forced her at gunpoint.”

“They say she’s some kind of innocent angel? Looks more like a fake to me.”

“Mr. Peterson defending her like that… I’m actually jealous.”

“She dumped him when he was broke, then married him once he became a billionaire. All for money again.”

“Saying she didn’t want to marry him is just pretending to be classy. She’s a slut trying to act pure.”

I had nothing left except a failed marriage and a body that was barely holding on through the pain.

Even the gift my mom gave me before she died — Silas had taken it.

He said the little doll with the red cheeks looked just like me.

He said seeing it felt like seeing me.

He liked looking at it.

That doll was still sitting on Silas’s desk at the office.

I was scared that once I was gone, he would throw it away like trash.

It was something my mom bought for me. I needed to get it back and place it in front of her gravestone so it could keep her company for me.

When I arrived at his company, Silas was watching the video from that morning — the one where I was bleeding from my nose and saying I was dying.

He saw me, tossed his phone aside, and didn’t say a word. He didn’t ask anything.

I noticed the spot on his desk where the doll used to sit was empty.

I frowned and asked, “Where’s our doll?”

Sasha had followed me in. When she heard me asking for it, she smiled sweetly and said, “A couple days ago I cut my hand. Mr. Peterson felt so bad for me. He said he couldn’t stand seeing me hurt, so he gave me the doll.”

“He also said it looks just like me — kind of clumsy, but he really likes it.”

“Aubrey, don’t you think he’s lying? I’m so pretty. There’s no way I look like that ugly doll…”

I clenched my fists tight and glared hard at Silas. “How dare you give my things away to someone else?”

He smiled like a total asshole and said, “Was that doll really yours? Sorry, I forgot. I thought it was just some cheap junk…”

Before he could finish, I grabbed the crystal ashtray from the desk and smashed it at him.

Silas didn’t dodge. The ashtray hit his forehead and cut it open. Blood started running down.

Sasha screamed, “Are you crazy? Hitting him over a stupid doll!”

She ran out, then came back quickly holding my doll.

She threw it at me and yelled, “Here’s your thing! Take it back!”

“It’s cheap trash. No one would even care if you threw it away. You think I wanted it?”

“Stop acting insane. Take your junk and get out!”

The fragile doll hit the floor and shattered into pieces.

It broke into several parts, just like my life — probably impossible to fix.

My head buzzed. I slapped Sasha hard across the face and screamed like I had lost my mind, “That was my mom’s! It means everything to me! I care! I care so much!”

Before I could finish, tears started pouring down.

I reached out to grab Sasha, but Silas caught my wrist and stopped me.

My eyes burned. I stared at him, crying and then laughing at the same time.

I cursed him, “You know I’m dying, and you still treat me like this. Silas, you’re a real piece of shit.”

He reached up and wiped my tears away, then asked, “First the cake, now you’re dying? Aubrey, do you think it’s fun to mess with me?”

“You don’t have to cry in front of me. I won’t feel sorry for you anymore…”

Before he could finish his sentence, a drop of blood fell and landed on the back of his hand.

My nose was bleeding again. This time it was worse than ever.

My legs went weak. The pain was so bad I couldn’t stand. I collapsed straight down.

Silas caught me in his arms and shouted, “Call an ambulance!”

He was helpless. He could only watch as more and more blood flowed, soaking his white shirt red.

As I faded out of consciousness, I heard Silas crying. He kept asking over and over, “Why? Why won’t the blood stop? Please stop bleeding…”

“Aubrey, please… don’t scare me like this.”