Chapter 7
Vivienne’s mother called eleven minutes after the guarantee withdrawal processed.
Mara looked at the screen.
“It’s your mother.”
Vivienne did not reach for the phone.
“Speaker.”
Mara hesitated.
Vivienne nodded once.
The call connected.
Her mother’s voice filled the ICU room, shrill with panic.
“What did you do?”
Vivienne closed her eyes.
Not from weakness.
From recognition.
No “Are you alive?”
No “I’m sorry.”
No “We’re coming.”
Only, What did you do?
Her father’s voice came through behind her.
“Fix it now, Vivienne.”
Mara’s expression hardened.
Julian went still behind the glass, listening.
Vivienne opened her eyes.
“My name is off the guarantee.”
“You had no right,” her mother snapped.
Vivienne’s lips parted in something that almost became a laugh.
“No right?”
Her father cut in.
“We lose the deposit if this doesn’t close.”
The number hung behind the words.
Fifty-five thousand dollars.
A dream-house deposit they cared about more than the daughter lying injured in a hospital bed.
Vivienne looked at the ceiling again, the same way she had after they refused to help.
This time, there were no tears.
“You told me to handle it myself,” she said.
Her mother inhaled sharply.
“Don’t you dare twist our words.”
Vivienne looked at Mara.
“End the call.”
Mara did.
Julian’s face behind the glass turned pale.
Because he had just watched Vivienne cut off the first people who taught her to tolerate betrayal.
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And now she was looking at him.
Read the full story 👉 Her parents called only when the money was threatened, proving Vivienne had made the right first cut.
