"How much do you want this time? Fifty thousand? A hundred thousand? Or the same five hundred thousand as before?"
"You want money? Fine. Show me your sincerity. I could use a guard dog at my door. Kneel here—one dollar per minute."
Naked humiliation. And I couldn't say a word against it.
I could only endure the mocking stares and kneel there like a wretch.
To torment me further, he called his new lover to come over.
Right in front of me, he carried her into his office.
That night, I knelt until dawn.
His lover moaned all night long.
The next morning, he opened the door and casually handed Eve Fox a check for ten million.
Then he turned and tossed me a hundred dollars.
He said that was all I was worth. Then he picked her up and walked away without looking back.
Even as I wept until my lungs gave out, begging him to save my mother, I couldn't get a shred of mercy.
By the time I reached the hospital clutching that hundred dollars, my mother had already stopped breathing.
Her eyes were still open. She died waiting to see my face.
I held her and cried until I blacked out.