Chapter 4

Her voice dripped with contempt and mockery.

"Spencer knew you'd have triplets. He was afraid you'd get spoiled and full of yourself, so he wanted to teach you a lesson by making you rough it for a few months. Why can't you understand that? Do you really have to act like you're fighting for your life?"

I was shaking with rage. I couldn't stop myself from demanding an answer.

"Then what about the five hundred million we agreed on? The private island and the nanny team? Spencer clearly said he'd arranged all of it for me!"

Vanessa let out a cold laugh.

"There's no one on this island, so doesn't that make it a private island? And there's an old woman there who's given birth before. She's your nanny."

"As for the five hundred million, I did transfer it to you. Five hundred million Indonesian rupiah. Converted to dollars, that comes out to exactly five hundred."

The call ended.

The tourist took back his phone and walked away without a backward glance.

I held my feverish child and looked out at the vast, desolate sea in front of me.

Despair filled my chest.

In the end, I gritted my teeth and scraped together the last twenty dollars I had.

I borrowed a boat from a fisherman.

I was going to find Spencer and demand an explanation.

The Hargroves always chose an auspicious date to launch a new ship.

I figured out the timing, gathered the children, and rowed toward the harbor.

Partway there, the sky darkened without warning, and a sudden downpour hit.

This rickety old boat didn't even have a canopy.

All I could do was huddle over the three children, shielding them with a battered umbrella I'd found.

The freezing rain drenched me to the skin, chilling me to the bone.

Before long, I was running a fever myself.

By the time I'd finally made it to the harbor, a few boats pulled alongside.

The people aboard leaned out to look at me, their voices dripping with scorn.

"Isn't that the drama queen, Mrs. Hargrove, the one who livestreamed herself selling her kids?"

I forced an awkward smile and shook my head.

"No, you've got the wrong person."

Without even the slight smoothing effect of the livestream filter, I was dark and gaunt now, my hair a bird's nest of tangles.

Nothing about me suggested that I was married into a dynasty worth hundreds of billions.

They looked me over a few times, apparently convinced, and even tossed me a few rolls of bread and a bottle of water.

I wolfed it all down and managed to hang on until the Hargroves' ship launch ceremony.

The dock buzzed with voices as ribbons fluttered overhead.

Spencer stood at the center of the crowd, surrounded by people eager for his attention.

Standing beside him, in a custom-designed gown and covered in jewels, was Vanessa.

I raised the oar and waved it desperately, doing everything I could to catch his attention.

Spencer noticed me.

But he only frowned slightly and signaled to the bodyguard standing behind him with a glance.

A bodyguard in black strode to the water's edge and pulled a thick wad of cash from his wallet.

"Today's the Hargroves' big ship-launch day. Mr. Hargrove's giving you ten thousand. Consider it a little good-luck money."

When I didn't take it, his face hardened.

"It's not easy making it all the way out here to beg. Quit while you're ahead. Take the money and go."

A beggar.

So even standing right in front of him, he didn't recognize me.

Spencer would casually hand a beggar ten thousand dollars.

But he'd only given me five hundred to raise his children.

The youngest in my arms started fussing again, his little face flushed with fever.

I swallowed the bitterness rising in my throat and reached out to take the wad of cash.

My voice was so faint the wind could have whisked it away.

"Thank you, Mr. Hargrove. I'll keep it for myself."

I turned the boat around and rowed away, my heart aching.

If this was how things were going to be, why keep trying?

But the wind suddenly picked up, turning into a howling gale.

My little wooden boat capsized in seconds.

My heart lurched, but thank God the children were in the small wooden basin I'd prepared beforehand and were still safely afloat.

Gritting my teeth, I kept one hand on the basin and swam toward shore with all the strength I had left.

Just as I reached the shallows, I heard Spencer's voice.

He was holding a plump, pale baby, chatting casually with the business partners gathered around him.

Even as the people around him showered him with praise, he kept his brow furrowed.

"You'll have to forgive the spectacle, everyone. It's an important day for the Hargroves, and Celeste still has to throw a tantrum and refuse to show her face."

"I honestly worry the children will take after her someday. No matter how much I give, it's never enough for her."

He sighed, looking utterly helpless.

"The truth is, I was all set to order a private jet today."

"The moment Celeste apologizes and admits she was wrong, I'll buy it for her."

That was when I couldn't take it anymore.

I snatched up a clump of seaweed and hurled it at Spencer with the last of my strength.

"Spencer, I did nothing wrong!"

The slimy seaweed splattered across his face, but he didn't get angry. He only stared at me in the water, stunned.

"Celeste? Why are you in the water?"

He rushed to the edge of the dock and reached down to pull me up.

"Come up, quick! The water's freezing. You're frail; you can't stand being cold."

His voice was frantic, as if he truly cared about me.

"Stop sulking at me. Whatever you want, I'll find a way to buy it for you."

"It's only money, isn't it? If you want a billion, I'll scrape it together for you!"

I knocked his hand away, tears streaming down my face.

"Spencer, stop acting!"

"I went through hell to give you three children, and you made me eat rotting dried fish, live in a leaking shack, and refused to give me a single clean set of clothes!"

I was crying so hard I could barely catch my breath.

"A billion? Another billion in Indonesian rupiah, which works out to a thousand dollars?"

"Spencer, do you even know? How did I survive on those five hundred dollars for the past five months?!"

Under the dock lights, Spencer's face turned deathly pale.