Chapter 4

Summerville finally stood up. She untied her waterproof apron, placed it on a nearby table, and offered no excuses, no pleas.

“Alright.” Her voice was incredibly hoarse.

Casey whispered behind me, “Mr. Frank, should I go in and clear the place?”

“Go investigate.”

I stared at the couple inside the glass door, my eyes colder than the night wind outside.

“Find out exactly how Wilson got her to shoulder that four-point-two-million-dollar debt.”

Summerville left through the back door. I didn't follow immediately.

I needed to first understand who had pushed her to the edge of the cliff.

Casey was highly efficient. The next morning, a thick stack of documents lay on my desk.

I opened the first page, my fingers involuntarily tightening, knuckles turning white.

So that was it. What a dirty trick.

Three years ago, Summerville and Wilson partnered to start a tech company.

Summerville was responsible for core technology R&D, while Wilson handled external relations and finance.

A year ago, Wilson claimed he'd landed a big project that required a loan to expand production capacity.

He presented a joint liability agreement for Summerville to sign.

“What were his exact words?” I stared at the photocopy in the document.

Casey impassively recounted the recorded conversation:

“He said, ‘Summerville, I'm your fiancé. Would I ever screw you over?’”

“‘This project is a surefire profit. Once we clear this hurdle, we'll get married.’”

I sneered. “And the result?”

“As soon as the money was deposited, Wilson transferred the funds to a shell company under various pretexts.”

Casey turned a page. “The legal representative of that shell company is Ulysses.”

I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath.

No wonder Ulysses was so arrogant in the fast-food place yesterday.

So she was using Summerville's hard-earned money to play the socialite in front of her.

“The company's funding dried up, and Wilson immediately filed for bankruptcy liquidation,” Casey continued his report.

“Because Miss Summerville signed an unlimited joint liability agreement, all the debt fell onto her shoulders. Four point two million.”

Wilson walked away clean, re-emerging as a ‘senior partner’ in Ulysses's company.

Meanwhile, Summerville became a defaulter, forced to work odd jobs under the radar.

“There's one more thing, Mr. Frank.” Casey hesitated.

“Speak.”

“Miss Summerville's mother was diagnosed with end-stage kidney failure last month. She's currently at Third Hospital.”

Casey placed a payment reminder on the desk. “This afternoon, if the twenty thousand dollars for dialysis isn't paid, the hospital will stop her medication.”

Twenty thousand. Again, it was because of twenty thousand.

Time seemed to form an absurd, closed loop.

My freshman year of college, my father's follow-up rehabilitation treatments. The hospital issued an ultimatum.

I was eighteen thousand short. I even considered selling my blood back then.

Then, a twenty-thousand-dollar transfer hit my account.

The sender left no name, only ‘Don't give up’ in the memo.

I knew who it was, of course.

That month, I secretly returned to Pittsburgh once. From a distance, I saw Summerville in the cafeteria, eating plain noodles for a whole month.

I leaned back in the leather chair, my heart feeling like it was being ripped out.

Ten years ago, she ate plain noodles so I wouldn't go hungry.

Ten years later, to pay for her mother's dialysis, she washed dishes in grime and was still treated like dirt.

“Frank,” I mumbled my own name. “You're such a damn failure.”