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He built his empire while I held his hand. Then she came back—widowed, ruined, still beautiful. He looked at me like dirt. “Sign.” My mother’s hospital bills? Nothing. I watched her flatline. My family shattered me. My son’s tears drowned me. I signed. Later, when all I wanted was to die, why was he the one crying and begging me to come back? The star quarterback, also on scholarship, asked my best friend out again, for the tenth time, and Jessica Miller just pointed at me. “Chloe’s on financial aid too. You two should just get together.” Julian Sterling turned to look at me. Something flickered to life in those flat, defeated eyes. Ten years later, he made the Forbes list. The first thing he did was thank me for never leaving. Everyone knew Julian spoiled me rotten. That lasted until he saw Jessica doing a striptease at a private party. It turned out her trust-fund husband had gone bankrupt and killed himself. Julian came home and handed me divorce papers. “If you weren’t holding the title of Mrs. Sterling, Jessica could’ve come to me,” he said. That was our first fight in ten years. Julian froze my acc//ounts, and I refused to sign, no matter what he did. My mother fell critically ill, and Julian wouldn’t give me a single cent. I stood there with nothing and watched her die. My father shoved me to the ground, sobbing. “Why did you have to fight with him? If you’d just swallowed your pride, your mother would still be alive!” “It should have been you!” He was screaming. “Your mother deserved to live! Why are you the one still breathing?” My brother stood behind him, eyes bloodshot, saying nothing. My five-year-old son tugged at my sleeve, crying. “Where’s Grandma? Why couldn't Mommy save Grandma?” That night, Julian looked down at me with a bored smirk on his face. “How much longer are you planning to drag this out?” I handed him the signed papers. I was done dragging this out. I was going to find my mom. ... I slid the signed papers across the table, and t
