Chapter 1
At six o’clock, employees began rising from their desks one after another, shutting down their computers and gathering their belongings. Beyond the office’s floor-to-ceiling windows, the setting sun cast an amber glow across the room, filling it with the warmth of early autumn.
Emily Carter had dinner plans with her best friend, Sophie Bennett. Grinning to herself, she reached for the power button on her computer.
“Emily.”
The soft voice came from the desk to her left.
Emily’s scalp prickled. Her face tightened before she could stop it, but by the time she turned around, the familiar gentle smile was already back in place.
“Linda, is something wrong?”
The moment the words left her mouth, she regretted them.
She knew exactly what would happen now. The instant she allowed Linda to begin, her peaceful weekend would be over.
Sure enough, Linda Parker gave her an apologetic smile.
“Emily, I still have a few drawings I haven’t finished. Could you help me with them? They’re for the Grandview project. You already know that project inside and out.”
“But I have plans after work,” Emily said hesitantly. “I don’t really have time tonight.”
Saying no had never come easily to her.
Emily had lost her father when she was very young. To keep the family afloat, her mother had worked several jobs at once and barely had time to care for her. As a result, Emily had been sent to live with her grandmother in the countryside.
But her grandmother’s house was already crowded. Her uncle and aunt lived there, along with their son and daughter.
To them, Emily was nothing more than an extra mouth to feed.
Their resentment seeped into every part of her childhood. The best food, the nicest clothes, the newest toys—none of them were ever meant for her.
Whenever she stared too long at something her cousins had, they would sneer at her and accuse her of being greedy.
Her grandmother loved her and sometimes secretly bought her small things: a pretty notebook, a new pencil case, a packet of candy. But whenever the others discovered these gifts, they accused the old woman of playing favorites. Once, they had even searched the entire house for the money she had hidden away.
Emily had grown up surrounded by rejection, resentment, and constant reminders that she did not belong.
Eventually, she learned to watch people’s expressions before she spoke. She learned to sense displeasure before anyone voiced it.
If she wanted to grow up peacefully in a house that was never truly hers, she had to keep everyone happy.
Her uncle, her aunt, her cousins—even her grandmother.
If she stayed obedient and did more than her share of the housework, her uncle and aunt scolded her less. If she immediately handed over any treats or toys she received, her cousins were less likely to bully her. If she pretended she was happy, her grandmother worried less.
Over time, compliance became instinct.
So did taking care of everyone except herself.
Now Emily looked hopefully at Linda, silently praying that the woman would take pity on her and say, You already have plans? Never mind, then.
Instead, Linda asked, “What kind of plans?”
“I…”
Emily drew out the word, desperately trying to invent an excuse.
It had to be something serious.
Her uncle had fallen gravely ill, and she needed to take him to the hospital. Her aunt had undergone major surgery and needed someone to look after her. Her cousins had been in a car accident and were being rushed to the emergency room—
Strangely, as these possibilities crossed her mind, the tension between her brows began to ease.
Then guilt struck her.
What was wrong with her? How could she imagine such terrible things happening to her own family? Did that make her a horrible person?
Ashamed of herself, Emily told the truth.
“I promised Sophie I’d have hot pot with her.”
The moment she said it, she groaned inwardly.
That was a terrible excuse.
Of course Linda would dismiss it.
Sure enough, the older woman waved a hand.
“Oh, I thought it was something important. It’s only dinner. You can go another time. I’ll call Sophie and cancel for you.”
Sophie also worked at Sterling Properties, so everyone in the office knew her.
Linda pulled out her phone and began scrolling through her contacts.
Emily’s eyes widened.
“No, no, please don’t!”
This was the one hundred and first time Sophie had invited her to dinner.
Emily had canceled the previous hundred times.
If she did it again, Sophie might finally disown her.
Emily sprang to her feet and reached for Linda’s phone, a thin layer of sweat forming on her forehead.
They were all assigned roughly the same amount of work. Why was Emily always able to finish hers on time while Linda never could?
And why did Linda think that gave her the right to push the unfinished work onto Emily?
This was no longer coworkers helping each other. It was exploitation.
Emily’s inability to refuse had only encouraged Linda. Little by little, the woman had begun treating Emily’s time as if it belonged to her. Now she was even trying to rearrange Emily’s private life without permission.
Emily might have been timid, but she was not stupid.
She knew she was being used.
And tonight, no matter what happened, she was going to say no.
Seeing Emily lunge for the phone, Linda finally realized she might have pushed the office pushover too far.
Being forceful now would only make Emily more determined to resist.
Guilt would work better.
Linda quickly slipped the phone into her handbag and sighed helplessly.
“Emily, please. Just help me one more time. My husband is away on a business trip, my mother-in-law is sick in the hospital, and my father-in-law has to stay there and take care of her. There’s no one at home…”
“My daughter is still at preschool waiting for me to pick her up. Look—it’s almost six thirty. Every other child must be gone by now.” Linda lifted her wrist and tapped anxiously at her watch. “I can’t stop imagining her sitting alone in that classroom, crying her eyes out. I’m going out of my mind.”
The image struck Emily exactly where Linda knew it would.
Emily had once been that child—the one no parent came to collect, the one left sitting alone in an empty classroom, silently wiping away her tears.
Much of her childhood had been spent in an endless state of loneliness. At first, she had cried and begged for her mother. Later, she learned to walk home alone, play alone, and endure one empty day after another.
She knew exactly how painful it was to feel forgotten.
“You should go,” Emily said quietly, taking the drawings from Linda. Her smile was faint and bitter. “I’ll finish them for you.”
Linda had known the story would work.
She threw her arms around Emily, showered her with breathless thanks, then hurried out of the office without another glance back.
Emily returned to her desk. Her expression was as gentle and composed as ever, but helplessness clouded her eyes.
Linda’s success did not go unnoticed.
Mia Dawson, who sat at the desk on Emily’s right, immediately approached with another drawing clutched to her chest and an ingratiating smile on her face.
“Em, I need the biggest favor.” Mia pressed her palms together. “My boyfriend and I are long-distance. He lives almost three hundred miles away, and he’s only in town tonight for work. He has to leave first thing tomorrow morning. This is the only chance we’ll have to see each other. Please, Em. I’m begging you.”
Two people separated by hundreds of miles had finally found themselves in the same city, only to be kept apart by work.
Emily could already imagine their disappointment.
Empathy had always been her weakness.
Her resolve softened almost instantly.
“All right,” she murmured. “Leave it with me.”
One by one, the remaining employees left the office.
Outside the enormous windows, the last traces of daylight disappeared, and the room gradually sank into darkness. Emily switched on only the light directly above her desk and sat alone in the silent corner, staring at the additional drawings with a tired, humorless smile.
“I’m sorry, Sophie.”
It took every ounce of courage she had to make the call.
“Don’t,” Sophie cut in immediately. “Let me guess. You’re working late again.”
Emily closed her eyes.
“Whose work are you doing this time?” Sophie demanded. “Do you have any idea how frustrating you are? Would it kill you to grow a spine and say no to people who take advantage of you?”
“Sophie—”
“No. You’ve canceled on me a hundred times, Emily. A hundred. And every single time, it’s because somebody gives you a sad little story and you sacrifice your entire evening for them.”
Emily lowered her gaze to the drawings on her desk.
“If you don’t change, people are going to walk all over you for the rest of your life,” Sophie continued angrily. “No one can help you when you refuse to help yourself. Fine. Stay there all night and finish everyone else’s work. I’m going home.”
The call ended.
Even through the silence of the phone, Emily could feel Sophie’s anger—and the helpless concern beneath it.
“I want to stand up for myself,” Emily whispered. “I really do. It’s just so hard.”
She bent over the drafting table and began tracing a line across the page.
“Next time, I’ll refuse. I won’t do their work anymore. I’ll come up with a better excuse. No—I won’t need an excuse. I’ll just say no. I won’t listen to anyone. They can beg all they like, and I still won’t agree…”
She repeated the promises again and again, pouring out the desires she had kept buried for years.
A faint spark of hope slowly lit her tired eyes.
Perhaps if she said the words often enough, she would finally become brave. Decisive. The kind of woman no one dared to exploit.
But she had made the same promises every other time someone forced their work onto her.
They had never lasted.
The next time someone looked desperate, disappointed, or hurt, Emily would become so consumed by their feelings that she lost the ability to defend her own.
It was late at night by the time she finally completed Linda’s and Mia’s drawings.
Her lower back ached so badly she could barely straighten. She placed the finished work neatly on their desks, turned off the light above her own, and left Sterling Properties with heavy, dragging steps.
As she walked, she massaged her temples. Pain tightened her exhausted features.
Her migraines had become much worse recently. Sometimes the pressure inside her skull was so unbearable that she found herself imagining what it would feel like to crack her head open and release it.
Tomorrow was Saturday.
Unless a client called demanding last-minute revisions, she would finally go to the hospital and get herself checked.
The following morning, Emily handed her scans and test results to the doctor and waited.
He studied the images in silence.
The longer he looked, the more serious his expression became.
At last, he set the report down.
“Is there someone you can call?” he asked. “A family member or someone close to you? I’d prefer not to have this conversation while you’re alone.”
Emily instinctively hugged her backpack against her chest.
Everyone knew what those words meant.
Doctors did not ask for family members when the news was good.
“There isn’t anyone,” she said, her voice trembling slightly.
The doctor frowned. “Your parents? A partner? An older relative?”
Emily gripped the strap of her backpack until her knuckles turned white.
“My parents are both dead. My grandmother is gone too.” She swallowed. “I don’t have any family.”
It was not entirely true.
Her uncle, aunt, and cousins were still alive.
But Emily knew them well enough to understand that they would never come for her. The moment they heard she had a serious illness, they would disappear, terrified that she might ask them for money.
To them, her life had never been worth as much as the contents of their bank accounts.
Sympathy softened the doctor’s face.
He hesitated for several seconds before speaking.
“The scans show a tumor near your brain stem.”
Emily stared at him, unable to respond.
“Because of its location, surgery would be extremely difficult,” he continued carefully. “There is a significant risk of permanent neurological damage, and I can’t promise that the tumor can be removed completely.”
The room seemed to tilt around her.
“What happens if I don’t have the surgery?”
The doctor’s expression tightened.
“Based on its size and rate of growth, you may have six months. Possibly less.”
Emily stopped breathing.
“The tumor is also placing increasing pressure on the blood vessels in your brain,” he said. “If one of those vessels ruptures, you could die without warning.”
Without warning.
Alive one moment.
Gone the next.
There might be no time to call an ambulance. No chance for treatment. No opportunity even to understand what was happening.
From this moment onward, death could come for Emily at any time.
“I strongly recommend that we operate as soon as possible,” the doctor said.
Emily’s fingers twisted around the strap of her bag.
“How much would it cost?”
He paused before answering.
“With the surgery, hospitalization, and follow-up treatment, your out-of-pocket expenses could be somewhere between forty and sixty thousand dollars, depending on what your insurance approves.”
Emily went completely still.
She did not have that kind of money.
Her mother had died of cancer. Emily had emptied her savings and taken out loans trying to pay for her treatment. After that, she had continued spending everything she earned on her grandmother’s heart condition.
By the time her grandmother passed away, Emily had nothing left.
She had even sold the house her father had left her.
Every cent from the sale had gone toward paying off her cousin’s gambling debts.
Now that she was the one who needed treatment, Emily could not scrape together a single dollar.
She shook her head helplessly, her mind numb.
“Doctor, I need some time to think about it before I decide whether to have the surgery.”
Who would refuse treatment after being diagnosed with a terminal illness?
Only someone who could not afford to live.
The pity in the doctor’s eyes deepened.
“All right. Take some time to think,” he said gently. “But I strongly urge you not to wait too long. If the tumor progresses any further, surgery may no longer be an option. Money can be replaced. Your life can’t.”
Of course Emily understood that.
But for someone like her, money and life were one and the same.
She had no money.
Therefore, she could not afford her own life.
