Fortune's Revenge

The rain pounded mercilessly against the hospital windows as Ethan Chen paced the sterile corridor, his worn sneakers leaving damp tracks on the polished floor. His phone screen illuminated for the fifteenth time with Olivia's name, but once again, it went unanswered. Something was wrong. Olivia never missed his calls, especially not when his mother was in the hospital.

"Mr. Chen?" The doctor's voice pulled him from his thoughts. "We need to discuss your mother's treatment options."

Treatment options. A polite way of saying they were running out of affordable ones. At twenty-five, Ethan already carried the weight of a collapsing family, his engineering degree collecting dust as he worked three part-time jobs, his mother's heart failing faster than he could save money for treatments, and his younger sister Victoria's college tuition draining what remained of their father's meager insurance.

"How bad is it?" Ethan's voice cracked, betraying the composure he struggled to maintain.

The doctor's expression softened with practiced sympathy. "Without the specialized treatment protocol, I'd estimate six months, maybe less."

Ethan's knees threatened to buckle. "And with this treatment?"

"With the Rothman Protocol, potentially years. But I should warn you, insurance won't cover experimental treatments. We're looking at costs exceeding $300,000."

Three hundred thousand dollars. The number struck him like a physical blow. He might as well have asked for the moon.

"I understand." Ethan nodded mechanically. "Thank you, doctor."

Inside his mother's room, Grace Chen lay unconscious, her once-vibrant face now ashen against the white hospital pillow. Victoria looked up from her textbook, instantly reading the despair on her brother's face.

"That bad?" she whispered.

Ethan couldn't bring himself to answer. Instead, he pulled out his phone and tried Olivia again.

This time, she answered, her voice tight and strange. "Ethan."

Relief washed over him. "Liv, where have you been? I've been calling for hours."

"I know. I'm sorry." Her voice sounded distant, almost formal. "How's your mother?"

"Not good. The doctor says," He stopped, hearing what sounded like muffled crying. "Liv? What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she said too quickly. "I'm fine."

"You're clearly not fine. Tell me what's happening."

A long pause followed. "I can't talk now. I'll... I'll see you soon."

The call ended abruptly, leaving Ethan staring at his phone in confusion.

Across town, in the palatial Montgomery estate, Olivia pressed her back against the closed door of her father's study, tears streaming down her face as she clutched her phone. Her normally immaculate appearance was disheveled, hair tangled from running her fingers through it, eyes red and swollen.

"Are we clear?" Harold Montgomery's cold voice penetrated the heavy mahogany door.

Olivia squeezed her eyes shut, the ultimatum still echoing in her mind. Her father's words had been precise, calculated, and utterly devastating.

"You will marry Alexander Reed within the month, or I will personally ensure Grace Chen never receives a penny of medical assistance. Your choice, darling."

When she'd discovered her credit cards frozen and bank accounts locked that morning, she'd stormed into her father's study demanding answers. She never imagined he would have already investigated Ethan's family so thoroughly, or that he would use Grace Chen's illness as leverage.

The door opened suddenly, causing Olivia to stumble backward. Harold Montgomery stood framed in the doorway, impeccably dressed in a tailored suit, his silver hair perfectly styled. Nothing in his appearance suggested he had just destroyed his daughter's happiness.

"Have you composed yourself?" he asked, eyeing her tear-stained face with distaste. "Alexander will be joining us for dinner tomorrow. I expect you to be presentable."

"Dad, please," Olivia begged, her voice breaking. "You can't do this. I love Ethan. His mother is dying."

"Which is precisely why you'll do as I say." Harold straightened his cuffs. "One call from me, and St. Matthew's will reject Grace Chen's application for the Rothman Protocol. One word, and every hospital in the state will suddenly find her case... ineligible."

Olivia sank to her knees, dignity forgotten. "I'm begging you. Help them without this, this blackmail. I'll do anything else."

"Get up." Harold's voice was sharp with disgust. "Montgomery women do not grovel."

"Harold." Eleanor Montgomery appeared at the top of the grand staircase, her silk dress flowing behind her as she descended. Her face, nearly identical to Olivia's but lined with years of similar subjugation, remained carefully neutral. "Perhaps we should discuss this as a family."

"There's nothing to discuss." Harold didn't even turn to acknowledge his wife. "Our daughter needs guidance. Alexander Reed comes from the right family, with the right connections. This... dalliance with a penniless nobody was entertaining while it lasted, but it's time Olivia remembered her responsibilities."

Olivia looked desperately at her mother. "Mom, please. Tell him this is wrong."

Eleanor's eyes flickered with momentary sympathy before resuming their practiced blankness. "Darling, I know this feels overwhelming now, but marriage is a strategic alliance, not a fairy tale. I didn't love your father when we married."

"And yet here we are, thirty years later," Harold interrupted with a cold smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"I adjusted," Eleanor continued softly. "So will you."

Betrayal cut through Olivia like a knife. "Did you 'adjust' to being married to someone who would use a dying woman as leverage, Mother? Is that the kind of 'strategic alliance' you want for me?"

Eleanor flinched but said nothing.

Harold checked his watch impatiently. "Enough dramatics. You have a choice, Olivia. Make it now."

Olivia rose slowly, her legs unsteady. "If I agree... you'll guarantee Grace Chen gets the treatment? Full coverage, best doctors, everything she needs?"

Harold nodded once. "The paperwork is already prepared. Sign the prenuptial agreement, announce your engagement to Alexander tomorrow, and Mrs. Chen will miraculously receive full sponsorship for the Rothman Protocol."

"And if I refuse?"

Her father's smile was terrifying in its calmness. "Then I hope you've said your goodbyes to Ethan's mother. I hear end-stage heart failure is particularly painful."

Olivia felt something break inside her, not just her heart, but something fundamental about how she understood the world. "I'll do it," she whispered. "But you're monsters. Both of you."

She fled upstairs to her room, collapsing onto her bed in heaving sobs. Her phone buzzed again with Ethan's name, but she couldn't bear to answer. How could she speak to him knowing what she'd just agreed to? How could she hear his voice without confessing everything?

Tomorrow, she would break his heart to save his mother's life. The cruelest kindness imaginable.