Chapter 3
Ruby walked into the hospital with her heart in her throat. She had gotten a call from her mother’s doctor, urging her to come to the hospital as soon as possible, andl she had rushed over without a second thought. And now that she was here, the nerves were starting to set in. Every single time it came to her mother, she prepared herself for the worst, and this time was
no exception
The nurse who was assigned to her mother greeted her as she reached the counter, “I’m so sorry that we called you in so late, but we had no other choice.”
The sense of urgency in the nurse’s voice frightened her. “Is my mom okay? Did something happen?” She asked, not sure if she wanted to hear the answer.
The nurse smiled kindly at her. “Your mother’s fine, but you should go in and see the doctor”
She nodded, still not quite sure how to let out the breath she was holding.
Her mother’s doctor didn’t believe in keeping her there when he could be using her bed for a patient that he might actually be able to save, she knew that much, but it wasn’t like he could turn her away either, not while she could still afford to pay
the bills.
Six years had passed. Her mother had been in a coma for six years now, and she was the only person that still believed that she would wake up one day. She was confident at first, but now, it was a race against the clock. It had become a question of what would run out first, the money that kept her mother alive, or her mother’s rapidly deteriorating health.
The doctor offered her a small smile as she entered the office, and she nodded at him.
“I have some difficult news to share with you,” he said, with a grave expression on his face. She clenched her fist, not wanting to hear it. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good.
“Your mother has an infection, and it’s getting harder and harder to keep her state from deteriorating. And there are many additional costs associated with the treatment we have to give her because of the infection.”
She nodded, already aware of what he was going to say next 1 understand Doctor, but I’m not willing to give up on my mother. I still believe she’s going to wake up, and until she does, I pay whatever it costs to keep her alive.”
The doctor nodded, and she hated the pity she could see in his eyes. It was obvious that he didn’t believe her mother would wake up again. It had been that way for years. And she wished more than anything that she could change her mother’s doctor. She wanted her mother to be treated by someone who actually believed she had a chance at survival, but Ruby couldn’t afford the luxury of getting another doctor.
“Please sign here, he eventually said, sliding a piece of paper across the table to her, “I’ll send you the bill. It’s higher this month by a couple of thousand dollars”
Ruby signed the forms, authorizing her mother’s treatment and other associated costs. She felt so heavy and tired that her eyes fell closed in resignation as she lifted her hand off the paper.
She felt a little relieved when she walked out of the doctor’s office to head to her mother’s room, but it didn’t last for long Eight thousand dollars. A few years ago, she wouldn’t have blinked twice at that amount. It would’ve been chump change to her. A few years ago, she used to own several handbags that cost more than eight thousand dollars each. Not anymore.
he
Few months after her mother fell into a coma, her father managed to get the doctors to declare her brain dead, just so could get remarried. The day he married Beatrice was the day their insurance company informed Ruby that they’d stop paying for her mother’s treatment. She didn’t think much of it then. She was a Smith afterall. They had money. It didn’t matter if insurance wasn’t going to cover the costs. But she should have known better, she should have seen the signs coming
She was only eighteen then, and in the blink of an eye, she had lost her mother, her brother and she had been forced to live with her stepmother and her daughter. She didn’t cope well with the way her father blatantly abandoned her mother, but
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Chapter 3
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she would’ve found a way to deal with it. She would’ve even played nice and endured every other thing if her stepmother hadn’t asked her father to stop paying her mom’s medical bills. Even then, she thought it was okay, as long as she still had her brother, they would be able to save their mom. She thought he’d be on her side but she couldn’t have been more wrong Their stepmother managed to find a way to get her claws so deep in him and convinced him that he would only be wasting money on a lost cause. She barely recognized her brother. Cole, anymore.
But luckily, her mother had set up a trust fund for her when she was born, and that was what she had been using to pay the bills over the past six years. But now she was at a dead end. There was no money anymore, she literally couldn’t afford to keep her mother alive. She had no valuables left, she was truly broke this time.
She sat beside her mother’s bed and held her hand, hoping she would squeeze her hand back. “Mom, please,” she whispered. sounding as broken as she felt. “Please wake up. I really need you, please don’t do this to me. I have no idea how I’m going to get money for your medical bills. Please wake up.” She begged, trying her best to suppress the sob that was threatening to escape her.
No matter how much she pleaded in the past, her mother never woke up. A part of her believed that her mother would wake up if she knew how much trouble she was in this time, but of course it didn’t happen. She rested her head on the edge of the bed and tried to breathe through her mouth.
“I didn’t realize you were struggling to pay the bills honey.”
Ruby jerked her head up and saw her mother’s nurse looking down with pity at her.
“How long have you been struggling? I had no idea it’s been hard on you financially.”
She sniffled and wiped her eyes. “It gets harder every year. But this time this time… I…” she couldn’t even finish the words before another sob racked through her body.
The nurse looked at her for a while, before taking a black card out of her breast pocket, looking unsure as she handed it to her. “The guardian of one of my other patients told me about this place. It’s a gentlemen’s club, She said they helped her get money when she was struggling. She… she said they pay quite handsomely for the innocent types. I hope you won’t need to use this card, Ruby. But if you do, there’s no shame in doing whatever it takes to keep your mother alive.”
Ruby stared at the card in her hand for a long time after the nurse left the room. It was thick, and black, with the name of the club written in gold lettering at the top. There was an address below the name, no phone number. She knew what happened in a gentlemen’s club, she’d heard of it before. Girls sold their bodies to men for a few thousand dollars a month. She shuddered at the thought. Her father had promised to pay the bills once she married Alex, so hopefully she wouldn’t have to use this card.
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