Chapter 33 - A Desperate Plea
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I was walking to my car in the hospital parking garage late that Friday evening when a figure stepped out from behind a concrete pillar.
My heart spiked for a fraction of a second before I recognized the hunched shoulders and the pathetic posture. It was Andrew. He looked worse than he had at the deposition. He was shivering slightly in the cool evening air.
"Lillian," he said, holding his hands up as if to show he wasn't armed. "Please don't call security. I just need five minutes."
I stopped walking, keeping a safe distance between us. My hand rested casually inside my purse, gripping the heavy metal handle of my pepper spray, just in case.
"You have two minutes," I said coldly.
"I lost the apartment," he blurted out, tears welling in his eyes. "The judge ordered me to pay your legal fees, and Vance dropped me as a client. I have nowhere to go. My mother won't let me move in with her because her own landlord is threatening eviction. I just need a loan. Just a few thousand to get back on my feet. I swear I'll pay you back."
I stared at the man I had once vowed to spend my life with. I searched my heart for any lingering trace of affection, any small spark of empathy. There was nothing. Just cold, empty air.
"No," I said simply.
"Lily, please. I'm desperate. I'm your husband."
May you like
"You were my husband," I corrected him sharply. "Now, you are just a man who made terrible choices and expected me to fund the consequences. You built this life, Andrew. Now you have to live in it."
I walked past him, unlocked my car, and got in. I didn't look in the rearview mirror as I drove away.
