1. His choice

MIRABEL

“Your mother’s insurance doesn’t cover her immunotherapy so that’s why you need to pay up.” The doctor said to me with a much calmer tone than the others.

I was seated in front of him, holding on tightly to my pants as my mind raced with the possibility of losing my mother. She was all I had left and losing her after we had just lost Dad, I would never survive it.

“I understand this is too much for you and that’s why I am suggesting you ask a relative for help. Anyone? A friend? Family?” He asked and I shook my head as I fought back the tears that threatened to spill.

It was just the two of us, no one else.

“Listen Mirabel, your mom doesn’t have much time and that’s why I am advising you to find someone that can help, it’s the only way because you can’t possibly raise such an amount on your own.” He advised.

He was right, I knew he was right but there was no one else. There was really no one else.

As I made my way out of his office and towards my mom’s room, the tears rolled down my cheeks effortlessly. My throat ached and even though I felt this overwhelming urge to break down somewhere and cry my eyes out, I couldn’t do that, I needed to be strong for her.

The moment I walked in, I saw her fragile body on the bed, her now bald head resting against her pillow. She was so much different from the woman I grew up loving, she was now a shadow of herself and was slowly dying.

No matter how hard she tried to force a smile anytime she was around me, I could sense and feel her pain, she wasn’t alright and I hated the fact that I couldn’t help.

It was barely a few months after we lost Dad that mom got diagnosed. The whole thing was happening so fast and it felt like I was out of air, like I was drowning in misery.

I sobbed silently as I held onto her frail hand while she slept.

I needed to do something, crying beside her won’t change anything, I needed to raise the money, but how?

$30,000 as initial deposit was just too much.

Lost in thought, I made for the window and before I got to it, my eyes caught sight of the T.V and the logo being displayed as a newscaster spoke inaudibly caught my attention.

I immediately grabbed the remote and turned up the volume.

“…the CEO of Harrison Holdings would be hosting a gala tonight with the president to celebrate the successful launch of a new global venture that would place the country on the world’s top financial markets with…”

My eyes widened in shock as that name echoed at the back of my mind. I glanced at Mom who was still fast asleep and my heart began to race.

She would never approve of it, I knew it without a doubt but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to do it.

It was our only shot. He was the only person that could help and that person was none other than her father, the CEO of Harrison Holdings.

He was my grandfather and I had only met him twice. The first time, he had blatantly told my mom I was a mistake and the second time, he had ignored me totally, like I wasn’t standing in front of him.

It was a bad idea going to him, not after he had stated countless times that he wanted nothing to do with me or Mom but I really didn’t have a choice, he was the only person that could help me raise such an amount within the required time frame.

According to my Mom, he never approved of her marriage to my father and by the time I came along, he had disowned her. A few years down the line, Dad died and now two months after his funeral, mom’s life was hanging on a thin thread.

I couldn’t just stand back and watch her die, I had to raise the money and she didn’t have to know how I did it.

Without thinking too much about it, I rushed out of the hospital and hailed a taxi to the outskirts of town where his mansion was located.

I knew it wouldn’t be easy to get into his property, especially with the kind of security he had and the gala he was hosting that night but I was determined to save Mom and there was nothing that could possibly stop me.

“Please, I need to talk to him,” I demanded as soon as his men stepped in front of me as I approached the gates, “just tell him Mirabel Walter wants to talk to him, please.” I pleaded but they wouldn’t listen.

One of them stepped forward to drag me away from the gate, when the second one whispered something to him and he stopped. For a while, I was forced to remain standing outside the gates with them until the second guy finished the phone call he was making.

He signaled the one holding me firmly and the next thing I knew, the gates swung open and I was dragged inside.

I didn’t expect it to be that easy, I didn’t even think he would agree to let me past the gates but I just wanted to try, luckily for me, it worked.

But I knew getting past the gates wasn’t the real obstacle, getting him to sign me a cheque was the real problem, especially after I informed him that it was for mom.

The house was huge and the decor was even more exquisite than I remembered. I had only visited his house twice with mom but those experiences had been too horrible for me to actually notice anything else.

The guard led me up the stairs and finally shoved me into a room at the far end of the hall,

“And to what do I owe this honor?” a cold, sarcastic voice said and I glanced up to find my grandfather seated behind his desk, with an irritated look on his face.

“Grandfather…”

“Don’t call me that.” He snapped, his harsh voice sent a tremor through me.

“I…uhm… I just, I need your help,” I blurted out, unsure of how to start talking in such an awkward scenario, “it’s Mom, she is in the hospital and she really needs to start…”

“I do not want to hear anything that has to do with Lauren so get out.”

“No! No, please just listen to me. She is dying, my mom is dying and you’re the only one that can help us raise the money for her immunotherapy. I can work for the money, it doesn’t have to be free, I can stay here as your maid for as long as you like so just please help her. If not for anything, then for the fact that she is your daughter.” I cried out, crumbling to my knees before him.

But that still wasn’t enough to move a man like my grandfather.

Slowly, he pushed away the papers he had been going through and casually slipped off his reading glasses,

“She was my daughter, now, she means nothing so leave before I get the security to throw you out. I have a gala to host.” He responded, coldly.

The image of mom on that bed flashed before my eyes and the idea of a future without her scared me so badly that I crawled towards his desk, pleading and sobbing for him to have mercy on her.

No matter how degrading it was, I didn’t mind, as long as he would save mom.

With an angry huff, he rose to his feet sharply,

“I want nothing to do with you or Lauren and that would never change, so get out.” He turned his back to me just as he slammed his fist on the red button on his desk.

Almost immediately, the guards rushed in and I was barely given a chance to say anything before I was dragged out of the room.

Thrown out like a mere piece of trash, I gathered myself together and headed to work.

It was as if the universe was mocking my failed attempt to get money from him, as if it was mocking me for being stupid enough to believe that a cold hearted man would suddenly come to our rescue simply because I had asked, because at that moment, it began to rain.

I could barely breathe right, the ache in my chest felt like something was being pressed against it so hard that it made me want to scream out for help.

The rain poured down on me mercilessly and by the time I arrived at worked, I was drenched so bad that I was trembling,

“Can you stop moving around sluggishly and get to work,” the manager snapped as he glared at me, totally ignoring the fact that I was shivering.

We needed the money so I couldn’t afford to miss any shift at that moment.

I was now even taking up my colleagues shifts because of the extra money.

So by the time I was done with work in the early hours of the morning, my entire body ached and I couldn’t hold back the tears anymore.

The pain of going back to the hospital to see Mom like that without the money, the fear that I was going to lose her and the cold I had caught from the rain, the whole thing just overwhelmed me so much that my entire body began to tremble again.

On my way home, I received a text from an unknown number and it only read

“Come to the mansion right now and do not keep me waiting.”

For a few minutes, I was confused as to who it was but then, the only person I could think of was my grandfather but it didn’t make any sense that after he had kicked me out, he would send a text like this?

In hopes that this would have something to do with saving mom, I rushed back there and this time I was let in without any issues.

“I’ll help you on one condition, Mirabel.” He said to me, the moment I was led inside his study. “You’ll marry into the family that I choose for you.”