My Ex Takes Me Home… to Fix His Appliances?

On the day I reunite with my ex-boyfriend, Zachary Carter, I'm in my electrician's uniform, arguing with a client. "I'm not leaving until you pay me, you pervert! You asked for an attractive woman to come over to your house, and now you're refusing to pay? Let's see what will happen when your wife gets home!" I yell. The door slams shut with a loud bang, and several bills are thrown onto the floor. As I crouch down to pick up the money, Zachary stands before me holding the keys to his Porsche. "You'd rather scam people and risk getting beaten to death than come back to me to ask for help?" he asked. Behind me, the client is still screaming at me. "You're crazy! I paid for an attractive woman to come over—not for an attractive woman to come over and fix my wiring!" Chapter 1 I tugged at my electrician's uniform and put away my voltage tester. "Would you rescue me if I was being beaten up?" I wasn't going to get beaten up. I was an electrician. Zachary Carter, my ex-boyfriend, didn't respond. We'd been broken up for a year now. He had no obligation to save me. "Are you making a living by scamming people?" he asked. Yes, I was. For the past month, I had been making money through posting suggestive ads. Every day, I'd hand out flyers that advertised "house calls" by an attractive woman, with the word "repairs" printed in tiny letters beside the title. Whenever someone contacted me, I'd show up at their door. Most people were terrified of causing a scene, so I could usually walk away with a few hundred dollars in less than ten minutes. It was risky, but it was a quick way to earn money. I desperately needed money. I gathered the cash from the ground and got to my feet. "There's no shame in trying to make a living." Zachary's expression darkened. Without saying a word, he grabbed my wrist and dragged me toward the parking garage. His grip was so strong it felt as though he was going to crush my bones. "Let go of me, Zachary! We're already broken up!" I shouted. As I struggled against his hold, my tool bag dragged across the floor and made sharp, screeching noises. When he shoved me into the passenger seat of his car, I was instantly surrounded by the scent of his expensive car freshener. It made me feel incredibly out of place. "Give me your address," he demanded, his voice cold and even. "That's none of your business." He shot me a glance. Then, he stepped on the accelerator without another word. The car lurched forward, and a tense silence settled between us. As the trees along the roadside flashed past my window, I remembered sitting in this exact seat one year ago. In the past, I had smiled at him and said, "Let's break up. I've fallen in love with someone else. He's a lot richer than you are." He had been just as silent back then, but he wasn't as calm as he currently was. When I broke the news to him, he was shocked and devastated. In hindsight, the lie I had told him a year ago wasn't all that different from my misleading repair ads. Both were lies I told for the same reason—money. Chapter 2 The car eventually came to a stop in front of my apartment building. Zachary didn't get out of the vehicle. Instead, he turned to look at me with an unreadable look in his eyes. "Are you short on money? How much do you need?" he asked. He sounded as if I was some kind of charity case. "I was, but I'm fine now," I replied. I held my head up high and reached for the door, but Zachary suddenly reached over to grab my wrist. "Cecelia," he began, his voice laced with weariness. "How can you be so heartless?" "We've already broken up, Zachary. My life is no longer any of your business." I yanked my hand away from him and ran upstairs without looking back. The moment I closed the door behind me, I could no longer hold myself together. I dashed into the bathroom and turned on the faucet. Then, I splashed cold water on my face over and over again, hoping it'd somehow bring me back into my senses. All of a sudden, my phone buzzed in my pocket. The hospital had sent me a payment reminder. My brother's hospital bills were due once again. The bill was 200,000 dollars. Staring at the number made me feel lightheaded. The 500 dollars the client had thrown at me earlier could barely cover a fraction of it. My brother, Colin Langston, was incredibly ill. Until he found a suitable bone marrow donor, the medical bills would keep piling up. Each payment was 200,000 dollars, so I had used up a million dollars in the blink of an eye. I dried my face and pulled out a box from underneath my bed. Inside were certificates and awards I had received in college, along with a small velvet box. I opened the box. It contained a ring Zachary had planned to propose to me with. Back then, I had accidentally stumbled upon it in his bedside drawer. I pretended I hadn't seen it, but I was secretly thrilled, and I had already been coming up with ways to tease him during the proposal. Unfortunately, I never got the chance to. Before he could propose, I had received news that Colin was critically ill. Chapter 3 The next day, I sold the ring. The clerk offered me 90,000 dollars for it, and I accepted the offer immediately. "Deal." Afterward, I rushed to the hospital with the money. After paying the bill, I went to visit Colin in the ICU. I stood on the other side of the glass and couldn't stop the tears from streaming down my face. Then, all of a sudden, a familiar voice called out from behind me. "Cecelia?" I spun around and found Zachary standing a short distance away. His gaze slowly drifted to my tear-streaked face. "What are you doing here? Are you sick?" he asked, his voice slightly hoarse. I froze. Did he think that I was the one who was sick? I suppose it made sense. After all, he wasn't aware of Colin's condition. Back then, I wanted him to give up on our relationship completely. So, I told him that I had fallen in love with someone else. I said I was planning to leave the country with my new lover and told him not to look for me. I didn't think he could've imagined that I had used up all my savings to cover Colin's endless medical bills. "No," I replied, wiping away tears. He slowly walked toward me. "What's wrong then?" My voice turned cold once again. "It's none of your business." I couldn't read his expression. He seemed concerned, angry, and even… slightly afraid. I didn't want to get involved with him any further, so I turned to leave. But to my dismay, he grabbed my arm to stop me. "Look at me, Cecelia." He forced me to meet his gaze. "Tell me what's going on." Chapter 4 "You really have no shame, Cecelia. Did you come all the way to the hospital to look for your ex-boyfriend?" a woman cut in, her voice dripping with mockery. I looked up and saw Lucy Hayes. Her makeup was flawless, and she was carrying a limited-edition handbag. She stood there elegantly with an arrogant look on her face. When she walked over and stood next to Zachary, they looked like a perfect match. I, on the other hand, was dressed in a faded T-shirt and jeans, with no trace of makeup on my face. Zachary frowned. "What are you doing here?" "My dad asked me to pass something to Uncle Sam," Lucy replied, clinging to Zachary's arm affectionately. "I didn't expect to run into you and… Cecelia here." She deliberately dragged out my name. The contempt in her eyes was impossible to miss. Zachary, Lucy, and I had all gone to college together, and Lucy had looked down on me from the very beginning. She used to call me a country bumpkin who had nothing but a pretty face. She'd also accuse me of trying to marry into money by shamelessly clinging to Zachary. I couldn't be bothered to interact with her. I felt suffocated, and I just wanted to get away from this place as soon as possible. "I have other things to tend to, so I'm going to take my leave." "Stop." Zachary's voice rang out from behind me. Still clinging to his arm, Lucy flashed me a taunting smile. "Didn't you run off with some rich guy back then, Cecelia? What happened? Did he dump you? Did you come back to leech off of Zach?" The way she said Zachary's name made my heart sink. I stopped in my tracks and turned around with a smile. "That's right." Looking straight at Zachary, I declared, "I got dumped, and I've used up all of my money. So, I decided to come back to see if Mr. Carter is still willing to let me play him for a fool." Chapter 5 Zachary's expression darkened instantly. I knew my words had hurt him again, but I had no other choice. I needed him to give up on me so he'd keep his distance. That way, he'd be able to live the life he was meant to have instead of being held back by someone like me. Without uttering a single word, Zachary pulled his arm free from Lucy's grasp. Then, with an icy expression, he walked toward me before grabbing my wrist with even more force than before. "Do you enjoy making a fool out of me, Cecelia?" he growled. Upon hearing this, Lucy immediately added fuel to the fire. "Just ignore her, Zachary. Women like her are just ungrateful by nature. You could give her the world, and she'd still be unsatisfied," she sneered. I didn't pay her any attention and kept my eyes on Zachary. His gaze used to be filled with love and affection. But now, all I could see in them was rage. My heart ached, but I gritted my teeth and forced myself to say something even crueler. "You've been doing quite well lately, Mr. Carter. This amount of money shouldn't mean anything to you, right? Perhaps you don't think I'm worth that much?" "Shut up!" he roared. Then, ignoring Lucy's protests, he dragged me out of the hospital and shoved me into his car once again. Once he locked the doors, it felt as though we had been isolated from the rest of the world. He didn't start the engine. Instead, he simply sat there in silence. The air within the vehicle felt incredibly oppressive, and I found it difficult to breathe. After a long while, he pulled out a card from his wallet and threw it onto my lap. "The PIN is your birthday. Will that be enough?" There wasn't a trace of emotion in his voice, but the question stung more than any insult he could've hurled at me. The card was cold to the touch. As I picked it up, I wanted to tell him that I wasn't some materialistic woman, and that all I had ever wanted was to be with him. I wanted to tell him that my brother was dying and that I had no other choice. But unfortunately, I couldn't tell him any of those things. The moment I told him the truth, I'd ruin myself—and Colin's last chance at survival. Chapter 6 I broke up with Zachary a year ago. A lot of time had passed since then, but I still remembered what happened as if everything had just taken place yesterday. Shortly after I sent Colin to the hospital, Zachary's mother, the elegant and refined Elizabeth Morris, came to see me. She didn't berate me or humiliate me. Instead, she calmly handed me a check and a document. The check was for a million dollars, and the document contained the information and contact details of several of the best hospitals in the area. I couldn't believe that the melodramatic plot I'd only ever seen in television shows was actually happening to me in real life. After handing me the items, she said, "Cecelia, I know you're a smart woman, so I'll get straight to the point. You're not good enough for Zachary. If you leave him, I'll give you this money to cover your brother's medical expenses." Her voice was calm and gentle as she continued, "Zachary has a bright future ahead of him. He's about to take on a very important project—one that'll determine whether he can successfully take over the family business." After a brief pause, she added, "I heard your brother's condition is… quite complicated." Her tone was incredibly gentle, but she knew exactly what to say to get me to comply. "If you continue to cling to Zach, or if you ever tell him about our conversation…" she trailed off. "Listen, Cecelia. I can keep your brother alive, and I can also make sure he never gets the bone marrow transplant that he needs." My blood ran cold. For the first time, I truly understood what it felt like to be utterly powerless. With their wealth and influence, those from a higher social class could easily back you into a corner and leave you with no way of fighting back. In the end, I took the check because I had no other choice. I used the money she gave me to extend Colin's life by a year, and I used the line "I fell in love with someone else" to end my relationship with Zachary. How was I supposed to tell him the truth? I couldn't ask him for money. I was terrified Elizabeth would do exactly what she threatened if I went against her wishes. Chapter 7 "What? Is that not enough?" Zachary's cold voice interrupted my trip down memory lane. Once I snapped back to reality, I stared at the ATM card in my hand and gripped it tightly. "Yeah. It's not, but I'll take it. Thank you," I responded. I lifted my head and forced myself to put on a greedy smile. "My new boyfriend's business took a big hit, and he's in a lot of debt. What you just gave me won't even be enough to cover the interest." I lied to him. I couldn't let him find out that I had a sick younger brother. If Elizabeth could find out about it, Zachary could too. I had to make sure every clue pointed him in a different direction. Zachary stared at me, his chest heaving violently. He was clearly outraged. "Do you even have a heart, Cecilia?" "No, I don't," I replied coolly. "If you really want to help me, why don't you write me another check for two million dollars? Otherwise, let's not stay here and waste each other's time." With that, I reached for the car door, only to find it locked shut. The next second, he suddenly leaned toward me and pinned me against the seat. His presence felt familiar, yet strangely foreign. "Are you really that desperate for money?" he snarled, his breath hot against my ear. "You'll do anything for money?" "Yes." I shut my eyes. I was afraid to look into his eyes from such a close distance. "Alright then," he spat through gritted teeth. "Don't forget about what you just said." He started the engine and sped down the road before finally pulling into the garage of a luxury apartment building. Once he parked the car, he dragged me out and straight into the elevator. "Why did you bring me here, Zachary?" I demanded. I was starting to panic, but Zachary didn't say anything. He unlocked the door with his fingerprint and shoved me inside. Afterward, he slammed the door shut behind us. "You said you needed money, didn't you?" He closed the distance between us, his eyes dark with emotion. "I'll give you a chance to make some."