Winner Takes All

Chapter 1 Divorce

“Mr. Hughes, I am sorry to tell you that your mother is in the late stage of liver cancer…”

Seeing the doctor shaking his head, Jack suddenly felt dizzy with bloodshot eyes. Since he was a child, his mother and he had been relying on each other.

To fund his education, his mother had been overworked and ill. Without having the chance to enjoy her twilight years, she was suffering instead.

“Doctor, could you please save my mom? Any way we can try?”

Jack begged in a hoarse voice and almost cried.

“There is actually a way—liver transplant. Fortunately the hospital is able to achieve that…”

The doctor said after hesitating for a moment. He paused again while staring at Jack up and down. He knew very well how the long and arduous medical treatments had taken a toll on Jack.

However, he decided to break it to Jack, “But…it’s quite costly—at least two hundred thousand yuan.”

Two hundred thousand yuan? Jack’s eyes suddenly lit up as he grabbed the doctor’s hands, “I still have two hundred thousand yuan! You must save her. Please!”

Jack knew that he could make that money again, but his mother’s life would not take two.

“Then you have to come up with the money as soon as possible. If this delays, even the liver transplant would not save your mom,” the doctor nodded while letting out a sigh before leaving. He went home quickly and saw Katherine, his wife, sitting in the crouch.

“Mom is dying?”

Katherine asked as she caught a glimpse of Jack. “The doctor said liver transplant was the only way we have,”

Jack sounded as if he had grasped the last straw of hope as he continued excitedly, “It costs two hundred thousand yuan, and fortunately we still have it. Mom has one last chance here.”

A second later, he turned around to get the bank card.

However, Katherine’s face changed as she halted him, “Jack, stop right there!”

Jack frowned as though he suddenly recalled something important.

He turned around and stared at Katherine, “Where’s the money?”

She looked flustered as she started to stammer. “Did you give it to your family again?”

Jack raised his eyebrows with a bitter smile. He felt weak and headed to the sofa while taking out a cigarette box from his pocket. With a flash, he smoked the cigarette and collapsed in the sofa.

They had been married for three years, and that had happened before.

“Katherine, that money is my last hope to save mum,”

Jack said tiredly, “Can we get it back?”

“Get it back?”

Katherine raised her eyebrows as she screeched, “Jack, what are you trying to say? I gave it to my parents as a daughter. How can I ask them to return it?”

A cold look was showed on Jack’s face as he said, “There is a compatible liver waiting for mum in the hospital right now. If I can pay the bill now, the hospital can carry out the liver transplant immediately.

From what I see, mum is on her last legs.”

“That is not what I worry about. It’s your problem and you should come up with another solution,”

Katherine suddenly broke out in tears as she mumbled.

“How do I get two hundred thousand yuan in such a short time?”

Jack felt like his head was going to explode, but he still begged Katherine in a pathetic tone, “Katherine, you have to help me. Get it back. My mum can’t live without the money!”

“Jack! I told you that I have given it to my mother. There’s no way I can ask for it again,”

Katherine wailed as she sat on the floor, “Your mom is going to pass away anyway, but you still keep burning money to the hospital. Do you ever stand in my shoes and think about us?”

Hearing that, Jack shivered. He felt that he was going to burst into anger anytime.

He grabbed her phone as he threatened, “If you won’t call them, I will do it myself!”

Before she could stop him, the call came through.

“Mum, Katherine has given you two hundred thousand yuan, right?”

Jack implored, “Can we get it back? My mom is dying. I need it to pay for her surgery since she is waiting for a liver transplant in the hospital.”

At the other end of the phone, his mother-in-law Elissa rebuked him with a shriek, Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.

“Jack, what nonsense are you spouting now? Katherine has given us that money, and you have the gut to ask for it? We’ve never agreed to your marriage, so you should find yourself lucky that Katherine would marry you, such a poor guy.

“Now, Katherine expresses her gratitude to us two for raising her, but you, a poor guy from the countryside, want us to return the money. How ridiculous! Let me make it clear. Tommy is going to marry soon, and we are going to use that two hundred thousand for the down payment of his future house. You want it back? No way.”

With that, the phone went dead. Jack was completely stunned. Didn’t Elissa understand his words? His mom was relying on that money to save her life!

“Jack, are you crazy?” Katherine grabbed Jack’s clothes madly as she howled,

“How can you do that? Is it wrong for me to give some money to my parents?”

Jack stared at her with angry eyes, “So you think your brother’s new house is more important than my mum’s life?”

“Nonsense!”

Katherine let go of him before grabbing the items in their house and threw them in a mess. She then slipped down onto the floor as she continued to scold,

“Jack, you’re literally useless. Why did I marry you? Do you know how much you have burnt for your mother? I have been eating frugally since I married you. We even rent this shit house now. Do you ever think about me? Tommy is my little brother. So is yours. He is going to marry. How can you blame me for lending a helping hand?”

“Lending a helping hand?” J

ack was completely mad at the moment, “Over the past three years since we are married, how many times have you helped that useless Tommy, a man doing nothing but living off his parents? It is you guys that made Tommy become such a loser.”

“Don’t you ever talk about my brother like that!”

Katherine retorted with her face completely distorted as she pointed at him with trembling fingers. Jack snickered coldly,

“Why can’t I? When he caused someone becoming pregnant when he was in university, I was the one who had settled this problem for him. I bought him the car. Do you know how much I have contributed to your family? You just can’t stop spoiling your damn little brother! You’re literally not thinking about us.”

“Ah! Shut up!”

Katherine shrieked, “What do you mean by that? You want to ruin our life?”

“You guys just want to use the money for your useless brother’s new house. You know my mom is dying without the money. It is you that are going to ruin our life!”

Jack shrugged while declaring with a cold face, “We are getting divorced.”

Katherine was stunned, “What? What did you say?”

Over the past three years, it was the first time Jack had talked to her like that. “I want a divorce,”

Jack repeated, “Seems you’ve suffered a lot staying with me, and I am not worth your time as well. I’ve had enough with your family.”

After saying that, he turned around to leave. He had made up his mind. Throughout the past three years, he had been enduring in silence all the time. He thought Katherine married him by sacrificing her superior background, and they had a good relationship.

But now he couldn’t stand it anymore. After Jack was gone, Katherine called her mother Elissa, “Mum…we’re going to divorce.”

“That bastard really has the gut,”

Elissa blared out, “Then just leave him! He’s nothing but a stony broke, useless guy. The two hundred thousand yuan is with me anyway. If he wants a divorce, it’s up to him. Let him struggle endlessly with his damn mother!”

At the same time, Jack was wandering aimlessly outside. Raindrops were falling down from the night sky, drenching him all over. So frustrated was he that he scratched his head and kicked the puddle by his feet. ‘Money! Money! Money! Every damn problem in this world happens because of money!’ Now that he had fallen out with the Parry family, how could he get two hundred thousand in such a short time to save his mother? Suddenly, a Rolls-Royce Phantom stopped beside Jack. The window slowly opened. An old man in a traditional Tang suit got off with a gentle smile at Jack.

“You are the Master Hughes, right? Please get in the car now. We are going to the LJ Hospital.”

Master Hughes? Jack stared blankly at this old man in front of him.

The old man smiled as he added, “Your mother is currently undergoing liver transplant at the surgery.”