Chapter 7

Chapter 7 Two days later....

+25 BONUS “You’re being discharged today, Thalassa. You can go home now,” the doctor announced.

Thalassa sat up with a sigh. Was she crazy for wishing she could spend a few more days at the hospital? It seemed so much better than going out to face her new reality. But she knew she eventually had to.

She forced a smile for the doctor’s sake. “Thank you, doctor. I’m so happy that I’m finally being released.”

The doctor’s expression dropped a little, and she bit her lip before adding, “Uh... So, since nobody has been here to sign you out, you’ll have to take care of the bills before leaving.”

Thalassa let out another sigh. Did they think she was helpless without her ex-husband?

“I know that, doctor. Like I said, I’ll take care of the bills.”

When she was ready to leave, she was taken to settle the accounts. Her eyes widened when she saw her total bill. The amount she had to pay for her three-day stay in the hospital was simply outrageous, even with insurance.

She took a deep breath. She was fine. She had her savings. Savings she had gathered from working for the Miller Beauty Company.

A bitter smile crept onto her face. Kris and his mother hadn’t said anything, but she knew that they’d probably given her job to somebody else by now.

She’d worked for the Miller family for three years, starting out as Kris’s secretary. Then when they began dating, they would do everything else in the office apart from working, so Thalassa had suggested transferring to another department so they could both focus on work.

Kris had wanted to transfer her to a higher position, but she had refused, saying she wanted to earn her way up. Yet, despite busting her ass for two years, she’d never been promoted. Now she had no doubt that Linda Miller had had a hand in that.

The same woman who’d killed her baby. Rage brewed in Thalassa’s heart.

“Miss Thompson, would you like to pay by card?”

“No!” Thalassa answered sharply.

The only card she had on her was the black card Kris had given to her, and she didn’t even want to touch it. She wanted nothing to do with the Miller family.

“I’ll pay online.”

Once she was done settling the payments, she took her bag and her phone and walked out of the hospital to go home.

Her heart squeezed. Where was home? She had signed out of her apartment after she and Kris got married.

She had nowhere to go, just like when she was fifteen after her mother died and she was kicked out of their house.

+25 BONUS Luckily, unlike that time, she had enough savings to rent an apartment, but getting one could take weeks, so she needed to stay at a hotel for now.

Pulling out her phone, she searched for the nearest hotel and stopped a taxi to take her there.

“Good evening, how may I help you?” one of the receptionists greeted with a wide smile.

T’d like a room, please.”

Do you have a booking?”

Thalassa shook her head. “No.”

“Okay. No worries. We do have some rooms available. Would you like an upper level or a lower level?”

Thalassa was just about to respond when another receptionist suddenly pulled the first one aside and began whispering in her ear. Once the whispering stopped, the smile on the first receptionist’s face had dimmed..

“Is there a problem?” Thalassa questioned.

“I’m sorry, but all the rooms have been booked or occupied,” the receptionist replied.

Thalassa frowned. “But you just said that you had some rooms avai-”

“Well, she made a mistake,” the other receptionist cut her off sharply.

Thalassa felt embarrassed by her tone because the other people around were staring at her.

“Okay. Thank you.”

Once she left that hotel, she went to another hotel, but to her shock, a similar thing happened, leaving her even more confused.

When she went to the third hotel and the same thing happened, she demanded to speak to the manager. The manager told her the truth straight to her face, “I’m sorry, but we can’t have our hotel associated with someone like you.”

Thalassa walked out of the hotel dejected. She finally understood that no hotel wanted her because of her scandal with the Miller family. She remembered that there had been reporters and paparazzi the day she was arrested, so the news had definitely gone public, but how bad could it be?

When she got to a public bench, Thalassa sank onto it. She knew that it was stupid, but she just needed to know what was being said about her.

Pulling out her phone, she searched her own name. Her stomach curled as she saw all the videos, articles, posts, and comments about her. Even though it had been a week since the incident, her name was still in the headlines.

There was so much hatred, insults, and vitriol that it made her sick to her stomach. She was being branded “The whore and gold-digger who married Kris Miller for money and tried to steal from the Miller family. Her name had completely been tarnished.

Turning off her phone, rage brewed through her. So Kris and his family weren’t satisfied with kicking her out of their life, they also wanted to drive her out of the city?

Chapter +25 BONUS She knew that Kris had enough influence to stop all this news. The fact that he hadn’t done anything about it meant that he wanted it to continue. For her to be humiliated. That was how much he hated her.

“No, I don’t know you. Let go of me. Let me go!”

The shrill screams of a woman cut through her thoughts. Thalassa looked up sharply to find a man trying to push an old lady who looked to be in her 60s into a car while the old lady resisted and screamed. It was obvious that he was trying to kidnap her.

Looking around, Thalassa expected someone to run to the old lady’s rescue, but she realized that it was dark and there was nobody close enough except her.

Without thinking twice, she ran towards the scene and yelled, “Let go of her!”

The man looked at her, sneering, “Back off, bitch. Don’t try to be a hero if you don’t want me to blow a hole through your head.”

He pulled out a gun, flashing it at her as he continued trying to push the old lady into the car, Thalassa wasn’t stupid. If there were any bullets in the gun, then he would’ve shot her already.

“Help!” the old lady cried. “I don’t know him. Don’t let him take me away.”

Thalassa didn’t know where she got the strength from, but she moved forward, grabbed the man by his neck, and slammed his head against the roof of his own car. The man passed out cold.

Thalassa quickly took the old lady’s hand and helped her out of the car.

“Are you okay?” she questioned.

What the old woman said next took her completely off guard. “Oh God, Ashley... My daughter. It’s you. I knew you were alive!”

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