Linda’s eyes flared with disbelief. “What did you just say?”
“I—I swear I’m not making it up…” Jane stammered, her voice low. “He said if I let you go, I could lose my job.”
That hit harder than Linda expected. Rage flickered behind her eyes, but underneath it, a growing sense of helplessness began to creep in.
She couldn’t wrap her head around it—Ernest had actually treated her this way.
The moment Ernest’s call came through, Hadley didn’t hesitate. She rushed straight to the hospital.
“Ernest? What’s going on with Eric?”
Over the phone, Ernest had been vague, just enough to send her heart racing.
Eric had collapsed. That was all she knew.
“What happened exactly?”
The emergency room doors stood sealed, blocking any view inside. Eric hadn’t come out yet.
“Hadley.” Ernest turned to her, his face drawn with tension. He motioned for her to take a seat. “There was an argument. Eric and Linda… they fought.”
Hadley’s eyes widened. “He went to see Linda?” The shock hit fast, sharp. She hadn’t expected that. Not now. Not after everything.
A long, weary sigh escaped Ernest. “Did something happen between you and Eric?”
Hadley’s brows knitted together, but she remained silent—no denial, no explanation.
With a shake of his head, Ernest looked down, remorse etched deeply on his face. “Hadley… everything you went through during those four years—that’s on me. I failed you. I’m sorry.”
Her shoulders stiffened, a subtle flinch betraying the tension she held back. “I didn’t know until Eric did,” Ernest continued, his voice low. “We found out at the same time.”
He paused, and then added, “It was me who asked him to stay quiet. I thought I was doing the right thing. But I never imagined it would lead to this… This is my fault. I owe you both more than just an apology.”
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Hadley sat frozen, her mind spinning.
Could that be true? Was this all really Ernest’s doing? Had everything unraveled because of his choice?
“I know this isn’t fair to you,” Ernest said, his voice low and rough, as if the words resisted leaving his throat. “But life doesn’t always give us neat, clean choices. Linda has her flaws, but she once saved both my life and Eric’s. Without her, neither of us would be standing here today. The Flynn family wouldn’t even exist as it does now… Do you understand why I did what I thought I had to do?”
Hadley offered no reply.
Instead, she lowered her gaze, her eyes squeezing shut as if that could stop the tears pressing behind them. Bitterness settled on her tongue, but she swallowed it down.
With Ernest saying that—how could she argue?
A life debt was a chain that never broke.
.
.
.