Too Late for Roses

In my third year of running a flower shop to support my boyfriend, he went bankrupt again.

The first time he went bankrupt, I sold the house my grandmother left me and paid off $700,000 for him.

The second time, I dug out the savings account my mother had left me as my wedding fund and paid off another $1.6 million.

The third time, I looked at the lost, empty look in his eyes and held the number of my billionaire father, the man I had long since considered dead to me, wondering whether I should call him.

But that night, I accidentally saw the messages in a small group chat on his tablet.

"Mr. Hart, how much should we put on the repayment contract for this bankruptcy?"

"Make it $10 million. Otherwise that flower-shop girl will pay it all off in one go again, and where's the fun in that?"

"Mr. Hart really knows how to play. I heard that flower-shop girl tends flowers by day and tends to you by night. No wonder you never get tired of her."

I put down his tablet and called my billionaire father.

"Isn't this what you wanted? To force me to inherit the family business and marry your protege? Fine. I'll marry him.

"Have somebody come pick me up in three days."

After I hung up the call with my father, Lucas Hart came home with a signed IOU in his hand.

"Nora, I'm sorry. This time I owe another $10 million. I'm so useless."

He was a good actor. In the past, that lost look in his eyes would always earn him the same answer from me.

"It's okay. We'll work hard together. We'll pay it off eventually."

But now, I only stared in silence at the half-hidden watch on his wrist.

It looked ordinary, but I had seen it in a magazine before. It was worth $20 million.

Lucas owned a watch worth $20 million, yet supposedly could not repay $10 million.

I had nothing, but for him, I had been considering borrowing from loan sharks.

My sincerity had become the reason he dared to play with me so recklessly.

Seeing me stare at the watch on his wrist, Lucas calmly pulled me into his arms.

"It's fake, Nora. When I have money, I'll buy you whatever you want."

Because he thought I was poor and knew nothing about luxury goods, he did not even need to think hard when he lied to me.

I looked away, only to see another message pop up on the tablet beside him.

"Mr. Hart, what is the girl planning to sell this time to pay the debt? Flowers, her shop, or... herself?"

"A woman Mr. Hart has played with must taste pretty good. If she's selling herself, I'll buy the first night!"

The messages after that were flooded with filthy jokes and people piling on.

In the three years I had been with Lucas, I had repaid the debts from two of his so-called bankruptcies.

The first time, I sold the house my grandmother left me.

Lucas held me and promised he would give me a home.

But we lived for two years in a basement apartment that cost $400 a month, and then he came back with another $2 million debt.

I still did not blame him. I took out the wedding money my mother had saved for me and filled the hole.

He knelt on one knee and told me that accepting my wedding fund meant he was already my husband. He said he would love me forever and treat me well.

Every promise he made had been a lie from beginning to end.

Lucas's attention was drawn to the constant notifications on his phone.

He glanced at me. Seeing that I was not looking at him, he opened his phone and read the group messages.

Soon, his brows tightened, and his mouth pressed into a hard line.

He tapped on the screen a few times. The tablet beside me showed the message he had sent to the group.

"All of you shut the hell up! Just wait and watch the show!"

Lucas put down his phone. After a long silence, he clung to me again.

"Nora, I promise this is the last time. Once this debt is paid, I'll marry you, okay?"

Looking at the sincerity on his face, I suddenly found it almost funny.

How precious did he think I was, that a rich heir would go to such lengths to deceive me?

He even did not hesitate to say he would marry me.

At first, I had wanted to lay everything out and ask him whether playing me like this was fun.

But now, I did not even have the strength to question him.

I calmly pushed him away.

"But Lucas, I don't have any money left."

Lucas froze. Maybe he had not expected that answer from me.

After all, in his mind, I should have been doing everything possible to pay off his debt.