Chapter 7: The Price of Security

I thought Emily would be relieved.

But instead, her eyes filled with fresh tears. “Jason, you could give all your assets to Rachel, but to me, you only give 20%? Am I really that worthless to you? You know I don’t care about money… what I care about is, between me and Rachel, who matters more.”

I winced. “Emily, it’s not like that. Even with just 20%, once the company goes public, you’ll have way more than Rachel.”

She shook her head. “I don’t care how much—it’s about how important I am to you.”

I didn’t know what to say.

“Jason, since you’re so troubled, let’s just abort the baby… Don’t worry, after that, I’ll give you a 100% healthy child. Even if you don’t love me as much as you loved Rachel, I’ll still love you. I love you for you, not your money.”

Her sincerity made my face burn. She was carrying my child, and here I was, haggling over shares.

I took a deep breath and held up four fingers. “Emily, 40%. I’ll give you 40%, okay?”

She gave a sad little smile. “Jason, you’ve explained about shares so many times, but I still don’t really get it. Honestly, I envy Rachel. You gave her all the cash and assets—that showed she was important to you. I only get some shares that feel… imaginary.”

I fished out the debit card. “All I have left is this card. I’ll give it to you now—does that help?”

Emily shook her head. “Jason, do you know how much Rachel’s words hurt me? She said the house you gave her is hers alone, that I had no right to it, and she even called the cops on me. I don’t care about the house, but being humiliated like that… it stung.”

I blamed myself. To get Rachel to sign, I’d overlooked that detail. Emily was just a girl in her early twenties. No wonder she couldn’t let it go.

But I was stuck. The company wasn’t listed yet, my shares couldn’t be cashed out, and I didn’t have another house.

Then it hit me. “Emily, how about this—I’ll give you my parents’ house, okay? Would that make you feel better?”

She stared. “How can that be? That’s your parents’ house—how could I take it…”

I waved her off. “It’s fine. What’s theirs is mine. No problem.”

To take the thorn out of her heart, I didn’t give her a chance to refuse. I grabbed her hand and went back to my parents’ house.

Inside, I pulled my parents aside and explained. Their faces fell, and Dad paced the kitchen, muttering about how hard he’d worked for that house. But when I said Emily wanted to abort the baby, after some back-and-forth, they finally relented.

“Sigh, just give it to her,” Dad said. “She’ll give us a grandson anyway. Once a woman has a child, her heart’s tied down. Even if the house is in her name, it’ll stay in the Carter family.”

Mom grumbled to herself, trying to sound tough, but finally nodded.

In the end, Emily had to accept the house, plus the 40% shares and the debit card.

Mom was right—once a woman gives birth, her heart is tied down. So no matter what I gave her now, it would still be mine in the end.

Sure enough, after accepting the gifts, Emily cheered up again. Seeing her happy every day, I was happy, too. Everything was perfect—just waiting for the baby. I started picking out baby names and SUVs, picturing our new life together.