Chapter 2

2

Before I could get far, Lorena's frantic scream echoed from behind. "Bryce! Don't scare me!"

"Someone call 911! Get a doctor right now!"

I glanced back and saw Bryce lying motionless on the marble floor.

Bryce was her stepbrother, and his kidneys had been failing for years.

Lorena had kept him on conservative treatment while searching desperately for a matching donor.

Six years ago, she found out that I was the perfect match.

She approached me, seduced me, and agreed to an engagement, all for Bryce's sake.

A jolt of dread shot through me. I picked up my pace to run.

Lorena looked up and locked her gaze on me.

"David! You're coming to the hospital with us right now for the transplant!"

I clutched Grandpa's urn tightly to my chest and sprinted toward the exit.

A month ago, my health check revealed a severe blood-clotting disorder. Undergoing major surgery would likely cause fatal hemorrhaging.

I had promised Grandpa on his deathbed that I would survive and live a good life. I refused to die, especially not for a man I despised!

Before I reached the doors, Lorena's bodyguards cut me off.

"Let go of me! Lorena, I won't give him my kidney! I can't undergo surgery, it will kill me!"

Lorena walked up to me with a sneer and slapped me across the face. "Then go ahead and drop dead right here for me!"

"Your entire existence was meant to keep Bryce alive. You are having that surgery whether you like it or not!"

My eyes burned red as I struggled against the guards.

Panicking that I might slip away, a guard twisted my arms behind my back. The urn slipped from my hands, crashing onto the pavement and scattering ashes everywhere.

My mind went completely blank. "Grandpa!"

"Lorena! Wasn't killing him enough? You even destroyed his ashes! How can you be this cruel!"

I screamed hysterically, my vision blurred by tears.

Seeing my breakdown, Lorena instinctively reached out to comfort me.

Before her hand touched me, the ambulance sirens wailed outside.

She immediately pulled back, turned to Bryce, and ordered the guards, "Drag him into the van!"

At the hospital, I begged desperately.

"I really can't have surgery! The doctors told me my blood won't clot! I will bleed to death on that table!"

Lorena grabbed my throat, her eyes filled with disgust. "You actually invented such a pathetic lie just to withhold your kidney from Bryce?"

"I don't care what you say. You're giving Bryce that kidney today, or I will make sure you and your grandfather are erased from this city!"

I could no longer process her threats. All I saw was Grandpa's face before he closed his eyes forever.

I had promised him I would find someone kind and live a peaceful life. I couldn't die here!

I dropped to my knees, weeping on the cold floor. "Please, I'm begging you, let me go… I can't die… not like this…"

Lorena looked down at me with chilling indifference. "Take him to the operating room."

On the operating table, I grabbed the anesthesiologist's sleeve. "Please, I can't do this surgery…"

The medical staff were on Lorena's payroll and cared nothing for my survival. They silently pushed the sedative into my IV line.

My consciousness faded into deep darkness.

Not long after the incision, severe hemorrhaging began. The blood wouldn't stop.

The lead surgeon rushed out of the room in a panic.

"Ms. Vance, the patient's bleeding won't stop! If we harvest the kidney now, he could go into fatal shock!"

Lorena's face tightened into ice. "Take the kidney, but keep him breathing! If he dies, all of your careers are over!"

The surgeon wiped the sweat from his forehead and rushed back inside.

Outside the operating room, Lorena clenched her fists, pacing back and forth in an attempt to suppress the rising panic in her chest.

Under her immense pressure, the hospital called in their top specialists. Against the odds, my life was saved.

When I finally opened my eyes, my head was heavy and dazed.

A sharp, searing ache in my lower back confirmed the harsh reality: one of my kidneys was gone.

Lying on the sterile bed, silent tears spilled from the corners of my eyes.