Chapter 1

Florenne's POV

I spent five years letting men degrade me at a club, all to save $300,000 for my blind brother Joren's eye surgery.

The day I finally raised the money, I excitedly told him he would be able to see again—only to discover he was never blind to begin with.

My husband’s "bankrupt" company had been thriving all along. My parents, who supposedly died in a plane crash, had been living luxuriously abroad.

My husband even took my "stillborn" daughter and gave her to my adopted sister.

My entire family conned me for five years to "teach me a lesson"—all because my adopted sister claimed I bullied her.

Now, they are forcing me to donate my liver to the woman who stole my life, threatening that I'll never see my biological daughter again if I refuse.

But what they don't know is that I have terminal liver cancer, and I only have two days left to live...

——

I was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer, and the cells had spread everywhere. The doctor said if I didn't start treatment immediately, I only had forty-eight hours left.

But I wasn't going to get treated. I had spent five agonizing years saving up that $300,000 for Joren's surgery.

I took a deep breath, pulled up my mask to hide my burn scars, and pushed open the hospital room door.

"Joren, I finally saved up enough for the surgery—"

He turned around at the sound of my voice. His eyes were clear and bright, looking me up and down with undisguised disgust.

"Your eyes... you can see?" I was so shocked I could barely speak.

"$300,000." Joren scoffed, snatching the bank card from my hand. "Getting groped by all those men at the club every day just for this little bit of money—must have been hard work, huh?"

"But the card is empty." He let go, and the card dropped to the floor. "Celeste saw a bag she liked a few days ago, so I took the money out to buy it for her. She deserves it."

"Joren, what are you talking about..."

"You're the blind one, Florenne!"

The door was pushed open again. My husband, Ezra—the man who claimed his company was bankrupt and that he was working himself to death to pay off debts—walked in with a relaxed, confident stride.

He shot me a look of pure loathing and walked straight to Joren's side.

"Let me tell you the truth, Florenne. The Hawthorne family never went bankrupt. The company is doing better than ever. You thought I was working late every night to pay off debts? Dream on. I was just sick to my stomach being around an ugly freak like you. Every night, I went back to the Hawthorne Manor to be with Celeste."

After the fire five years ago, the company collapsed, Ezra went bankrupt, and we were left homeless. I believed all of that for five whole years.

"Why?" The sharp pain in my liver nearly made me collapse. "Why would you do this to me?"

"We originally planned to let you rot in the mud for another five years," Ezra declared coldly. "But things changed. Celeste's liver is failing. She needs a transplant."

Footsteps sounded from the hallway.

When I saw the two people walking in, my legs gave out, and I fell to my knees.

Alistair and Madora. My father and my mother.

Five years ago, I was told they died in a plane crash rushing back to see me.

"Dad... Mom?" my voice cracked.

Madora took a step back, covering her nose as if she smelled a rat. "Wipe that pathetic look off your face. It's a shame you didn't burn to death in that fire five years ago!"

Alistair coldly adjusted his cuffs. "If it wasn't to teach you a lesson, why would we go through the trouble of faking a fire and a plane crash? You used your status as the Cassidy family heiress to bully Celeste. These five years of suffering were just to grind away your vicious attitude."

Ezra stepped forward, his eyes full of hatred.

"If you hadn't schemed your way into my bed back then, Celeste and I would have been together a long time ago! You ruined us." He gritted his teeth. "Listen to me—as long as this liver transplant is successful, I'll let you see our daughter, Dottie."

"Daughter... Dottie?" The name struck my brain like lightning.

"That's right." Ezra smirked cruelly. "The dead fetus you delivered five years ago wasn't dead at all. I gave her to Celeste. Now, she calls Celeste 'Mom.'"

Memories from the day of the fire hit me like a tsunami.

When I woke up, the doctor told me my baby was stillborn. I blamed myself. I thought my parents had died in a plane crash rushing over from Europe to see me. I thought Joren had cried himself blind over the tragedy.

But Joren started the fire. The blindness was fake, the bankruptcy was fake, the deaths were fake.

Even my child was given to the woman who took everything from me.

I suddenly burst out laughing. Tears mixed with blood flowed from my eyes.

I ripped off my heavy mask and tore open my collar, exposing the hideous burn scars from five years ago and my painfully emaciated body to all of them.

"You want me to donate my liver? You want me to save that fake bitch?" My eyes were bloodshot, like a demon crawling out of hell. "I'd rather die! Keep dreaming!"

"Put away that sickening face!" Joren lunged forward, grabbed me by the hair, and shoved me hard to the floor.

My head slammed into the medical cabinet, and my vision went black.

"You still dare to insult Celeste?" Madora patted Ezra's shoulder in distress, glaring at me. "How did I give birth to something as evil as you? Celeste is so kind. You're not even worth one of her fingers."

Joren stepped hard on my shoulder, grinding his shoe into an old burn scar, his voice freezing cold: "Five years of suffering, Florenne, and you're still just as vicious!"