Chapter 4
I was shattered. All I wanted was to run, to get away from those disgusting people, but Damian grabbed my wrist and shoved me into a car.
He locked me up.
The days dragged by in fear and despair.
A week later, I started feeling like something was wrong. Nausea. Dizziness. A strange sensitivity to smells.
When Damian showed up again, I threw the pregnancy test result in his face.
"I'm pregnant."
He froze for a second, his expression darkening.
Over the next few weeks, his attitude did a complete one-eighty. Every day, he brought fresh food, vitamins, and even hired a private doctor to examine me.
His fake tenderness suffocated me more than the torture ever had. Every time he pretended to care, every time he touched my stomach, it made me sick.
Until the day Vivian showed up.
She looked worn out, pale, her eyes red and swollen. "I heard you're pregnant."
"So what?"
"I'm sick." Her voice suddenly turned weak. "Kidney failure. I need a transplant. The doctor said... your kidney is a perfect match."
I let out a cold laugh. "So you came here to beg me for a kidney?"
"Not beg." Her expression instantly turned vicious. "Order."
The next day, Ethan came.
"Elena, Vivian needs your kidney."
"No."
His hand clamped around my throat and slammed me against the wall. "What did you say?"
"I said no!" I screamed with everything I had. "She ruined my life, and you still want me to save her?"
"She's dying!" Ethan's eyes were bloodshot. "Are you really that heartless?"
"Heartless?" I laughed, even as tears kept pouring down my face. "Who was the one who tried to force toilet water down my throat in the bathroom? Who framed me and destroyed my reputation? Ethan, do you even remember what you used to say? You said you'd always protect me."
"Don't bring up the past!" His grip tightened. "Vivian needs you now. You're going to help her!"
"Even if it costs me my life, I won't give her anything!"
He let go, and I crumpled to the floor.
"You're going to regret this."
Over the next few days, Ethan and Damian took turns trying to force me.
Threats, begging, even getting on their knees—but I clenched my teeth and never gave in.
Until that afternoon.
Vivian came. She stood weakly by the staircase.
"Elena, can you come upstairs with me and grab a sweater? I'm cold."
I hesitated. She really did look weak.
We walked up the stairs. Just before we reached the top, she suddenly stopped.
"You know something?" she said softly, the corner of her mouth curling into a strange smile. "I'm not sick at all."
"What?"
"That day in the bathroom, why didn't you drink that bottle of cleaner?" Her eyes turned wild. "If you had, it would've all been over. You wouldn't have to suffer like this."
The moment she finished speaking, she shoved me hard.
My whole body pitched backward.
A sharp pain ripped through my stomach, and warm liquid started running down my legs.
I lay on the floor, my vision blurring.
"Help... help me..."
Footsteps sounded. Damian, Ethan, and a few of Vivian's friends gathered around me.
"Here we go again." Damian sneered. "Elena, there should be a limit to your little performances."
"Seriously. First you pretended to be sick to trick Ethan, and now this?" Madison crossed her arms. "You really think we'd fall for it again?"
"No... I'm really... bleeding..." My hand shook as I reached out.
Ethan glanced at me, his face full of disgust. "What is that, ketchup? Or red ink? Elena, you're really using cheap tricks like this just to frame Vivian?"
"She's obviously trying to accuse Vivian of pushing her." Sophie laughed mockingly. "Her acting sucks."
"Ethan... please... believe me..."
"Enough!" Ethan suddenly kicked me. "You vicious little bitch! Vivian is such a kind person, and you keep trying to hurt her!"
Damian crouched down and grabbed my face. "You think if you act like this, I'm going to go soft? Let me tell you something—no chance. I've seen people with acting skills a hundred times better than yours."
"A whore is always a whore. You'll never be anything else," Emma spat.
Vivian stood on the stairs, triumph flashing in her eyes. "Ellie, this really puts me in such a difficult position... I know you don't want to donate your kidney, but you don't have to force me like this."
"You... all of you... you're all going to regret this..." My voice was getting weaker and weaker.
"You're still making threats?" Ethan sneered. "Throw her back in the room. Don't let her come out and make everyone sick."
Damian hauled me up and threw me back into the room like I was garbage.
"Stay put. Vivian's surgery is tomorrow. When the time comes, I'll personally bring people to take your kidney."
The door slammed shut.
I curled up on the floor, and the blood just kept coming.
The pain swallowed me whole. I could hear my own breathing, faint and growing fainter.
Then everything went black.
The next morning.
Vivian was lying in bed, pale-faced, pretending to be weak.
"D... I feel awful... when can we do the surgery?"
"Soon." Damian patted her hand. "I'm going to get Elena right now."
Ethan followed him toward the room where I was being held.
"If she tries to pull anything again this time, I swear I won't let her get away with it."
Damian shoved open the door.
The room was empty.
"Where is she?" he asked, frowning.
"Boss." One of the men hurried over. "Are you looking for Miss Gray?"
"Who else? Where is she?"
The man froze for a moment, his expression turning strange. "Didn't... didn't she die yesterday?"
Damian and Ethan both went rigid.
"What did you just say?"
"Yesterday, you told us to throw her back in the room, so we... we did." The man spoke cautiously. "But when we checked on her this morning, she wasn't breathing anymore. With the weather this hot, the body had already... already started to smell. According to family rules, we went ahead and took care of it."
"Bullshit!" Ethan slammed his fist into the wall. "She's pretending again! She must've bribed you to help her fake it!"
"N-no, sir. The body really... it had already started decomposing."
Damian's face went ashen. "Bring me the body. I'd like to see how she plans to keep pretending."
Ten minutes later, the men dragged in a black body bag.
A stench so foul it was almost indescribable instantly filled the room.
Vivian covered her nose, her face going pale.
Ethan kicked the body bag. "Elena! Drop the act! Get out here!"
"She really is dead, sir." The man was shaking now. "Yesterday there was heavy bleeding, and with the abdominal trauma... we thought you knew..."
"Shut up!" Damian roared. "She's faking it. Open the bag!"
The man's hands trembled as he pulled down the zipper.
Ethan took a step back, his face turning deathly white.
