Chapter 2

Leo snorted. “Lie to you until you died? Then who the hell was gonna give Victoria her kidney?”

Mom huffed, impatient. “Just sign it already. It’s just one kidney, you won’t die from it. "

"Prove to us you’re serious about accepting Victoria, that you’ll stop picking on her for good. Then we’ll let you be part of the Hale family again. Otherwise, we’ll act like you died years ago.”

Looking at these so-called family of mine, I barely recognized them.A sharp, gnawing bone pain flared up all over my body, cold and piercing. The toxic chemical stench of the basement flooded my senses in an instant, burning my throat and searing my insides raw.

I stepped back, and my wallet slipped out of my pocket, clattering to the floor. That physical exam report from a week ago slid out.

I’d never even had the chance to open it, but right then, the black words on the diagnosis page stared right back at me.

Late-stage osteosarcoma, with lung metastasis. Expected survival: 10 days.

That left me three days.

Huh. Fucking irony.

I crumpled the report into a ball and stuffed it back into my pocket fast. The second my fingers brushed the paper, I tasted blood rising in my throat.

That streak of blood I’d coughed up this morning? It wasn’t just exhaustion.

No one noticed how unhinged I was. Mom was still nagging me. “What are you spacing out for? Just sign the damn thing already.”

I didn’t move. I just held the report tight in my pocket and stared at them.

I only had three days left to live, and they still wanted my kidney.

Leo lost his patience. He stepped forward and grabbed my wrist hard.

All those burn scars, the ones from four years of chemical waste eating at my skin, were right there, ugly and raw, for everyone to see.

“Look at these hands,” he snickered, loud enough that all the maids in the living room looked up. “They’re all rough and ugly, just like some janitor from the gutter. You really think you can compare yourself to Victoria?”

In that second, my blood ran cold.

Four years ago, the day the Carters first took me in, at the welcome banquet, Victoria did the exact same thing.

She’d yanked my collar open, showed everyone that old scar on my arm from the orphanage, and laughed, “Look at this! She was just a wild kid back then, so crude. How could she ever be our family’s lady?”

That day, the whole family just watched, cold as ice. No one helped me.

I couldn’t hold back a cough. I clapped a hand over my mouth fast, and when I pulled it away, there was a faint streak of red on my fingers.

I hid it behind my back before anyone could see.

Mom frowned, like I was embarrassing her. “Look at you. I say a few words and you pull this crap? Who are you trying to play pity for?”

They all thought I was just ashamed. No one knew it was the bone pain, the cancer eating away at my bones.

Leo wrenched his hand away from me, pulled out a tissue and wiped his hand off, like he’d touched something dirty. “Victoria already talked to the hospital. Those night shift waste jobs? They saved that spot just for you. You needed to learn your lesson, get some hardship in you.”

I snapped my head up, my heart dropping.

So all four years of hell? Victoria did that on purpose.

She’d pinned me there on purpose, drove me straight to this.

Dad stepped over, his face dark. “Have you had enough of this scene? Tonight’s the hospital charity gala, and you’re coming with us. You’re getting up on that stage, telling everyone you’re donating your kidney voluntarily. That Victoria’s such a good person, that you’re grateful for her taking care of you and Leo all these years. You’re gonna protect this family’s reputation, got it?”

“Otherwise,” he paused, his voice cold as ice, “we’ll disown you.”

David walked over, held the agreement out to me, and stared me down. “You have to sign it after the gala tonight. Sign it, and you can see Eli one more time.”

He paused, then dropped the final threat, every word cutting into me. “Don’t sign it, and you’ll never see him again. Not even before you die.”

I leaned against the wall, violent dizziness crashing over me, faint buzzing ringing nonstop in my ears. My limbs turned limp and icy cold, every inch of my body screaming with bone-deep agony. 

They’d stolen four years of my life. They’d taken my son. And now they wanted my kidney.

I only had three days left. I looked at them, and suddenly I laughed.

“Fine.” I wiped the tears off my face, my voice soft. “I’ll do it.”

For Eli. I had to hold on. I couldn’t die without seeing him one last time.