Chapter 4

As the heavy doors of the operating room slammed shut, I heard my mother's final words to the doctor.

"Yes, I'm her mother. Even if she's damaged, I'll take care of her."

Then, darkness swallowed everything.

I woke up in agony. The icy emptiness in my lower abdomen told me instantly what had happened—my uterus was gone.

"You're awake?"

A cheerful voice came from the next bed.

I turned my head with effort. Sarah was sitting there, peeling an apple, her cheeks rosy, humming a tune—she didn't look like someone who'd just had major surgery.

"Your surgery... you recovered so fast?"

Sarah burst out laughing, like she'd heard the funniest joke. "Surgery? What surgery? Sis, did you really think there was something wrong with my uterus?"

"My body's always been perfectly healthy. There was never any transplant. My uterus is right where it belongs."

My mind went blank, my whole body shaking. "What are you saying? If you didn't need it, then why did they take mine?"

"Because I didn't want you to have it," Sarah replied, her innocent face twisted with cruel delight. "As long as you can't have children, Julian's family will never let you in. If I can't have him, neither can you."

Just jealousy? Just to destroy me and Julian? For this ridiculous reason, she took away the one thing that made me a woman?

I snapped, like a wounded animal, desperate to leap from the bed and claw her face. "Sarah! I'll kill you—!"

The door burst open.

"Elena! What are you doing!"

My mother's furious voice exploded in the room.

Before I could react, a sharp slap cracked across my face.

Smack!

My vision spun, ears ringing, and I collapsed back onto the bed.

"Are you insane? You actually tried to hit Sarah?" My mother shielded Sarah, her eyes cold and empty.

Austin rushed in. He didn't even look at my bloody state—he only saw Sarah, cowering in their mother's arms, pretending to cry.

He lost it. He kicked me hard in the stomach.

"Stay away from Sarah!"

"Ah—!"

Pain tore through me, white-hot and blinding.

My fresh surgical wound ripped open under his kick, and hot blood soaked through my hospital gown, spreading in wide pools across the sheets.

"It hurts... Austin..." I curled up, drenched in cold sweat, staring at him in despair.

Sarah immediately shrieked, "Blood! There's so much blood! Austin, she was so scary just now..."

"Don't be afraid, sweetheart." My mother patted Sarah's back, then glanced at me with disgust. "Sarah needs to rest. She can't be upset here. Austin, go get a nurse and have Elena moved to a standard ward downstairs. Let her calm down."

No one bothered to treat my wounds. A nurse tossed a roll of gauze onto my bed, expressionless.

Surrounded by coughs and groans, I lay alone in a corner, watching the blood soak through the bandages. The hatred in my heart froze into something sharp and unbreakable.

These people weren't my family.

They were monsters.

Under cover of night, my hands shaking, I pulled out my phone and dialed the number I'd memorized long ago.

The moment the call connected, all my pain poured out in a flood of tears.

"Please... take me away..." I sobbed into the phone, voice ragged and broken. "I don't care if it's hell—just get me out of here..."

The person on the other end was silent for a moment, then said, "Don't be afraid, child. I'll send someone for you."

...

Night deepened.

In the VIP room, my mother and Austin hovered over Sarah, doting on her, lost in their cozy little lie. As the hospital grew quiet, Austin finally glanced at the time, a flicker of guilt crossing his face as he remembered his sister—the one whose wound he'd just kicked open.

"Mom..." Austin's voice was uneasy. "That kick was too much. And leaving her in a regular ward... Now that Julian's dumped her, if we don't look after her—"

His mother tucked Sarah in gently, not even looking back. "What's the problem? She's got nothing left. She has to rely on us. Let her cool off in the regular ward. By morning, she'll listen to whatever we say."

"...Maybe you're right." Austin hesitated, then stood up. "I'll go check on her anyway."

His mother nodded. "Go on. Just say a few nice words."

Only five minutes passed.

Suddenly, frantic footsteps echoed down the hallway, and the door burst open.

Austin stood there, pale as a sheet, clutching a bloodstained note. "Elena left this... She says she's done with us—she's cutting all ties! She's disappeared!"

"What did you say?" Their mother shot to her feet, eyes wide with shock. "Impossible! In her condition, where could she go? Who else would take her in?"