Chapter 2

Outside the ER, the sharp, blinding stench of antiseptic mingled with the nauseating, metallic copper of blood.

I was drenched to the bone, slumped on the cold hospital floor like some drowned ghost just dragged from the sewers.

If the Coast Guard hadn't happened to pass by, my mother and I would have already been swallowed by the sea.

The doors to the resuscitation room crashed open. A doctor hurried out, his face grim.

"The patient is experiencing acute heart failure, exacerbated by severe water inhalation. She's going into rapid multi-organ failure. We need to put her on an ECMO machine immediately, but the procedure is incredibly expensive. We require a $200,000 deposit to start the machine."

"I'll pay! Use whatever it takes—just save her!" I scrambled off the floor in a blind panic. Rushing to the billing kiosk, my trembling hands pulled out the glossy supplementary card Declan had given me. I punched in the PIN.

[Your card has been frozen.]

The glaring words on the screen smashed my last sliver of hope like a sledgehammer.

I dialed Declan's number like a madwoman. After an agonizing dozen rings, it wasn't him who answered, but Blair's deliberately sweet, breathy voice.

"Sera, Declan's in the shower. What kind of game are you playing this time?"

"Put him on! My mom is dying! Why the hell is my card frozen?!" I screamed hysterically.

"You need money, is that it?" The sadistic amusement in Blair's tone was unmistakable.

"Then come to the hillside villa and find me yourself. If you put on a good enough show—if you entertain me—I might just take pity and put in a good word with Declan for you."

The line went dead.

With my mother's life hanging by a thread, I didn't even have the luxury to despair. I sprinted out of the hospital and flagged down a cab in the driving rain.

By the time I burst into the villa's living room, absolutely drenched and pathetic, Blair was leaning intimately against Declan's shoulder, casually sipping a glass of red wine.

"I'm here..." I stumbled forward, my voice entirely raw. "Please unfreeze the card... my mom needs it to survive..."

Hearing my pathetic whimpers, Declan furrowed his brow in blatant disgust. "What kind of psychotic episode are you having now? That card was unfrozen half an hour ago."

I froze hard. It felt like all the blood in my body had suddenly rushed backward.

Declan turned to look at Blair beside him. "Didn't I tell you to let her know?"

"Oh my god..." Blair gasped, her hands flying to cover her mouth as tears instantaneously pooled in her eyes. "I'm so sorry, Declan. I was just so terrified earlier... I panicked and completely forgot."

Saying that, she stood up with a guilt-ridden expression and walked toward me. "Sera, I'm so sorry, please don't be mad at me..."

But the exact second she stepped directly in front of me, perfectly blocking Declan's line of sight, the pitiful expression on her face vanished without a trace. It was instantly replaced by sheer, unvarnished malice.

She leaned down and whispered directly into my ear. "Surprise. I did it on purpose. I just wanted to see you groveling and begging like a wet dog. That half-dead mother of yours... she should take her last breath right about now, don't you think?"

The roar in my brain was deafening.

Before I could even register her words, the phone in my pocket began to vibrate violently.

My hands were shaking so hard I could barely grip the device. I frantically smashed the answer button, begging hoarsely, "Doctor, the money is coming right away..."

"I am so sorry," the doctor cut me off. "Because we missed the critical window for intervention, the heart failure became irreversible. The patient's heart... has just stopped beating."

My phone slipped from my numb fingers, hitting the floor.

I slowly raised my head, locking my gaze onto the smug, triumphant smirk curling the corner of Blair's lips. The very last thread of sanity in my brain violently snapped.

"You did it on purpose... You killed her!" I lunged at her like a rabid animal, my hands tearing deeply into her hair.

My sharp nails instantly raked across her cheek and neck, leaving deep, bloody streaks. "I'm going to make you pay with your life!!"

"Ah—Declan! It hurts!" Blair shrieked, her glass shattering as red wine splattered everywhere.

"Are you out of your fucking mind?!" Declan's enraged roar rattled the room. He lunged forward and slapped me so unmercifully hard that I was sent flying to the ground.

He swept Blair into his arms defensively. The moment he saw the bloody scratches on her neck, terrifying repulsion and pure murderous intent crystallized in his eyes.

He grabbed a heavy porcelain vase and smashed it brutally on the marble floor right in front of me.

"Serafina, you rabid bitch! How dare you lay a hand on Blair!" Declan pointed at the jagged shards covering the floor. "Kneel on them. Crawl over to Blair and beg for her forgiveness right now. Otherwise, I swear to God I'll make sure the hospital won't even leave you your mother's corpse!"

I stared at him dead in the eyes, entirely hollowed out. "My mother is dead, Declan."

Just then, Orion came charging into the room.

The biological son I had carried for nine months, wielding a heavy plastic toy shield, glared at me with pure fury.

"You bad woman! Don't you dare bully Auntie Blair!"

He swung his shield, slamming its hard edge viciously into my lower abdomen—striking dead center on the C-section scar I had earned bringing him into this world.

An agonizing pain tore through my organs like shattered glass, yet it was nothing compared to the absolute agony shredding my heart.

Orion used to be endlessly attached to me.

Years ago, to protect him from an out-of-control car, I had wrapped my body around his, rolling across the rough asphalt. The impact had severely torn my old C-section wound, nearly bleeding me to death.

For years, the slightest stretch of that scar would cause unbearable pain.

The younger Orion had cried his little eyes out back then. He had stroked my pale face with his tiny fingers, vowing solemnly that when he grew up, he would be a brave man who protected his mommy forever.

But now, my own flesh and blood had personally driven a blade into my deepest, most excruciating wound, all for the sake of another woman.

Despair and blinding grief strangled my throat like poisonous vines. I raised my heavy head, locking my bloodshot eyes onto Declan, and shrieked:

"Declan... you've already killed my mother! Are you trying to force me into the grave with her?!"