Chapter2

The moment the anesthesia wore off, it felt like a high-speed chainsaw had been shoved into my side.

"You're awake? You're lucky to be alive."

The surgeon's indifferent voice echoed in the ward. He didn't even take his rounds logbook, and instead glanced down at me condescendingly.

"There was a 'trouble' during the surgery. Massive bleeding." He uttered a few words casually. "To save your life, we used a special clotting agent. Your other kidney suffered severe toxicity and its function is irreversibly damaged."

I suddenly opened my eyes and stared intently at the nameplate on his chest.

Accident?

This top-tier private hospital in the US, performing a live organ removal procedure would cause massive bleeding? This is clearly a medical malpractice deliberately orchestrated by Victoria and Julian after bribing the doctor! They not only want my kidney, but they also want to completely ruin my life!

"Think what you want. Anyway, you signed the informed consent form yourself." The doctor scoffed and turned to leave.

The intense cramping pain radiated from my lower back to my entire body, but I couldn't care less about my broken body.

If they're capable of doing something like this, what about my mom?!

The IV needle was pulled from the back of my hand, bringing with it a string of bright red blood beads. I covered the blood-soaked gauze and stumbled out of the ward, heading straight for the VIP care center on the top floor.

I pushed open the familiar hospital room door, only to find it completely empty.

Where the mother's hospital bed used to be, now stands a set of expensive Italian leather sofas. Two nurses are spraying air freshener.

"Where's my mom?!" I rushed over, my eyes bloodshot, and grabbed the nurse by the collar.

"Let go! That old woman has been moved to the second basement level!" The nurse shoved me away with disgust. "Miss Victoria's foundation has frozen all funds. You want to stay in VIP without money?"

These words hit me like a hammer blow on the back of the head.

I scrambled down the dark, damp stairs into the basement, where a pungent musty smell mixed with the stench of excrement hit me.

I saw my mother in that windowless storage room at the end of the corridor.

She lay curled up on the rusty iron-framed bed, her body convulsing violently. The vital signs monitor by the bedside had long been removed, the imported targeted drugs were nowhere to be seen, and the IV drip contained only the cheapest saline solution!

"Mom!" I knelt down by the bedside with a thud and grasped her cold, withered hand.

The head nurse, who followed, leaned coldly against the doorframe: "Stop yelling. Miss Victoria instructed us to stop all imported medications. She said it's punishment for 'daring to bring up divorce.' You can start taking the medication again when you learn your lesson."

To punish my arrogance with my mother's life?

Victoria, how cruel you are!

A painful hiss escaped her mother's throat, and white foam dribbled from the corner of her mouth. Without that special medicine, she definitely wouldn't make it through the night!

The fear instantly overwhelmed the excruciating pain in my lower back. I rushed out of the basement like a madman, plunging headlong into the unusually fierce storm raging in New York.

Thunder ripped through the night sky, and torrential rain poured down.

By the time I dragged my battered body to the Long Island villa, my shirt was completely soaked with rainwater and blood from my bursting wounds.

This is the wedding room I designed for Victoria myself. Every brick, every window, holds my unreserved love for her.

Now, the huge floor-to-ceiling windows are letting in blinding warm yellow light, like a sharp knife piercing my eyes.

Through the glass, I witnessed a scene I will never forget.

Victoria was lounging lazily on the sofa. The ice-blue silk nightgown she was wearing was a limited-edition wedding anniversary gift that I had flown to Milan last month and waited in line for four hours to buy.

Now, the shoulder straps of this pajama are half-down.

The man on top of her was Julian, who had been "vomiting blood and on the verge of death" in the ICU just a few days ago!

His face was ruddy and his movements were wild; there was not a trace of weakness from recovering from a serious illness. That healthy kidney that had been ripped out of my body had become his trophy for regaining his virility in my former home, on top of my wife!

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

I pounded on the glass with my blood-soaked hands like a madman, letting out a beastly roar.

The two people on the sofa were interrupted. Victoria turned her head and saw me through the rain, looking like a water ghost outside the window.

She showed no panic, no remorse. Only extreme annoyance at having her mood disrupted shone in her eyes.

She put on a cashmere coat, slipped on her slippers, walked to the foyer, and flung open the door.

"Smack!"

A dark green notebook slammed into my face, its sharp edge leaving a bloody gash on my cheek before falling into the muddy water.

That was an expedited divorce certificate that had already taken effect.

"You don't need to play hard to get anymore. Divorce, I'll grant your wish." Victoria crossed her arms and looked at me with disdain as I clutched my waist and trembled in the mud.

"Give my mother the medicine... back to her..." I gritted my teeth, swallowing the taste of blood in my mouth. "Victoria, I've already given her my kidney, I'll leave with nothing! Please, restore my mother's medication!"

"Beg me?" Victoria sneered, her high heel slamming down on the divorce certificate. "You're just a useless ex-husband now. A stray dog I kicked out, what right do you have to negotiate with me?"

"That's what you owe me!" I shouted, my eyes blazing with fury, pointing at Julian inside the room. "He's not sick at all! You conspired to steal my kidney!"

"Shut up!" Victoria interrupted me sharply, her eyes as cold as if she were looking at a pile of garbage. "Even if Julian isn't sick, he deserves the best. And your kidney is in that person's body, far more valuable than a piece of trash like you!"

Every word was like a poisoned knife, piercing precisely into my already riddled heart.

Footsteps sounded.

Julian swaggered out of the living room wearing a silk robe that was my size. He wrapped his arm around Victoria's waist affectionately from behind and rested his chin on her shoulder.

“Vicky, it’s chilly outside, don’t waste your breath on such unlucky things.” Julian’s voice was as gentle as water.

But the moment Victoria turned her head, Julian's sinister eyes immediately fixed on me.

A smug smile curled at the corner of his lips, and through the rain, he silently mouthed something to me.

"waste."

The wound on his side completely ruptured at that moment, and scalding blood gushed down his thigh and splashed into the puddle.

I stopped banging on the door and stopped begging for mercy.

The rain washed over my vision, and I etched their arrogant faces into my memory, swallowing the deep-seated hatred along with the blood in my stomach.

Since you all think I'm just an ant that you can easily step on and kill.

Then I will use this crippled body to pave a path to eternal damnation for you.