Chapter 1

My mother was obsessed with playing the saintly, self-sacrificing mother. To show the world her boundless virtue, she spent years posting updates online about caring for her sick adopted daughter.

"Bella, darling, even if it costs me every penny I own, Mom will cure you."

To keep that promise, she turned me, her biological daughter, into a walking blood bank, bleeding me dry over and over again.

Just as her followers were weeping over her angelic devotion, Bella relapsed and urgently needed another transfusion.

Accompanied by a swarm of reporters and cameras, Victoria Vance kicked open the emergency room doors with absolute fury.

"Chloe is an ungrateful parasite! She lives under my roof and spends my money, but the moment her sister gets sick, she hides like a coward!"

She barged straight into the nurses' station, screaming and sobbing for the cameras.

"Everyone knows how much I've sacrificed for this family, yet that wretched girl refuses to donate her blood!"

"Draw 800 cc from her right now! It won't kill her!"

The head nurse stepped forward, her face stone-cold, and slapped an official cremation certificate right in front of the camera lens.

"You can't draw anything from her anymore. A month ago, you forced her to give blood. It caused fatal complications from massive blood loss. She’s dead."

"Which shady back alley did you buy this fake cremation certificate from?"

Victoria pointed a finger directly at the head nurse's face, spewing venom.

The reporters' cameras and microphones practically shoved themselves into the nurse's face.

The head nurse didn't back down an inch.

She glared coldly at the glamorous, perfectly groomed socialite before her.

"Mrs. Vance, this is an official certificate issued by the municipal crematorium."

"It bears the official seal of the Department of Civil Affairs."

"If you don't believe it, feel free to call and verify the registry number right now."

Victoria's hand, tipped with bright red manicured nails, froze in midair.

A moment later, she let out a sneer dripping with contempt.

"Chloe really outdid herself this time."

"Faking her own death just to get out of giving blood to her sister."

"How much did she pay you to put on this little show with her?"

The reporters instantly smelled a viral sensation, and the shutter clicks grew deafening.

"Mrs. Vance, does your biological daughter often use such extreme methods to shirk her responsibilities?"

"How does it feel to sacrifice everything for your adopted daughter, only to have your flesh and blood be this cold-hearted?"

Facing the lenses, Victoria's eyes welled with tears on cue.

She dabbed at the corners of her eyes with a silk handkerchief.

"I'm sorry you all have to see this family embarrassment."

"Chloe was raised out in the countryside, so she grew up a bit bitter and resentful."

"She always thinks I favor Bella, but a mother loves all her children equally."

"Bella has a rare blood disease, and Chloe's blood type is the only match."

"I was only asking for a little bit of blood. It’s not like it would kill her."

"How could she curse herself with such a wicked, vicious lie?"

I hovered near the ceiling of the corridor.

My translucent body drifted right through the harsh white glare of the fluorescent lights.

I watched my mother weep and accuse me of unforgivable sins before the cameras.

A month ago, it was right here.

She had ordered people to pin me down onto the blood donation chair.

A thick needle was shoved straight into my vein.

I sobbed and begged her, telling her that the room was spinning, that my chest hurt so badly I couldn't breathe.

Back then, she had held that very same silk handkerchief over her nose.

She had looked down at my deathly pale face with disgust.

"Stop playing dead. The doctor said 800 cc won't kill you."

"Bella is fighting for her life in the ER waiting for you to save her."

Heavy, steady footsteps echoed from the end of the hall.

The crowd parted automatically.

My fiancé, Julian Hayes, and my older brother, Lucas Vance, walked in side by side.

Julian wore a tailored bespoke suit.

Behind his gold-rimmed glasses, his gaze held its usual clinical detachment.

"Has Chloe thrown enough of a tantrum yet?"

His voice was flat and devoid of emotion.

Yet it carried that familiar, arrogant condescension.

Lucas strode forward, snatched the cremation certificate from the head nurse, and ripped it in half without even glancing at it.

"Chloe, I know you're hiding nearby!"

Lucas shouted down the empty hall, his tone icy.

"Did you really think a fake piece of paper would scare us?"

"Because of you, Bella lost too much blood and is in the ICU fighting for her life."

"If you have an ounce of conscience left, get your ass out here right now!"

The head nurse was shaking with rage.

She bent down to pick up the torn scraps of paper.

"You people are utterly deranged!"

"Last month on the twenty-fifth, Chloe was forcibly subjected to a massive blood draw here, which triggered catastrophic complications."

"She collapsed alone in the alley behind the hospital. By the time someone brought her to the ER, she was already in multiple organ failure!"

"Social services had to handle her cremation."

"You so-called family members wouldn't even pick up the damn phone!"

Julian frowned slightly.

He looked down and calmly adjusted his cufflink.

"Spreading slander carries legal consequences, Nurse."

"Chloe has an allowance of a million dollars wired to her account every month."

"There's no way she died alone in a dirty back alley."

He turned to his assistant.

"Pull Chloe's recent bank statements."

"Freeze all of her cards."

"Since she likes playing missing person, let her suffer out on the streets for a while."

"Within three days, she'll crawl back on her knees to beg for forgiveness."

I drifted quietly in the air.

I stared at Julian's self-assured, confident face.

He was always like this.

Convinced that I couldn't survive without him. Convinced that my every cry for help was just a desperate plea for his attention.

What he didn't know was that I had never touched a single cent of that million-dollar allowance.

Because my card had long since been taken by Bella to buy limited-edition designer bags.