Chapter 2

Barbara. Nicholas's childhood friend.

During the years Nicholas and I were together, she had humiliated me countless times.

She'd told me to stay away from Nicholas, even calling me a low-class nobody to my face, saying my meager salary wasn't even enough for one of Nicholas's meals.

I ignored her, but she kept showing up at the hospital every few days, making appointments at my clinic.

She spread rumors, accusing me of being an incompetent doctor, and even arranged for someone to try and cripple my surgeon's hands.

When Nicholas found out, he immediately had his company heavily suppress Barbara's family business, vowing that if she ever bothered me again, he wouldn't hesitate to bankrupt her family.

Barbara's father had no choice but to keep her locked up.

And now, Barbara first asked about Nicholas's whereabouts that day with concern.

When Lily was mentioned, Nicholas's striking eyes turned cold.

"My bodyguard already told me Lily is perfectly healthy. This is all just a trick Chloe pulled, in league with the orphanage, to deceive me."

Barbara's face showed a hint of guilt. She tentatively asked, "What if she really died?"

My heart felt clutched by a giant hand as I also stared at Nicholas.

The old Nicholas, the one I knew, would lose sleep over Lily even just sneezing.

He used to say that Lily and I were the most important people in his life.

But now, Nicholas's face was cold, and his tone was impatient.

"Then I'll hire a band and celebrate for three days and three nights."

The next morning, Barbara suddenly had stomach pains, and Nicholas rushed her to the hospital.

At the hospital, Barbara was wheeled into the delivery room. After several hours, she gave birth to a girl who was the spitting image of Nicholas.

Nicholas's gaze softened as he held the baby in his arms, refusing to let go for a moment. He looked exactly like he did when I first gave birth to Lily.

But now, he had given his fatherly love to another child.

His phone rang on the bedside table.

As soon as Nicholas answered, his secretary's hurried voice came through the line.

"Mr. Nicholas, I apologize, but there's an urgent company matter that requires your attention."

After talking for a while, Nicholas placed the baby next to Barbara, his voice gentle.

"Be a good girl, or Daddy won't spare you just because you're small."

These words struck me like a lightning bolt, making my ethereal form tremble slightly.

Barbara's child was Nicholas's?

How could this be? Why Barbara? She was the one who caused your mother's death!

"Nicholas!" I screamed, rushing to his ear.

But how could he hear a dead person's voice? I gradually calmed down.

As Nicholas was about to leave, a doctor walked in, holding a stack of files, a worried frown on his face.

"Mr. Nicholas, our examination shows that the baby has a heart condition."

"If she doesn't get a heart transplant before she's three, she likely won't survive to adulthood."

"But finding a suitable heart is extremely difficult, and it needs to be from a child under ten, otherwise there's a high risk of rejection."

The doctor's words cast a dark cloud over everyone in the room.

Nicholas's face first showed shock at the news of his child's illness, then it relaxed.

"Leave this to me. I have a way."

After the doctor left, he gestured for a bodyguard to come in.

"Bring Lily here."

I instantly understood his plan. He wanted to use Lily's heart for this new child.

The bodyguard received the order and immediately left.

Nicholas looked out the window, his eyes fierce. He muttered to himself, "Chloe, you and your daughter owe me this. A life for a life. Fair enough, isn't it?"

I gave a bitter laugh. I couldn't even explain when I was alive that I wasn't responsible for his mother's death. How could I expect him to believe me now that I was dead?

After all, all the evidence surrounding his mother's death had pointed to me.

Nicholas had believed it.

On the day of his mother's funeral, Nicholas had pinned me in front of her urn, forcing my head down, hitting the ground again and again.

That day, he held his mother's urn in his arms, his eyes bloodshot, staring at me with pure hatred.

"Chloe, we're enemies to the death."