Chapter 3

The OR light finally shut off.

Professor Vance pushed the doors open, pulled down his mask, his gray brows tightly furrowed.

"Natalie, we did everything we could."

"If we had operated two hours earlier, she might have had a fighting chance."

"Now... we've only managed to stabilize her temporarily. Her vital organs suffered severe damage. I'm afraid she doesn't have much time left."

My vision spun, and I had to lean against the wall just to stay on my feet.

"How long?"

"Three days. At most."

I clenched my jaw, tears brimming in my eyes, refusing to let them spill over.

Three days.

Ethan had traded his arrogance and selfishness for the final countdown of his mother's life.

Mrs. Miller was wheeled back out and placed in a private VIP ICU suite.

I had used my family's influence to arrange it.

At noon the next day, Mrs. Miller opened her eyes.

Looking through clouded vision, her very first words were:

"Where's Ethan? Did... did Ethan do the surgery?"

A sharp pang hit my nose, my throat choking up as if stuffed with cotton.

I didn't dare tell her the truth.

I was terrified that the truth would snatch away her last breath right then and there.

"Mom, Ethan... he was tied up with an emergency patient. Professor Vance performed your surgery. He's the best authority in the country."

I lied, trying to give her one last shred of comfort.

But paper can never hold fire.

The nurse changing her IV didn't realize what was happening and muttered under her breath while adjusting the drip:

"Dr. Miller really has no heart. His own mother is in critical condition, yet he's posting photos vacationing at a beach resort."

"And that little nurse, too—wearing practically nothing. Doesn't she get cold?"

Mrs. Miller's gaze instantly hardened.

"What did you just say?"

Her hand shook violently, reaching out to grab the nurse's scrub sleeve.

The nurse jumped, finally realizing she had slipped up, and clamped her hand over her mouth before scrambling out of the room.

Mrs. Miller turned her head, fixing her eyes on me.

"Natalie. Phone... let me see it."

I shook my head frantically. "Mom, don't look. It's just a misunderstanding—"

"Give it to me!"

She poured every ounce of strength into that shout, immediately collapsing into a fit of violent, rattling coughs.

Unable to bear defying her, my trembling fingers pulled up the screenshot of that post.

In the picture, her own son had his arm around that home-wrecker, smiling so brightly.

And the words "crazy woman" in the caption stabbed like daggers straight into the heart.

"Cough—"

Staring at the screen, Mrs. Miller coughed up a dark clot of blood.

It splattered across the snow-white sheets.

"Monster... ungrateful monster!"

Tears streamed down her withered face.

"I pinched every penny to put him through school, sent him to medical school, and I raised an ungrateful wolf!"

"Natalie, Mom failed you... Mom was blind..."

She gripped my hand tight.

"A lawyer... call my lawyer..."

The last trace of warmth in Mrs. Miller's eyes died, replaced by a cold, resolute fury.

It was the chilling clarity of a mother who had completely severed all love for her son.

The lawyer arrived quickly.

Using every ounce of her fading strength, Mrs. Miller demanded a full video-recorded notarization.

Propped against the headboard, her face ashen and gray, her voice rang out with shocking clarity.

"I, Martha Miller, of sound mind and disposing memory, declare this my last will and testament."

"My two downtown properties, all my savings, and the Miller family heirloom jade bracelet..."

She paused, taking a ragged, wheezing breath.

"Shall all be bequeathed entirely to my daughter-in-law, Natalie Brooks, and my grandson, Noah Miller."

"As for my son, Ethan Miller..."

Martha closed her eyes as two streams of clear tears traced her cheeks.

From beneath her pillow, she pulled out a single one-dollar bill that she had tucked away earlier.

Her trembling hand held it up before the camera lens.

"I leave him this one dollar."

"Consider it the final buyout of our bond."

"From this moment on, he is no son of mine. I never birthed that monster!"