Chapter 3

The world went mute.

The hallway, overflowing with joy seconds ago, dropped into dead silence.

Richard shoved the nurse aside and stormed into the room.

My beloved mother collapsed to the floor, her eyes hollow.

"No... this can't be happening... the surgery worked..."

Inside, Dr. White and his team were frantically performing chest compressions.

"Epinephrine! Now!"

"Charge the paddles to two hundred!"

"No rhythm! The tissue is failing at an impossible rate! This defies all medical science!"

Dr. White screamed in sheer panic.

How could a heart that looked like a masterpiece hours ago shrivel up like a dried sponge, decaying before their very eyes?

Richard's eyes burned bloodshot. He grabbed Dr. White by the collar.

"You told me it was perfect! Why is this happening?!"

"I don't know!"

Dr. White shook his head, tears of frustration spilling over.

"It must be an acute, hyper-rejection crisis! Yes! A massive rejection response! It's not my fault!"

"Rejection?!"

Richard went completely feral. He threw Dr. White to the floor.

"Then swap it out again! Take mine!"

Dr. White shook his head in absolute despair.

"It's too late, Mr. Hayes! The donor organ is rotting inside him. The necrotic toxins have flooded his bloodstream, destroying his entire system..."

"Useless trash!"

Richard slammed his fist into the wall, blood smearing across his cracked knuckles.

To plummet from the peak of triumph straight into the abyss—shattered into dust.

Must feel wonderful, right?

I floated in the air above, watching their horror show with cold detachment.

A thrilling rush of vengeance filled my soul.

Dad. Mom. Little brother.

Your family is finally reunited in the most poetic way possible.

Half an hour later, the resuscitation ended.

Exhausted, Dr. White pulled off his mask and shook his head.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Hayes. We did everything we could."

Julian Hayes, the sole male heir of the Hayes dynasty, was dead.

Killed by the heart I gave him "out of pure love."

Victoria let out a bloodcurdling scream and fainted.

Richard aged ten years in a matter of seconds.

His gaze cut through the crowd and landed on the metal gurney covered in a white sheet. My lifeless body rested there in silence.

For the first time, something other than greed flickered in his eyes.

Was it confusion? Guilt? Or terror?

Whatever it was, I saw no true remorse.

He shuffled over and pulled the sheet back.

My thin, pale face stared blankly up at the ceiling.

"Heart failure... less than three months to live..."

He whispered the words from my letter over and over, trying to brainwash himself, trying to wipe his conscience clean.

"Right... she was dying anyway. She chose this... none of this is my fault..."

He desperately sought a way out.

But reality wasn't about to give him peace.

You reap what you sow.

Dr. White suddenly charged back toward Richard, clutching a lab printout, his eyes wide with frantic realization.

"No! Wait!"

Dr. White ran up to Richard, shoving the paper into his face.

"Look at this! This is her pre-op blood panel! That cellular vitality... before the transplant, her heart was stronger than an Olympic athlete's! It was never diseased!"

Richard froze. He grabbed the doctor's shoulders.

"What did you just say?"

"I'm saying," Dr. White stammered, "her heart was completely healthy! Pristine! The letter was a lie!"

He paused, a terrifying thought dawning on him.

"Unless... she did this on purpose!"

"She must have taken an experimental stimulant to simulate peak cardiac function, deceiving all of us!"

Dr. White spoke faster and faster, desperate to clear his own name.

"Once the drug wore off, the organ suffered catastrophic collapse! Dear God... this wasn't an accident! This was a calculated murder-suicide!"

The word murder detonated in Richard's head like a bomb.

His vision blurred. He stumbled back.

It wasn't fate. It wasn't bad luck.

It was her. The daughter he had treated like livestock had gambled her own life to assassinate his only son.

She hated them so deeply that she turned her own beating heart into a lethal weapon.

A choked rattle escaped Richard's throat. The veins in his eyes burst with blood.

He finally understood.

He wasn't the hunter.

He and his family were nothing more than prey trapped in a cage, waiting for execution.

"Aaargh!"

He let out an agonizing roar, lunged at my gurney, and shook my cold body violently.

"Why?! Why would you do this?! I was your father!"

I really wanted to laugh.

Father?

Where were you during the eighteen years I spent suffering in neglect?

Where were you when you turned me into a walking organ bank?

And now you dare ask me why?

How pathetic.

Right then, Chloe screamed from the corner.

"D-Dad... your phone... it's buzzing..."

Numbly, Richard pulled his phone from his pocket.

On the screen was a new email notification.

Sender: Your Abandoned Daughter.

Subject line: Dad, my final thank-you gift for you.

Trembling violently, Richard tapped the screen.

It was a single video file.

He pressed play.

My face filled the screen.

I had recorded it the night before the surgery.

In the video, I wore a faded hospital gown. My face was pale, but my eyes were terrifyingly calm.

"Dad. Mom. When you watch this, I imagine Julian has already received my little 'gift.'"

I smiled, showing my clean white teeth.

To them, that smile looked like a demon crawling out of hell.

"You must be wondering why I hate you so much."

"After all, you gave me life, didn't you?"

My voice was soft, but every single syllable stabbed like a poisoned needle.

"Don't worry. I'll give you your answer... right now."