Chapter 3

The expression on Miles' face froze for a moment. Then, he pulled me into a hug, laughing and crying at the same time.

"Cassie! Do you really remember now, Cassie? That's great! Do you know what's kept me going all these years? It was you and the research institute! The surgery is our last step to success. As long as you don't experience an immune rejection, we'd have succeeded.

"Claudia is talented, and this is all for the advancement of humanity. Besides, you have nothing to worry about. If you experience an immune rejection, I'll perform another surgery to have it removed. I told you, I'll take care of you for the rest of your life!"

His gaze on me was sincere as he repeated the words he'd said time and again, as though he was doing me a great favor for taking care of me after hurting me.

I looked at him with a mirthless smile on my lips. "You know my health condition. What if I die on the operating table?"

"Impossible! That's utterly impossible! We've got so many doctors in the institute, and this is just a simple renal transplant. You'll just sleep through the whole thing. Oh, go ahead and take the medicine already. Be good!"

I kept silent and merely turned away with my mouth tightly shut.

My noncompliance enraged Miles, and he was visibly upset. He smashed the glass of water on the ground, his gaze on me menacing.

"You're nothing but an invalid now, Cassidy. Without me, you'd be lying on your back, popping out kids for someone else. I don't care whether or not you've regained your memories, but you're taking the medicine!"

I clutched my wrist, now bleeding from being cut by a shard of glass. Had he not been worried that I wouldn't make it off the operating table due to my poor health, I had no doubt that the glass would have been hurled at me instead.

The sting from the gash was insignificant. But when I saw how hysterical Miles was, regret surged through me like a tide.

I had loved him so deeply that I lost myself. But to him, I was nothing but trash. Why should I be hurt so deeply just because I loved someone?

Seeing how I still refused to take the medicine, Miles walked out to get another glass of water.

Before I could lower my guard, Claudia came strutting in, having heard the commotion. She took one look at the scars on my body and sneered, then reached out to pat my cheek lightly.

"You should know your place. You're nothing but a worthless piece of trash."

Rage threatened to explode within me, but I couldn't even find the strength to get up and fight back.

"You're such a bitch, Claudia!"

"And you're such a joke!"

Claudia scoffed as she leaned toward me to look me in the eyes. There was no mistaking the smugness on her face.

"I'm a prodigy in the medical field now. Oh, and it just so happens that I'm Miles' fiancee too! And you? What about you? You can't be thinking that you're still the precious daughter of the Swanson family, can you? Or perhaps you think that you're still one of the institute's lead researchers?

"Pah! You're the bitch! A stray bitch who lost her memories! Who knows how many men you've slept with? Oh, and you're just a test subject for our research!"

Both her expression and her words stabbed at me like blades.

She had taken everything from me—my identity, whom others had once looked up to, the results of my tireless efforts, and even the man that I loved.

"Shut up!" I roared furiously.

"Oh? Struck a nerve, did I?" Claudia sneered condescendingly. "Too bad. There's nothing you can do now. Well, unless the Swanson family finds you and breaks in to take you away now, that is."

Miles came back with a new glass of water. He stroked Claudia's hair and said, "That's enough. Quit messing around. Just let her take her medicine, and we'll bring her to the lab."

"Got it, honey!" Claudia replied.