Beg Me

"Who is V? And what blood disease?" 

Ethan's growl made the air freeze.

Chloe's phone fell to the carpet. Her face was white, her lips trembling so hard she couldn't speak.

Ethan picked up the phone. His eyes scanned the text again.

*"Nice family reunion. But does Ethan know your son has a rare blood disease? And only a Knight family bone marrow can save him?"*

His hand tightened around her phone until his knuckles cracked.

Leo was sick. His son — if Leo was his son — was sick. And someone knew and was using it to threaten her.

"CHLOE!" He shook her shoulders. "Answer me! Is Leo sick?"

Leo started crying louder, clinging to Chloe's neck. "Mommy, I don't want injection... I don't want hospital..."

Chloe broke. She sank to the floor holding Leo, tears pouring down.

"Yes," she whispered. "Aplastic anemia. Rare. He needs... he needs a bone marrow transplant within six months or... or..."

She couldn't say the word _die_.

Ethan's mind went blank. In his world, money could buy anything — companies, islands, people. But it couldn't buy bone marrow if it wasn't a match.

"Only Knight family can save him?" he asked, his voice suddenly deadly calm. The calm that his employees feared more than his shouting.

Chloe nodded, crying into Leo's hair. "Your family has RH-null blood. The rarest. Leo inherited it from... from you. The doctor said only you or your father are 100% match. I... I was going to ask you. After I got revenge. I didn't want to beg you."

The truth hit Ethan like a truck.

So Leo WAS his. 100%.

And she had been carrying this alone for three years.

Ryan Cole came out of the inner room, his face dark. "Chloe, give him to me."

Ethan turned to Ryan, his eyes murderous. "You knew? You knew my son is dying and you both hid it from me?"

"Your son?" Ryan laughed coldly. "Where were you when Chloe was vomiting every night alone in a rented apartment? Where were you when Leo had his first transfusion at 6 months old and Chloe sold her wedding ring for hospital bills? Don't you dare call him your son now, Knight."

Ethan didn't answer. He couldn't. Because Ryan was right.

He knelt down again, this time slowly, and looked at Leo who was still crying.

"Leo," he said softly, trying to make his voice gentle for the first time in his life. "Look at me."

Leo peeked from Chloe's shoulder, his eyes red, exactly like Ethan's when he was a child.

"I will not let you die," Ethan said, each word a promise, a vow. "Do you hear me? I will give you everything. My marrow, my blood, my life."

Leo hiccupped. "Are you... really my daddy?"

The room went silent.

Chloe closed her eyes. The secret was out. There was no more hiding.

Ethan's hand trembled as he reached out and touched Leo's small cheek. "Yes. I am your daddy. And I am so sorry I'm late."

Chloe expected Leo to push him away again. But Leo stared at Ethan for a long second, then whispered, "Then why did you make Mommy cry that day?"

That innocent question broke Ethan.

He stood up abruptly, picked up his phone, and called his private doctor.

"Dr. Lin, get to my house NOW. Bring the mobile lab. I need a bone marrow match test tonight. And prepare the hospital. My son needs a transplant."

He hung up and looked at Chloe, who was staring at him in shock.

"Pack your things. Both of you. You are moving into my villa tonight."

Chloe stood up, furious. "I will NOT! You can't order me—"

"I CAN!" Ethan roared, losing control. "You want my marrow? You want my family to save him? Then you will live under my roof where I can watch you both! You think I will let my son die in this penthouse because you are proud?"

Ryan stepped between them. "Touch her again and I will break your hand, Knight."

Ethan ignored him. He looked only at Chloe. His eyes were no longer cold. They were begging.

"Chloe... please. Let me save him. Let me... fix what I did."

Chloe looked at Leo, pale and weak in her arms, then at Ethan, who was finally on his knees for her.

She had waited three years to see Ethan Knight kneel.

But it didn't feel like victory. It felt like pain.

Before she could answer, her phone rang again. Unknown number. Same V.

She answered with shaking hands on speaker.

A woman's voice laughed — Vanessa.

"Oh Chloe, did you tell him? How touching. But you forgot one thing. The Knight family bone marrow registry... I am the manager. Ethan's father listens to ME now. If you want that transplant, Chloe... you will have to kneel to ME first. Come to my birthday party tomorrow. Alone. Let's see how much a mother can sacrifice. Otherwise... your son will not live to be four."

The call ended.

Ethan's face turned to stone. He crushed Chloe's phone in his bare hand, the glass shattering.

Vanessa.

He had underestimated his fiancée.

He looked at Chloe, at Leo, and made a decision that would change everything.

"If you go to her, she will humiliate you and still not save him," he said quietly. "So we won't go to her."

"Then what?" Chloe cried. "He will die!"

Ethan picked up Leo from her arms — Leo didn't resist this time — and held him tightly against his chest. The first time father and son had ever touched.

"We go to the old man. My father. Tonight. And if he says no..." Ethan's eyes flashed with a cruelty Chloe had never seen. "I will burn the entire Knight Group to the ground until he says yes."

He walked to the door with Leo in his arms.

"Are you coming, Mrs. Knight? Or should I tell Leo his mother gave up?"

Chloe stared at the man who had destroyed her, now carrying her son to save him.

She had no choice.

She grabbed her coat and followed him into the rain.

But none of them knew, Vanessa was already at the Knight mansion, holding a document —

*A will from Ethan's grandfather that says any child born outside marriage can never receive Knight bone marrow or inheritance.*

If Ethan's father signs it tonight, Leo will be sentenced to death.