Chapter 4

Liana's POV

I had just reached the corner leading to the morgue when Zane suddenly doubled back, grabbed my arm, and dragged me toward the emergency room.

"Let go of me! My mom's dying!" I screamed in desperation.

Zane rounded on me, his eyes bloodshot as he barked, "Enough! You're still lying, even now? Your mom has been in a top-floor VIP suite for years, getting the best care possible! What could possibly be wrong with her? Vanessa is the one who's actually dying! I already promised I'd send her away. Why can't you just leave her alone?"

He shouted right in my face, so loud that my eardrums ached.

As I struggled against him, the crutch Zane had made for me himself fell to the floor. He stepped right on it, snapping it in half.

The pain in my lower abdomen grew even worse. I reached down and realized blood was already running down my legs.

Just then, the doctor evaluating Vanessa's injuries rushed over, panic written all over his face.

"Mr. Gordon, the stab wound severely damaged Ms. Bailey's uterus. She's lost far too much blood, and we can't save the baby. If we're going to save Ms. Bailey's life, she needs an immediate uterus transplant!"

Zane tightened his grip on my wrist so hard that it felt like my bone might snap.

My heart lurched.

The moment I caught the look in his eyes, I raised my bloodstained hand to stop him.

"Zane, you can't do this! I'm pregnant!"

At the word "pregnant", Zane froze for a second.

A moment later, his tightly pressed lips twisted into a bitter sneer.

"The doctors told me years ago that after your abortion, you'd never get pregnant again! You're covered in the blood of Vanessa and my unborn child, and you still have the nerve to lie to me like that?"

Before the abortion, the doctor had tried to talk me out of it, warning me that my health was too poor and that conceiving again would be nearly impossible.

But "nearly" didn't mean it was completely impossible.

When the doctor urged Zane again, he stopped hesitating and signed his name on the family consent line of the organ donation form.

"Since your uterus is useless to you anyway, you might as well use it to save Vanessa's life."

His voice was hoarse as he turned back to me, a pleading look in his eyes I'd never seen before. "Lia, save her. Think of it as making amends."

As I fought his grip, frantic screams suddenly rang out from the other end of the hallway.

"What the hell? How did someone just die in the morgue?"

At that moment, I stopped struggling. Nothing remained inside me except crushing despair.

When I was wheeled into the operating room and the cold scalpel sliced open my belly, shocked gasps filled the room.

As Zane waited outside in the hallway, a sudden, sharp pain seized his chest.

Before he could catch his breath, the operating room doors swung open.

His heart jumped into his throat.

Only when the doctor announced that the surgery was a success did he finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Then he turned and saw a fully formed fetus lying on a tray, and a prickling ache spread through his chest.

"Get rid of it. Don't let Vanessa see it. It would be too cruel to her."

The doctor shook his head, his expression grim. "Mr. Gordon, this isn't Ms. Bailey's baby. It was… taken from Mrs. Gordon's uterus."