Chapter 2

The person on the other end of the call I made was so thrilled he could barely speak properly. "I'll give you anything you want! Money, power, anything. Just save my son!"

My mouth formed a smile. "Then make Mason Sanders spend the rest of his life burning in hellfire."

I hung up before he could answer.

The organ donation surgery was set for three days later.

With the spare money I had saved from the fighting ring over the past five years, I bought my parents a quiet plot in a cemetery. At the very least, I wanted to erect a memorial for them. I did not want them to die without anything to remember them by.

And when I died, I wanted to be buried with them.

But as soon as I reached the cemetery entrance, someone slammed me to the ground. Rebecca then kicked me in the chest as she asked, "Where's the money? What did you spend it on? Do you know Mason was humiliated in front of his friends today?!"

I swallowed the blood rising in my throat, my heart growing cold.

So… She had taken the money I had risked my life earning over the past five years for granted and handed it to Mason to waste on whatever he liked.

When she had been with me in the past, she had pretended to be poor. I had saved every cent I earned to buy her jewelry when all she had ever given me was a two-dollar keychain.

Mason followed behind her, his face dark with displeasure. "I already told my friends I was going to bid on that sports car, but when it was time to pay, the balance showed that the account was empty. They all laughed at me for bragging."

Rebecca comforted him gently, then turned and yelled at me. "You've just found out who I really am, and you already can't wait to throw money around. You're so vain!"

I suddenly remembered when we were at our poorest, when we could not even afford medicine for a cold. I toughed it out until the infection turned acute. I had been in so much pain that I was trembling on the floor. Back then, she had held me and cried all night, saying she would trade her own life for mine.

I thought she really cared about me.

But… Only now did I understand that she would rather watch me die in pain than spend a single cent to help me.

I stayed quiet for a long time and still did not tell her I had used the money to buy a plot in the cemetery.

Rebecca looked me up and down, then laughed. "An animal will forever be an animal. You were locked in a cage for five years, and the second you got out, all you did was waste money."

I watched her leave with Mason, then turned and walked back.

Before I had taken more than a few steps, someone covered my head from behind and dragged me into a car.

When I woke up again, I was lying naked in the middle of a mall. I froze, and all the blood in my body seemed to freeze as I could hear the people around me talking about me.

"How disgusting! How can someone like that deserve to live?"

"Look at how pathetic he is. He might as well die!"

"I wouldn't take him even for free, forget about paying for anything for him."

The curses came at me from all directions. Someone spat on me, while another threw bottles and crumpled paper at me.

After what felt like forever, I was finally freed and staggered back home.

As soon as I went inside, I already saw Mason holding a glass of wine and tasting it slowly. When he saw me, he raised his glass with a grin. "You're back? Look at the sports car I just bought. Two hundred thousand dollars. Cool, right?"

Two hundred thousand dollars.

That was exactly how much those people had bet on me each time they tortured me over the past five years.

I finally lost control. I rushed forward and grabbed him by the collar. "What did I ever do to you? Why are you treating me like this?"

Before I could finish, a hard leather bag smashed into my head.

Rebecca glared at me. "How dare you touch him, Ethan? I haven't even talked to you about the money, and now you attack him? Beg him for his forgiveness!"

Two bodyguards kicked the back of my knees, forced me down, and slammed my head against the floor. My forehead split open, and I almost passed out.

Meanwhile, Rebecca had already gone upstairs with Mason.

A cleaner came over to wipe the floor, then spat on me in disgust. "What rotten luck! I'm the one who has to clean up this mess!"

I could not make a sound. My head tilted to the side before I finally lost consciousness. But before that happened, I vaguely heard Rebecca calling my name anxiously from somewhere far away…