Chapter 3

"Just hear me out!" Reese clutched my hospital gown so tightly that the sticky blood on his hand smeared across the fabric.

His voice trembled uncontrollably, yet there was still a look of self-righteousness in his eyes.

"Back then, I never meant to shatter your kneecap. I only meant to injure you slightly so you'd have to rest for half a month and miss the competition.

"Valerie hid under her covers crying every day, saying that what happened had ruined her entire life. I felt terrible too! I was only trying to help her fulfill one little wish. I never expected that one blow to be so severe."

The more he spoke, the more aggrieved he sounded. It was as though he were the real victim of a cruel twist of fate.

"Charlotte, I'm your brother, for crying out loud! Do you really have to keep holding one incident against me? From what I've seen, you've managed just fine getting around on your own with a limp all these years.

"Just think of this donor heart as something I'm borrowing from you one last time. Once another compatible heart becomes available, I'll beg, steal, or do whatever it takes to get it for you, okay?"

Looking at his revolting face, I felt my stomach churn.

Managing just fine?

I was a dancer who lived and breathed ballet. Yet every night, I sat awake until dawn, drenched in cold sweat from the pain as I stared at my atrophied legs.

And he called that managing just fine?

I forcibly pried his fingers off my gown and shoved his hand away. "Reese, you disgust me."

Dad's hurried footsteps sounded behind me.

He came over without sparing a glance at Reese's bleeding hand or my unsteady body. Instead, he warned in a low voice, "Charlotte, haven't you caused enough trouble? This is a hospital lobby! Do you really have to air our family's dirty laundry in front of everyone?"

He took a deep breath and assumed the air of the head of the household.

"What Reese did two years ago was wrong. But it's already happened, and your leg can't be fixed anyway. Must you send Reese to prison and destroy this entire family before you'll be satisfied?

"Valerie's surgery was a success. What's done is done. How about this? I still have 15% of the company shares under my name. I'll transfer them to you tomorrow. You won't have to work for the rest of your life. The family will support you until the day you die. Is that enough?"

Beside him, Mom wiped away her tears and chimed in, "That's right, Charlotte. Valerie is such a sweet, sensible girl. Once she wakes up, I'll have her become your sister. She'll take care of you just like the rest of us. We're family—can't we work through anything together?"

As I listened to their utterly absurd words, I was too exhausted even to feel angry.

They had broken my leg and stolen my donor heart, yet they thought they could erase everything with a little money and promises that the very people who had hurt me would take care of me.

In their eyes, even my dreams and my life had a price tag.

I heard a beep—the system in my mind had sounded an alarm.

"Charlotte, your heart muscle cells are undergoing widespread necrosis. Five minutes remain on the countdown."

A suffocating, wrenching pain seized my chest. My knees buckled, and I nearly collapsed. But I grabbed the nearby information desk and forced myself to stand upright.

Then, I pulled the emergency medication from my pocket.