Chapter 2

I was dragged to the hospital, where Lilian was still in the ER.

Jeremy's biological son, Kyle Snider, spotted me and walked over, feigning terror. But as he brushed past, he whispered in my ear, "Nathan, you're nothing but a blood bag to us."

I looked up and locked eyes with him, but he instantly reverted to his victimized facade.

"Nathan, you can hate me all you want, but why would you lie and say I forced you to give blood?"

Hearing this, Jeremy exploded. "Nathan, Kyle is so much kinder than you! You're pure malice!"

With that, he turned and ordered the nurse to start drawing my blood.

Two bodyguards pinned me down so hard that I couldn't move. The needle plunged into my arm.

Having endured years of hardship in the countryside, I was already severely anemic.

As the blood drained out of me, my vision began to blur.

Jeremy noticed how pale I was getting and wavered for a split second.

But Kyle interjected, saying, "Dad, Lilian lost so much blood. It's horrible. She shouldn't have to go through this…"

His voice trembled as he continued, "If only my blood type matched. I'd gladly let them drain me dry just to spare her the pain. I'm just so useless…"

He definitely said that on purpose.

The last shred of Jeremy's hesitation vanished, replaced by a look of sheer disgust directed at me. "Look at how mature Kyle is! We raised you for 20 years! What's a little blood?"

He turned and snarled at the nurse, "Keep drawing!"

Darkness closed in, and I completely lost consciousness.

Right before I blacked out, I saw the number above Jeremy's head drop to 3%.

Meanwhile, the number above Kyle's head skyrocketed to 90%.

When I finally woke up, I was in Lilian's ward.

She had just found out that she would spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair, and she was completely losing her mind.

The room was a disaster zone. She had smashed everything within arm's reach.

"Get out! All of you, get out!"

The moment she saw the bodyguards drag me in, her chest began to heave violently. "Nathan Snider, you jinx!"

She grabbed a bowl of hot soup from the nightstand and hurled it straight at my face.

My body was weak and entirely depleted, so I couldn't dodge in time.

The scalding liquid splashed across the back of my hand and neck. The searing pain made me gasp for air.

"If you hadn't brought me bad luck, I never would've crashed! Why don't you just die?"

Still unsatisfied, Lilian shrieked maniacally, "Break his legs too! Why should he get to stand when I'm crippled?"

"Lilian, don't get worked up. Watch your stitches."

Kyle rushed forward with a fake display of concern, making a show of wiping the soup off me. But instead, he dug his fingers hard into my bruised arm.

The sharp pain made me flinch. Instinctively, I shoved his hand away.

Kyle let out a dramatic cry and took an exaggerated tumble onto the glass-strewn floor.

Right then, the door swung open.

Jeremy, who had just returned from paying the medical bills, was greeted by the sight of Kyle bleeding on the floor.

"Kyle!"

Without a glance at my scalded arm or a single thought for my blood-drained, weakened state, he slapped me across the face.

My ears rang, and a trail of blood trickled from my lip.

"You monster! You've already cursed Lilian into a wheelchair, and now you're trying to kill Kyle? How did I raise such an ingrate?"

Jeremy tenderly helped Kyle up from the floor and pulled him protectively behind his back.

With rimmed eyes, Kyle trembled. "Dad, don't hit Nathan. It was my fault for losing my balance. I just wanted to help him clean up his burns, but I guess he didn't want me touching him…"

"Kyle, you're just too kind. You don't have to defend this ingrate. He was born rotten!"

Jeremy trembled with rage and whipped around to glare at me. "I'm going to teach you a lesson today!"

But before he could lay a hand on me, Kyle gasped, cutting him off.

During the scuffle, my black bank card had slipped out of my pocket.

Kyle picked it up, his eyes widening in disbelief. "Nathan, where did you get a black card? This requires a one-million-dollar minimum balance! Did you steal from our house before you left?"