Chapter 4

Leon's POV

All those years of suffering alone, all the maternal love Noel had been denied, had turned out to be nothing more than the price for a ridiculous joke.

Then what had Noel and I been to Allison? What were we to her?

I stared at Allison in disbelief, while she frantically tried to grab my hand.

"Leon, I admit this wasn't fair to you and Noel, but the three years are over now. I've officially paid back everything I owed Clarence, and from now on, our family can live a happy life together."

I avoided her touch as if she were filthy. The nauseating truth felt like a knife ripping through my chest, leaving a bloody, gaping wound.

When I spoke, my voice was completely raw and hoarse. "Just give me my card back. I don't want anything else."

Allison was about to reach into her bag when Clarence tripped over his feet for no reason and scraped his arm. One small cry from him was enough to steal all her attention.

She shoved me aside and rushed to help him up.

The crowd instantly split into two. Only I smashed a wine bottle against the wall and stood blocking the door with broken glass in my hand, screaming hysterically, "Give me back my card!"

"Don't you dare push it, Leon," Allison hissed. "It's just a few thousand dollars. You're delaying us over a pittance.

"I've had my assistant transfer money into Noel's account every day. You're just using this as a pathetic excuse to get back on Clarence!"

With that, she shoved past me, completely ignoring the glass that cut her arm, and ordered her men to hold me down.

But I grabbed the hem of her pants and desperately begged, "That's not true! Noel never received the money!

"Please, Allison. Give me my money back. If I don't pay by tomorrow, they're turning off the machines keeping him alive."

But Allison didn't even look back and walked away, not even willing to spare a few minutes for me.

Before leaving, she assured me that she would unfreeze my bank account and make sure Noel's medical bills were covered.

Even after I returned to the hospital in a daze, they never received a single payment. Allison had most likely forgotten about everything.

The nurses and doctors looked at me with pity.

"ICU care costs 1,000 dollars a day, and that's not even including the medications. The money in the account will soon run out, but don't worry, Mr. Russell. You've done everything you can."

I sat at the door to Noel's room like a madman and couldn't stop thinking about how my own mistake had harmed him. I didn't deserve to be a dad.

In desperation, I reached out to an illegal blood broker.

The cold needle pierced my vein and drained my life until my face turned a shade paler. I grabbed a lip gloss to add a little color to my lips, forced a smile, and headed to the next hospital to sell more blood.

Two blood draws only yielded a miserable 3,000 dollars. When I demanded to continue, even the broker backed away in fear.

"You'll die if you keep going. 800ml is the absolute human limit. Think about your kid. If you die, who's going to be there for him?"

When I buried my face in my hands and broke down in tears, he slipped me an extra 100 dollars.

Meanwhile, over in the hospital's VIP suites, Allison had summoned every dermatologist just to ensure that Clarence's scrape wouldn't leave a scar.

Noel's life meant nothing to her. He wasn't even worth her attention.

My heart died right then. I knew that if Noel didn't survive this ordeal, I was done living, too.

Just then, an ICU doctor came running toward me. "Mr. Russell, come with me right now."