Seven Years of Saving Her

Everyone seemed satisfied with my answer.My birthday celebration ended almost immediately. Mom and Dad hurried Claire into taking me upstairs to rest.Only after hearing their thoughts did I finally understand what they had been doing to me all these years.They had been giving me injections that slowly weakened my legs.They wanted me dependent on them.They wanted me too weak to leave.And when the time came, they wanted me compliant enough to hand over a kidney to Ryan.I used the excuse of taking a shower and locked myself in the bathroom.Then I pulled up the story file the System had originally sent me.In the novel, Ryan was the one with severe kidney disease.The original Aidan Pettigrew discovered the truth by accident after being confined at home. He found Ryan's medical records and realized why the family had brought him back.From that point on, he became exactly the monster they remembered.He tried again and again to ruin Ryan.After one final kidnapping att

When I opened my eyes again, I was already in a hospital room.Ryan sat beside the bed, massaging my calves."You're awake." He mixed a protein drink and handed it to me. "Have some of this first."While I drank, he started fussing over me."I know your legs hurt and you don't feel like moving..."But if you never use them, your muscles are only going to get weaker. Aren't you worried Claire will lose interest in you?"Ryan had always been like this with me.From the day I returned to the Pettigrew family, he had made one awkward attempt after another to get close to me.I knew he genuinely cared.But he had received so much of Mom and Dad's love without ever having to ask for it.For years, I had been too bitter to meet him halfway.Ryan helped me lie back and wiped a spot of the protein drink from the corner of my mouth.If I was being fair, he really was a good older brother.In any normal family, we probably would have been close.My eyes stung.I changed the subject

A few sentences were enough to freeze the entire family in place.The hospital corridor went silent.Mom's lips trembled."Doctor... there has to be a mistake. He only had one kidney removed. How could he die?"Dad's expression changed.Then his face hardened."How much did Aiden pay you to help him fake his death?"Any sympathy on the doctor's face disappeared."Mr. Pettigrew, after your son died, the hospital immediately requested a formal forensic review."He pointed toward the corridor cameras.Then he told them what the investigation had found."His body had already been badly weakened by long-term medication misuse."He'd also just had a cardiac episode and hadn't fully recovered. His heart stopped during surgery."The doctor hesitated."But what actually caused the surgery to fail were the sleeping pills he took beforehand."His voice lowered."He probably never expected to leave the operating room alive."Everyone stood there, stunned.None of them had imagine

Claire suddenly seemed to remember something.She stumbled into my room.Everything I owned was still exactly where I had left it.But the person who used to sit beside the window was gone.Only the faint medicinal smell that had clung to me remained.With shaking hands, Claire reached beneath my pillow and pulled out a small metal box.Inside was a copy of the novel this world had been built from.The plot matched Aidan Pettigrew's original timeline exactly.When Mom and Dad saw the book, they both seemed to breathe easier.Then Claire found an ID card beneath it.The instant Mom saw the name, her body folded.She slid down the wall and sat on the floor.Dad's eyes filled with tears.He pressed a fist hard against his mouth, shaking with regret.Aidan Pettigrew had done terrible things.Maybe that person had deserved their hatred.But the name on the card was Aiden, with an E. Not Aidan, the villain they had been punishing all these years.It was me, a completely diff

[Redemption mission successfully completed.][Congratulations, Host. Hidden ending unlocked: The Family's Regret.]After receiving the System notification, I opened the novel again for the first time in a long while.In the original ending, Aidan Pettigrew died in a police shooting.Ryan lived out his life unfulfilled.I had entered that world to save Claire.Somehow, I ended up giving Ryan a complete life instead.By the end of the rewritten story, Ryan finally recovered.He left the Pettigrew family.He didn't take a single dollar with him.Mom and Dad remained in that enormous, empty house.They spent the rest of their lives waiting for a family reunion that never came.Ryan, meanwhile, had the business instincts the novel had always promised its male lead.He started a small company from nothing.Over the next few years, he donated most of what he earned to charity.Eventually, he left the city and began traveling through rural communities, helping children who had n