~FIVE: WHO ARE YOU?

~Arya~

Of what use was signing the document if I was going to die anyway? It was probably the only reason they were keeping me alive. If I just stalled for a little more time, maybe a miracle would happen and I wouldn't lose my life. I knew I was hoping for too much, yet I didn't have a choice.

My parents were right afterall. Edgar was a lowlife who I shouldn't have trusted. If I had married Lucien the way they planned, all this would never have happened. I couldn’t imagine how they felt with the knowledge that I was missing. If Edgar went through with his intention to label me as an addict like he said, it would break them.

I couldn’t let that happen.

I snatched the paper and ripped it in two. Lina and Edgar watched, bewildered. Furious, lina released a mirthless chuckle. Without a word, she produced another copy from the envelope and placed a pen with it.

“No matter what you do, I won't sign this,” I protested. It was my whole life, everything I had ever worked for. He wanted me to forfeit it all. 

“Edgar’s patient, honey,” Lina whispered, closing the distance between the two of us. “I can’t say the same for myself. You probably do not know who I am, but I lived my whole life hating you.”

My brows furrowed, I stared at her, puzzled. I’d done a lot of thinking, yet there was nothing that tied me to her. But the way she glared at me with all the hatred she could muster suggested otherwise. 

“Do you have any idea how much I wanted you to drop dead?” she went on, her narrowed narrowed into fiery slits. “But you didn’t. Everything came easy to you. You never encountered misfortune.”

“Who are you?”

“You don’t need to know. Unfortunately, I'll have to send you to the afterlife striving to figure out the answer to that question.” She tapped the paper with the tip of her beautifully manicured finger. “Sign it. And don’t delude yourself. We can get everything we want with or without your signature. We are only giving you the honor of making the transfer because it’s something you worked hard for.”

Behind her, Edgar watched on, his eyes stony. Slowly, I picked the pen, letting my finger hover above the paper.

The door opened. A woman clad in a nurse’s uniform poked her head in, wearing a bright smile I never thought I'd see in a place like this. She scanned the room, her eyes lingering on me for a second too long. I’d seen her somewhere before.

“What do you want?” Edgar snapped at her impatiently. She tore her gaze from mine and looked at him.

“Sorry sir,  I must be in the wrong room.”

“Get out,” he snapped. Without a word, she complied, shutting the door behind her as she went away, leaving me to ponder on where I'd seen her before.

Edgar pulled a phone out of his pocket. My phone. He shoved it in my face, his voice dropping dangerously low. “I was wondering how you found me in the hotel with Lina, but when I went through your phone, I found everything.” He wrapped my hair in a fist and yanked at it. “You were cheating on me, weren’t you?”

That should be the least of his worries, especially since he saw no problem with doing the same thing to me. I bit down on my lips to refrain myself from spitting out the profanities on the tip of my tongue. What made him think that I'd ever stoop low enough to cheat on him?

“No,” I fired. “You have no right to accuse me of that.”

“Then who sent those messages. The ones that warned you about the transplant. Who sent them? Were you keeping tabs on me?”

“I wish I did,” I shrieked. If I had been a little more careful, a little less trusting, maybe I would have known what he was planning all this time. His face turned beet red, an indication that he was furious. He slapped me hard across the face.

“Tell me the truth,” he barked. “Who are you working with?”

Panic flashed across his face, but it disappeared almost as fast as it came. He was afraid. This must be why he hadn’t gotten rid of me yet. He thought I had an ally that he didn’t know about. He had done his homework, and he knew that killing me would leave traces that would later expose him.

A slow smirk formed on my face. What better way was there to save myself than make him think he had a real reason to fear?

“Just give up, Edgar," I taunted, tasting copper as blood trickled down my lip. “Who knows? I may decide to hide your psychopathic tendency and take the secret of the horrible things you’ve done to me to the grave.”

“You think we’re stupid?” Lina questioned. She opened her mouth to say something else, but a high pitched scream came out instead. She slumped to the floor, convulsing. Edgar barked an order for a doctor. In an instant, a team flooded the ward. One of them was the doctor who had checked on me earlier.

I watched in alarm as she was whisked onto a gurney and wheeled away. The doctor held Edgar back. “She has to go into surgery now. We can’t delay it any further. We’ll try to stabilize her for now, but you should make your decision quickly.”

Edgar turned his attention to me. My heart raced against my ribcage. Nothing could save me now. The transplant would happen, because my husband wouldn’t pick keeping me alive over saving his mistress.

He gave me a long stare, contemplating his choices as the doctor waited beside him. Then, tearing his gaze from my pleading face, he looked at the doctor.

“Perform the transplant today.”

With that, they burst out of the ward. The doctor sauntered to me and strapped me to the bed with ease. I gave up fighting before he even started, all hope lost. I could barely feel my legs. There was no way to escape. Everything I worked so hard for, everything I lived for. It was all useless now. I’d die without seeing my parents again. Without seeing Lucien.

“Miss Manchester?”

I threw an absent glance towards the door. The familiar nurse was back. As soon as I saw her this time, it clicked. She was the receptionist that gave me the keycard to Edgar's suite in that hotel. She tiptoed into the ward with a sense of urgency and rushed to me.

How did she know my last name?