Chapter 3

Natalie looked at her reddened palm with disgust and said, "How annoying."

Behind her, Andy continued to snicker.

I stood there in a daze. When I met Andy's mocking gaze, I finally understood.

The doctor had been bought off by him long ago.

…

Three days had passed since Micah's funeral.

During that time, Natalie didn't come home even once.

I had always turned a blind eye to her blatantly cheating on me with Andy, but I was no longer going to clean up their messes for the sake of Jett Group or protect Natalie's reputation like I used to.

In two more days, I would finally be free.

Before leaving, I tore up my copy of our marriage certificate.

Then, I removed the ring I had worn when I married Natalie.

The ring had belonged to Natalie's father.

Before he passed, he had solemnly placed it in my hands and said, "When I'm gone, I'm entrusting Nat to you."

I gripped the ring and called Natalie.

"Let's meet."

There was a brief silence on the other end. She seemed to think I was finally admitting fault and answered cheerfully, "I knew that you'd come crawling back to me. Come over while I still have some time."

She hung up and sent me an address.

It was the villa where she and Andy were living.

However, the moment I arrived at the villa, Natalie's bodyguards surrounded me. Her impatient voice came through their radio.

"Drag him up here. Andy is getting dizzy again. His anemia must be acting up."

Hearing that, I paled and instinctively tried to run.

But the next second, the bodyguards grabbed me by my sleeves and dragged me into the villa.

"Draw his blood. Take as much as needed."

Natalie looked down at me condescendingly. Beside her, Andy clutched his forehead, looking as though he was in great pain.

She snapped anxiously, "Didn't you hear me? Andy can't wait any longer! If anything happens to him, your brother can say goodbye to this world too!"

"Natalie Jett, have you gone insane?" I yelled at her. "This is murder! You'll go to jail for this!"

I desperately struggled as I stared at the large needle in the doctor's hand.

Natalie kicked me hard in the stomach.

"Stop squirming! Do you want your brother to die?"

Then, without giving me a choice, she ordered the doctor to draw a total of one liter of my blood from me.

I lay sprawled helplessly on the floor. Watching the way she fussed over Andy made me feel utterly ridiculous.

I clutched the wound on my arm, my face deathly pale from losing so much blood.

"Natalie Jett, from now on, we owe each other nothing."

I threw my wedding ring at Natalie's feet.

Only then did she tear her attention away from Andy. She stared blankly at the ring before quickly picking it up.

"What's the meaning of this? My dad entrusted this to you, and you just throw it around like it's nothing?"

She was about to scold me, but the moment she met my frigid gaze, she stopped.

Her lips parted, and her voice unconsciously became flustered.

"Fine. It was just one liter of blood. I'll have someone bring back an experimental drug for Micah as compensation. It'll definitely wake him up."

I leaned against the wall and took several breaths.

Whenever I closed my eyes, I could still see the state my brother had been in when he died.

"No need."

Natalie sounded irritated. "What now?"

She was extremely annoyed after I rejected her. She reached out to steady me, but I shoved her away.

Behind us, Andy feigned a groan.

Natalie glared at me before turning around to check on him, ignoring me completely.

As I dragged my exhausted body out of the villa, I called Madeline.

"I don't want to wait anymore."

Madeline was silent for a moment before finally sighing.

"Don't worry. I've already made arrangements for you. Leave after the family dinner the day after tomorrow."