LOGINA lethal neurotoxin had taken hold of my lungs. My time is running out. My mother, Sofia, was the most connected lawyer in Palermo, excelling in burying crimes and twisting the law. When my brother Vincent mowed me down and shattered my leg, she called in every favor to clear his record. My father, Tommaso, the most feared private doctor in Sicily, faked my medical files, branding me unstable and delusional, all to mold me into the obedient son they needed. Then there was Lina, only daughter of Don Vitali, my wife. She said, “We let him out for Vincent’s liver. What if he says no?” Dad’s voice went cold. “He has two choices: lie quietly on that operating table… or waste away in the sanatorium for what’s left of his life.” I pushed the parlor door open, steady and slow. My voice was flat. “I’ll do it.” Every one of them let out a breath they’d been holding, showering me with hollow words. They didn’t know there was no life left to threaten. I had twenty-four hours. By sunrise, I would be dead either way. Funny… now that I’m in the ground, why are they all crying?
View More"He donated a kidney five years ago!"Lina collapsed to the floor. "He only had one functioning kidney... and I forced him to donate his liver. I killed him." Her head snapped up, grief curdling into razor-sharp fury. "Who the hell got his kidney?"The surgeon shook his head. "I don’t know. Every record was wiped clean. Surgical logs, financial trails, all of it. He was brought in unresponsive, heavily sedated."She called her second-in-command at once, barking orders.“Dig up every detail of Tommaso’s five-year-old kidney transplant. Leave no stone unturned, bring in everyone involved.”By dawn, the truth lay bare: sealed surgical logs, offshore bribe trails, signed kidnapper confessions, and sworn testimonies from every doctor paid to stay silent.Alone in the morgue's frigid hush, she brushed a lock of hair from my cold forehead. "I was the blind fool. I will burn this whole world down for you."I watched from above, torn by conflicting emotion. For five years I'd screamed the
I’d been dead certain Lina would accept Vincent.But her voice was steel. “Nick is my husband. That doesn’t change. Not now, not ever. Now rest, and don’t speak of this again. I’m going to check on him.”She all but sprinted to the post-op recovery ward. It was dead quiet, not a soul in sight.She caught a passing nurse by the arm, her voice fraying at the edges. “The donor, where is he? Where’s Nick?”The nurse froze, her face tightening with obvious unease. “That patient… he didn’t make it. He was already gone before we wheeled him into the OR. He had died from the toxin and the deep lacerations across his back. The transplant was performed posthumously.”Lina went rigid, as if a bullet had slammed square into her chest.“What the hell are you talking about? We brought him in here ourselves! He couldn’t have been dead!”The nurse dropped her gaze, voice shrinking to a guilty mumble. “His body’s already been moved to the morgue. The lead surgeon said the procedure couldn’t be cal
I hovered overhead, watching the surgeons wrap up the procedure.An eternity later, the lead surgeon stepped out of the OR. My parents and Lina descended on him in an instant.Not a single one of them asked after me. Their only concern was Vincent.“Doctor, how did it go? Is Vincent alright?” Lina’s voice was tight, frayed with raw urgency.The surgeon peeled off his surgical mask and gave a weary, slump-shouldered nod. “The transplant was a success. The liver graft has taken.”Still, not a soul breathed a word about me.When the nurses wheeled Vincent out, the three of them swarmed his gurney, drowning in relief.My body, meanwhile, was wheeled away without a second glance, bound for the morgue.Alive, I’d been an outcast. Dead, I was nothing but a discarded spare part.I’d spent my whole life believing that if I bent low enough, I might one day earn even a scrap of their love.They hovered at Vincent’s bedside until his lids finally fluttered open. Sofia’s eyes brimmed with tea
When I forced my eyes open again, I was floating.Beneath me lay my own broken, bloodied body.Doctors and nurses moved in frantic, futile bursts of activity.But the heart monitor beside the gurney blared a flat, unwavering line.I wasn’t coming back.I watched the lead surgeon step out into the hall to break the news to my parents.“I’m sorry. We’ve lost him.”My father’s face twisted with unbridled rage. “What do you mean, lost him? He’s faking. This boy’s survived worse than a lashing. Get him off that table and wake him up! Now!”He lunged to shove past, but the doctor planted himself firm in the doorway.My mother’s voice was ice-cold, razor-sharp. “Is he getting cold feet about the transplant? Put him back under the knife. Vincent’s prepped and waiting.”“Yes!” my father snarled. “The little bastard’s always been a gutless coward. Roll him into the OR. Now.”The doctor spoke again, his voice tight with barely contained alarm. “The procedure cannot be performed on a deceased






Welcome to GoodNovel world of fiction. If you like this novel, or you are an idealist hoping to explore a perfect world, and also want to become an original novel author online to increase income, you can join our family to read or create various types of books, such as romance novel, epic reading, werewolf novel, fantasy novel, history novel and so on. If you are a reader, high quality novels can be selected here. If you are an author, you can obtain more inspiration from others to create more brilliant works, what's more, your works on our platform will catch more attention and win more admiration from readers.