Chapter 3

After gulping down two cold pills, Hendrick put on a mask and left the house.

December in winter was truly brutal.

When his cab arrived at the office building, his team members had already been waiting for him for quite some time. "Mr. Campbell, you're finally here! The design for this quarter's finale piece hasn't been finalized yet. We're waiting for your approval."

Hendrick took the design sketches handed to him by his assistant, Jamie Barrett.

As a former fine arts major, he had joined a clothing company as a designer after graduation. A few years later, he launched his own apparel brand.

While it wasn't a massive corporate empire, it was built entirely on his sweat and tears, so he was exceptionally rigorous when it came to the quality of their design sketches.

Yet among the submitted sketches that day, a few were downright atrocious.

Hendrick frowned. "How did we manage to hire an intern with this level of work?"

Jamie looked flustered and hesitated before murmuring, "Well… those were drawn by your brother, Cameron."

That explained it.

Three months ago, Cameron had gotten divorced and moved back to Celandor with Blake.

Since Cameron couldn't find a decent job, Hendrick's parents had pressured him to reserve a director position at the company for him.

Given Cameron's actual skill level—which failed to meet even an intern's standard, let alone a director's—Hendrick naturally refused.

However, he was no match for his family's relentless tactics of threats, coercion, and public scenes right at his office.

In the end, Hendrick had no choice but to assign him a basic designer role.

Who could have guessed that Cameron would turn in garbage like this?

After filtering out those pages, Hendrick instructed Jamie, "In the future, whatever he turns in, just go through the motions. Don't let it reach my desk."

He found it an eyesore.

Then he reached into his bag and pulled out the design sketches he had spent the last few days revising. "Take these and discuss them with the senior designers. See if they're worthy of being the finale piece."

The moment Jamie caught sight of them, her eyes lit up. "Mr. Campbell, you're far too modest! This will work beyond a shadow of a doubt! Everyone knows your standard speaks for itself."

Hendrick brushed off her praise as simple flattery and turned his focus back to clearing the rest of his workload.

Once the heart transplant was over, this physical body would inevitably die.

After his death, the system would reassign him a new body, which meant he wouldn't be able to run this company anymore.

Since it represented years of his life's work, Hendrick planned to hand it over to his closest friend. But before that, he wanted to finish the upcoming work properly and stand his final shift responsibly.

By the time he worked through to 2:00 pm, his stomach began to rumble loudly, reminding him that he hadn't eaten anything all day.

Just as he was about to head out for lunch, his office door swung open.

It was his father, Adrian Campbell, who looked exhausted from the journey.

When he caught sight of Hendrick, his gaze sharpened instantly. "You really are here."

With that, he strode over in a few fast steps and issued a curt command, "Come to the hospital with me."

Hendrick didn't budge.

The man standing before him was his biological father, the very man who had cast him out of the Campbell family.

Both he and Cameron were his sons, yet their parents only ever cared about Cameron.

In their eyes, Cameron was the obedient, golden child, while Hendrick was nothing more than a devious, scheming villain.

So when Cameron falsely accused him of stealing, no amount of explanation from Hendrick made a bit of difference.

Even when Cameron set up a trap that ruined Hendrick's reputation and dragged the Campbell family's name through the mud, they never questioned Cameron for a second. Instead, they pinned every ounce of blame onto Hendrick.

Back then, it was Adrian himself who had appeared before countless media cameras to announce, "I have only one son, and that is Cameron. Hendrick has been cast out of the Campbell family. None of his future words or actions have anything to do with us."

Everyone mocked him as a pathetic outcast discarded by his family.

And now, Adrian was standing in front of him once more.

"Cameron's condition has worsened. You're coming to donate blood for him."

A dead silence descended upon the office.

Hendrick desperately wanted to ask how he could stand here so brazenly and utter those words after seven years.

"What does his life or death have to do with me?"

Adrian's face turned livid. "He's your brother!"

Hendrick let out a hollow laugh. "Have you forgotten? You kicked me out of the Campbell family seven years ago. I have no family left, and I certainly don't have a brother."

Adrian froze, his expression stiffening.

The words he had spoken all those years ago had finally come full circle.

The once-arrogant man lowered his head and pleaded, "The doctor said Cameron's heart function is deteriorating, and he's severely anemic. Blood transfusions are the only thing keeping him stable.

"We haven't found a matching heart donor yet, so you have to come back with me and give him blood."

Watching him like this only deepened the bitterness Hendrick felt inside.

He had never seen Adrian beg anyone like this before. Cameron truly was the apple of his eye.

Then again, it wasn't just him, was it?

Lexie and Nina both treat Cameron like their holy gospel as well.

At the thought of this, Hendrick's eyes welled up. "Fine. I'll go, but under one condition. I want all the Campbell Group shares Cameron currently owns.

Adrian's eyes snapped cold. "Hendrick, don't push your luck."

"That's my condition. Take it or leave it."

After a long standoff, Adrian finally caved.

On the way to the hospital, Hendrick began to feel dizzy and lightheaded after going a whole day without food.

Without giving him even a second to rest, Adrian dragged him straight to the door of the blood draw room.

Seeing how pale Hendrick looked, the nurse asked kindly, "Are you suffering from low blood sugar? Do you want to take a break and eat something first?"

However, Adrian snapped impatiently, "Hurry it up!"

This private hospital was funded and opened by Adrian himself. In this building, his word was absolute law.

Terrified of delaying any further, the nurse hurriedly prepared the equipment for the blood draw.

Hendrick felt dizzy as the needle slid into his arm.

Weighed down by a severe flu alongside low blood sugar from starving all day, he found it harder and harder to breathe halfway through the draw. His head slumped uncontrollably to one side.

Panicking, the nurse cried out, "We can't take any more! Drawing more will cause serious harm!"

Adrian's expression turned exceedingly ugly.

He was terrified of things going wrong too. Not because he feared Hendrick might die, but because without him, Cameron would have no blood supply.

"Fine, that's enough for now. Use what we have."

Hendrick was dragged into a recovery room.

He had completely lost consciousness, slipping into a hazy blur with no sense of how much time had passed.

Suddenly, a woman burst into the room and slapped him hard across the face. She sobbed hysterically. "This is all your fault! Stop pretending to faint! How is that tiny bit of blood supposed to be enough?"

Awakened by the sharp pain, Hendrick opened his eyes to see his mother Haylee Barnett's swollen, tear-stained face.

She grabbed Hendrick, pounding her fists against him repeatedly. "Why did I have to carry both of you back then? If only I had just had Cameron!

"You're a jinx born to ruin us! Even in my belly, you stole Cameron's nutrients and caused him to be born with a heart condition! Now that we just need a little blood from you, you put on an act! Do you really want your brother dead that badly?"

Her cruel words cut like a jagged blade.

Hendrick, who had never shed a tear, felt cold tears slip from the corners of his eyes.

He had heard statements like these countless times since childhood.

Just because he and Cameron were twins, and just because Cameron's heart hadn't developed properly, everything was deemed his fault. He was accused of taking away Cameron's chance to survive.

Nobody in his family loved him. His wife and daughter despised him. He had been born with a sin.