The day I got into a car accident, my husband was busy rushing to comfort his assistant, Scarlett, who had bad cramps. I screamed at him, my voice raw. “Leo! Get the doctors in here now! My family will kill you all if you don’t!” He scoffed, utterly dismissive. “What family? The ‘poor orphan’ story was a lie I let you live. I picked you up. I married you. And now you dare drag me away from Scarlett over a fender bender? Do you have any idea what’s on the line? One wrong signature from her, and we lose fifty million?” He had no idea. I did have a family. And every single one of them was a psychopathic killer. That’s why I’d kept them away from him for five years. Watching him leave, despair swallowed me whole. With the last of my strength, I sent one text to my family. Leo didn’t know. That cry of mine? That was his final chance to survive. Now, he was already a dead man. For five years, he dismissed every word I ever spoke about my family. My veiled warnings, the subtle hints about my family’s darker side-to him, they were nothing but irrational games. The monitor’s beeps grew frantic, a desperate rhythm of my fading life. n the doorway stood David, Leo’s most loyal shadow. He had been mine for five years. Now, he simply watched, paralyzed, as the dark red seeped from beneath me. I knew, with injuries like these, I wouldn’t last until my family arrived. “David…” I forced his name out, each syllable a battle against the pain. “Please, get me a doctor. Any doctor.” He didn’t move. His voice was gravel. “Mr. Leo’s orders were explicit. The medical team is for Ms. Scarlett.” “Mr. Leo said your injuries weren’t fatal.” Not fatal. I looked down at the shattered glass shards embedded in my abdomen, feeling my life drain away, warm and insistent, with every drop. Right. His heart was occupied by someone else now. Why would he care about my injuries? My phone was still in my hand, the screen lit up with our family group chat. Julian’s last message glowed on the screen: “Riley, wheels up in five. ETA two hours.” Below it was a photo. Mom, at the airport duty-free, wasn’t holding perfume. She was testing the balance of a gleaming set of chef’s knives. The caption read: “Picked up a little something for Riley. She’s always saying her paring knife is dull.” My fingers trembled as I typed. “Hurry. I’m dying.” Just as the message delivered, Mr. Harrison’s phone rang. He answered it even as he kept pleading with me. “Ma’am, please, just apologize to Ms. Scarlett as Mr. Leo asks. He’s…he’s not in his right mind about her. You have to accept this.” I gave a slight shake of my head and motioned for him to take the call. I don’t know what he heard. But the old man’s one remaining eye, his right, snapped wide with pure terror. His head jerked up, and he stared at me. “You…you’re one of them. A Sullivan.”
The name Sullivan. It instantly dragged me back into memories of the past. After school, kids ran home. I stayed. Mom always smiled faintly when she picked me up, and the first thing she did when we got home was tell me to put on a mask. Our dining table hosted a rotating cast of strangers. The only thing they had in common? They were all out of breath. Permanently. “Riley, I’ll be carving this one up soon. Why don’t you go study? It might get messy. And the smell…it’s strong.” She’d explain the man had driven his wife and child into the sea. So she was delivering justice. I never saw Dad kill anyone, but in his studio, I saw all kinds of human anatomy. For fifteen years, it hadn’t changed: the doorknob was still adorned with a David’s left eye. That’s why our David only had one eye. If he heard someone was being bullied-no matter how small the slight-the bully would be found the next day. No witnesses, no struggle, just… gone. “Riley, I don’t want you to live in a world with that kind of trash.” Slowly, without meaning to, I began to carry that same cold, predatory stillness. No one ever wanted to be my friend. Except for Leo. When the whole class ostracized me, he was the first to step forward, help me carry my books, and say with a smile, “This is what I call unique charm.” When a dissection diagram accidentally fell out of my bag, he calmly picked it up for me. “Your brother’s comics are pretty hardcore, huh? Super detailed.” Back then, I thought he was the only one who saw the real me behind the Sullivan name. He asked once, curious. “What does your family do abroad?” lutched my shirt hem and gave the half true answer. “Import export business.” He never doubted it. “That must be tough.” “Don’t worry, you won’t have to shoulder it alone anymore. You’ll have me.” That day, beneath the sunset, he knelt on one knee and proposed, solemnly promising to protect me for life. I believed him. So, I defied my family’s warnings and eloped with him to this city. Mom had warned me, “Riley, never trust any man.” Dad had added, “You don’t have to inherit the family business, but don’t you dare shame the Sullivans.” And Julian, with that chilling smile, “Riley, if he doesn’t listen, I’ll make him listen.” But I just shrugged off their warnings. I thought Leo was different. Until Scarlett appeared, and his heart… it just shifted, so easily. He wouldn’t even investigate this car crash, all because Scarlett was the prime suspect! I nodded at David’s stunned expression. “If you don’t want to go completely blind, go get a doctor now!” Finally, just before I truly flatlined, a doctor pulled me back from the brink of death.
I lay in the ER, the heart monitor’s line finally stabilizing into a steady wave. The doctor had just hooked me up to an IV when the ER door flew open with a violent kick. Scarlett burst in, still in a hospital gown, her bandages haphazardly wrapped around her hand. Her voice was soft, yet every doctor instantly froze. “Everyone out.” “Scarlett, the patient just regained consciousness, she needs an immediate blood transfusion…” “I said, out.” She tilted her head, and two bodyguards immediately manhandled the doctors out. She walked to my bedside, staring at my face, and suddenly smiled. “Riley Sullivan, do you know how long I’ve waited for this day?” I spoke weakly. “Get lost.” “Get lost?” She raised her hand and slapped me across the face. My freshly stitched wound nearly ripped open, blood oozing from the corner of my mouth. “Did you really think Leo would believe your insane stories?” She threw her head back, laughing hysterically. “He just thinks you’re a lunatic!” “You orchestrated the car accident.” I stared at her, not a question, but a statement. She leaned close to my ear, whispering. “I did.” “I had someone cut your brake lines. The timing was perfect.” “I was hoping you’d die on the spot, but you’re surprisingly resilient.” My fingers twitched, wanting to grab her hair, but I couldn’t find the strength. “He’ll kill you… if he finds out.” “Who? Leo?” She swatted my hand away. “He’s busy getting my birthday present. Besides, dead people don’t talk.” David, hovering nearby, stammered, but finally managed to speak. “Ms. Scarlett, you can’t kill her!” Scarlett let out a chilling chuckle. “Who asked for your opinion?” I waved my hand, telling David to stand down. Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through me. “Ah!” “Does it hurt?” Scarlett’s fingertip pressed into the wound on my side. “It’ll be over soon.” David lunged forward but was held back firmly by the bodyguards. Scarlett slowly, meticulously, untied my hospital gown, her eyes scanning me like a butcher appraising a slab of meat. “I actually secretly got a tissue match done.” “Three months ago, after your annual physical, Leo had your medical records sent straight to me.” “Your kidney, it’s a match for mine.” My pupils constricted. So that was it. This car crash, this whole grotesque farce… it had all been for this day. “You’re insane.” My breath was barely a whisper. “Illegal organ harvesting? You think you can get away with this?” “Illegal?” “Leo will arrange all the paperwork. They’ll say you died from your crash injuries, and that you voluntarily donated your organs.” “As for your family?” She leaned in closer to my ear. “They won’t even find a body to bury.” Several bodyguards pushed me into the operating room. Scarlett, wearing surgical gloves, stood by the doctor, staring at me with cold indifference. She wasn’t a nurse, just a monster in scrubs. But she was right. Leo would take care of everything for her. I felt the cold scalpel slice through my skin, heard her humming a tune, as if savoring a delicious feast. David’s mouth was taped shut, only muffled whimpers escaping. My wrists, strapped to the operating table, were chafed raw, but it was nothing compared to the gut-wrenching agony tearing through my abdomen. My phone, on a nearby table, vibrated frantically. My family’s group chat messages flashed one after another. “Riley, we’re in the city now.” “Don’t worry, Riley. Mom’s debating whether to go for one liter of blood, or two.” But they wouldn’t make it in time. I felt something forcibly ripped from inside me, and the world began to spin. The doctor placed the bloody organ into a cooler, and Scarlett patted my face. “Thank you for the gift.” She turned to leave, and the operating room door was kicked open again. Leo stood in the doorway, his face ashen.
Leo stood in the doorway, his gaze fixed on my blood-soaked abdomen. “Riley, who did this to you?!” “Who would dare!” I let out a shaky breath of relief and pointed a trembling hand at Scarlett. “Leo,” Scarlett’s eyes welled up instantly, her voice a faint whisper, as if she were barely clinging to life. “You’re finally here! I was so scared… Riley, she’s still trying to trick you!” She stumbled into his arms, her ‘fragile’ body collapsing perfectly against his chest. “She intentionally caused the crash to kill me! And just now, on the operating table, she threatened to make sure I disappeared without a trace.” “I just wanted to check on her injuries, but Riley went absolutely insane and started tearing at my hand! Look!” She raised her bandaged hand, tiny specks of blood seeping through the pristine white gauze. It was nothing but a slight graze from my struggles. But Leo’s expression instantly changed. He withdrew his gaze of concern for me. He wrapped his arms around Scarlett, his eyes overflowing with tenderness. “Don’t be scared, I’m here.” He looked up at me, and his eyes reverted to the same dismissive, disgusted look he’d give a piece of trash. “Riley Sullivan, you venomous witch!” I squeezed out the last bit of my strength, my voice hoarse. “Leo, she admitted it herself! She had the brake lines cut! She wants my kidney…” “Enough!” Leo cut me off, pressing his hand on the edge of my wound. “Riley, how long will you keep lying?” “Scarlett’s kidney pain flared up, she needs a transplant, and you just happened to be a perfect match? Is that a coincidence, Riley?” “You investigated her beforehand, didn’t you? You knew she needed a kidney.” “So you deliberately tampered with your physical exam results, all to blackmail me with this, right?” I was speechless. Utterly dumbfounded. Behind him, Scarlett flashed me a victorious smile. “Leo,” she suddenly whispered, her fingers gently tugging at his sleeve. “The doctor said one kidney might not be enough. My body’s been having a severe rejection reaction.” “If I had two, the success rate would be much higher.” The air instantly froze. Leo didn’t even look at me; he simply turned to the doctor. “Will she die?” Ignoring the pain from my recent surgery, I screamed instinctively. “Leo, are you even human?!” “How could anyone live without two kidneys? What’s wrong with your brain?” Scarlett suddenly pressed herself against Leo. “Leo, she won’t die.” “The procedure’s mortality rate sits at one percent. In exchange for the kidney, I can guarantee you a fifty-million-dollar contract.” Leo was silent for a long time. “Do it.” “Riley, if the surgery is successful, I’ll take you to Iceland to see the Northern Lights, just like you always wanted. Would that be enough?” My heart turned to ice. Hope was gone. I stared at the scalpel coming for me. I closed my eyes and screamed. “Mom!” The next second, the operating room door was kicked open. The heavy doorframe shattered like balsa wood, splinters flying weightlessly through the air. Three figures stood framed in the wreckage. My mother Vivienne stood in a sharply tailored black suit, holding an airport gift box of knives with a gentle, elegant smile. My father Arthur, also in black, casually spun a scalpel. The bodyguard at his feet was a bloody, shapeless ruin. My brother Julian wore a white lab coat and gold rimmed glasses, looking every bit the suave and innocent doctor who could never harm a fly. He adjusted his glasses. His cold, predatory gaze swept over me on the operating table before finally settling on Leo’s face. His voice was soft, like an invitation. “Leo. Sorry to drop in.” “Now…how would you like to die?”
🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “NovelMaster” app 🔍 search for “329364”, and watch the full series ✨! #NovelMaster #重生Reborn #现实主义Realistic #浪漫Romance
Leave a Reply