Chapter 3
Frank's mind went completely blank. His hands shook as he picked up the report, and when he saw the 99.99% genetic match, he felt like the ground was slipping away beneath him.
Turned out I was the sole heir to Global Group. It was worth billions.
The adopted daughter he beat and yelled at for eighteen years. The one I tossed aside like garbage.
"No, no way... This can't be real!" Helen screamed, completely losing it.
If I was really the true heiress, they couldn't imagine what they'd done.
They just sent a living fortune to her doom with their own hands.
Spencer looked as pale as a ghost.
He remembered how I had quit school and started working just for his sake, my puppy that got sold away, and the hopeless look in my eyes before I died.
He hadn't just stolen our parents' love. He'd been living off the pain and sacrifice of someone who was meant to have it all, enjoying everything that was never supposed to be his.
Charles didn't even look at them as they broke down. He closed the folder and announced the next, and most devastating, piece of news.
He said, "Mr. Arthur Cooper's will states that if he passes away before finding his granddaughter, all his assets will go to Ms. Stella Cooper."
He paused, his eyes glinting coldly behind his glasses.
He continued, "There's also a special clause: Ms. Stella Cooper has absolute ownership of her own body.
"Once she becomes an adult, if anything happens to her, all her assets, including her body, and every part of it, will be considered part of her estate and fully managed by the estate committee set up by Global Group."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Helen stammered, her voice shaking so much that she could barely get the words out. She stared at Charles like he was a demon straight out of hell.
Charles's gaze slowly drifted to Spencer's abdomen, looking at him like he was nothing but a piece of property.
He said, "It means the kidney that was just transplanted into Mr. Sterling is part of Ms. Stella Cooper's inheritance."
"And," he said, waving the legal documents in his hand, "we are here to reclaim our client's rightful property."
Frank and Helen were stunned.
They had no idea how they'd do that.
That kidney was already inside Spencer's body.
"No, you can't do this!" Frank finally snapped out of it, charging at Charles like a wild beast gone mad. "That's my son's kidney. Stella gave it up herself."
But before he could even get close to Charles, two bodyguards in black suits slammed him down and held him tight to the floor.
"Gave it up herself?" Charles let out a cold laugh, and his assistant immediately handed him a tablet.
On the screen, the surveillance footage showed Frank and Helen forcibly dragging me into the hospital.
My desperate cries, frantic struggles, and their vicious faces were all painfully clear.
Charles said, "Mr. and Mrs. Foster, not only are we here to take back Ms. Cooper's property, but we'll also be filing charges against you for intentional harm, coercion, and more.
"Most likely, you'll be spending the rest of your lives behind bars."
"No!" Helen broke down completely, collapsing to the ground and grabbing onto Charles's leg, sobbing uncontrollably.
She begged, "I was wrong, sir, I swear I was. I raised Stella. I loved her! I just lost my mind for a moment. Please, I'm begging you. Have mercy on us. Please, don't hurt Spencer."
She started slapping herself over and over, each slap louder and harder than the last.
She said, "I was blinded by greed, and I failed Stella. But Spencer is innocent. He can't survive without that kidney!"
Charles jerked his leg away in disgust, towering over her like she was nothing.
He said, "Now you realize you were wrong? Did you feel even a shred of guilt when you sold her beloved puppy?
"Did you ever stop to think when you forced her to quit school and made her shoulder everything for your precious son?
"Or when you shoved her into that operating room and coldly signed off on her death, did you feel anything then?"
Each sentence from Charles hit Frank and Helen like a ton of bricks, leaving them crushed and breathless.
Charles took a document from his assistant and handed it to the hospital director, who was completely stunned.
He said, "This is a court's compulsory order. Get the surgery scheduled right now. We're reclaiming what's rightfully Ms. Cooper's."
The director's face turned deathly pale, his hands trembling as he clutched the document.
Spencer lay on the hospital bed, his whole body shaking uncontrollably.
Listening to all this, he felt like the punchline of a cruel joke.
Everything he'd ever been proud of, everything he'd stolen from Stella, was actually nothing.
Now, the illusion had shattered.
Retribution had finally come.