Chapter 1

On my birthday, I was burning up with a 104-degree fever, but my wife refused to take me to the hospital. She told me to get a cab.

On the way, my ride was T-boned in a horrific crash.

As I lay bleeding out, drifting in and out of consciousness, a familiar voice cut through the ringing in my ears.

"Damn it. The birthday cake is completely ruined."

The person looked down at the smashed cake on the asphalt, frowning.

I forced myself to prop up my upper body, only to realize the driver who hit me was my own wife.

Claire glanced at my blood-soaked body.

"I don't care if this guy dies right here. I'm not letting him delay my birthday party with Julian."

With that, she turned and walked away.

We had been married for five years. The woman who once swore she loved me more than anything was now completely blind to my agony.

All because she was in a rush to celebrate another man's birthday.

I lay in a pool of blood, weakly calling Claire's name.

But she was busy shouting at the cab driver who had grabbed her arm.

My voice was too weak. She couldn't hear me at all.

"How much? Just give me a number and stop wasting my time," Claire snapped at the driver.

She turned, her voice softening as she comforted an impatient Julian standing next to her.

"Don't worry, Julian. It's just a minor hiccup. I'll handle this and get you straight to your party."

She was incredibly considerate to another man, completely oblivious to the fact that her husband was bleeding out on the pavement.

Thankfully, a bystander saw the massive hemorrhage and called 911.

As the paramedics loaded me into the ambulance, I could still hear Claire's irritated voice.

"Look at him milking it with all that fake blood for a bigger payout. We could have settled this with cash, but he just had to drag it out to a hospital."

EMS rushed me to a Trauma Center in Manhattan.

Claire had no choice but to bring Julian and follow the ambulance, but she didn't immediately enter the emergency area to check on my condition.

The moment she walked up to the operating room doors, a doctor's urgent voice rang out from inside.

"Massive intracranial hemorrhage! Prep for surgery now!"

Claire froze, a hint of panic flashing across her face.

But she took one look at Julian beside her and quickly regained her composure.

"Julian, I am so sorry your day got ruined," Claire said. "It's all that poor bastard's fault for making you miss your party."

Inside the operating room, the excruciating pain slowly shattered my consciousness.

It wasn't until the anesthesia kicked in that the agony began to fade.

If Claire had bothered to show even a sliver of concern for the man on the stretcher, she would have deeply regretted those words.

When we got married, she promised she would be by my side for every single one of my birthdays.

This year was the only exception. She was absent.

Julian feigned sympathy as he tried to console her.

"Claire, don't be like that. Isn't today Ethan's birthday too? If he got hurt on a day like this, he'd probably be terrified."

Claire scoffed.

"Please. Ethan is nothing like this loser."

I had lost too much blood and was already going into hemorrhagic shock.

The doctors immediately grabbed the defibrillator, desperately trying to pull me back from the brink.

The frantic beeping of the monitors mixed with the echoing sound of Claire's mocking words.

I knew that even if I died, she wouldn't care.

But I didn't want to die.

My survival instinct made me thrash like a drowning man, desperately reaching for a lifeline.

The doctors did everything they could, and I refused to let it end like this.

Finally, the numbers on the ECG monitor stabilized.

But my strength was completely drained.

In the last second before I blacked out, I still heard Claire's impatient voice.

"Good, he's not dead. We're already late. Let's go."

"I'll cover the ER bill for now. For anything else, just contact my assistant, Daniel Brooks."

Chapter 1

On my birthday, I was burning up with a 104-degree fever, but my wife refused to take me to the hospital. She told me to get a cab.

On the way, my ride was T-boned in a horrific crash.

As I lay bleeding out, drifting in and out of consciousness, a familiar voice cut through the ringing in my ears.

"Damn it. The birthday cake is completely ruined."

The person looked down at the smashed cake on the asphalt, frowning.

I forced myself to prop up my upper body, only to realize the driver who hit me was my own wife.

Claire glanced at my blood-soaked body.

"I don't care if this guy dies right here. I'm not letting him delay my birthday party with Julian."

With that, she turned and walked away.

We had been married for five years. The woman who once swore she loved me more than anything was now completely blind to my agony.

All because she was in a rush to celebrate another man's birthday.

I lay in a pool of blood, weakly calling Claire's name.

But she was busy shouting at the cab driver who had grabbed her arm.

My voice was too weak. She couldn't hear me at all.

"How much? Just give me a number and stop wasting my time," Claire snapped at the driver.

She turned, her voice softening as she comforted an impatient Julian standing next to her.

"Don't worry, Julian. It's just a minor hiccup. I'll handle this and get you straight to your party."

She was incredibly considerate to another man, completely oblivious to the fact that her husband was bleeding out on the pavement.

Thankfully, a bystander saw the massive hemorrhage and called 911.

As the paramedics loaded me into the ambulance, I could still hear Claire's irritated voice.

"Look at him milking it with all that fake blood for a bigger payout. We could have settled this with cash, but he just had to drag it out to a hospital."

EMS rushed me to a Trauma Center in Manhattan.

Claire had no choice but to bring Julian and follow the ambulance, but she didn't immediately enter the emergency area to check on my condition.

The moment she walked up to the operating room doors, a doctor's urgent voice rang out from inside.

"Massive intracranial hemorrhage! Prep for surgery now!"

Claire froze, a hint of panic flashing across her face.

But she took one look at Julian beside her and quickly regained her composure.

"Julian, I am so sorry your day got ruined," Claire said. "It's all that poor bastard's fault for making you miss your party."

Inside the operating room, the excruciating pain slowly shattered my consciousness.

It wasn't until the anesthesia kicked in that the agony began to fade.

If Claire had bothered to show even a sliver of concern for the man on the stretcher, she would have deeply regretted those words.

When we got married, she promised she would be by my side for every single one of my birthdays.

This year was the only exception. She was absent.

Julian feigned sympathy as he tried to console her.

"Claire, don't be like that. Isn't today Ethan's birthday too? If he got hurt on a day like this, he'd probably be terrified."

Claire scoffed.

"Please. Ethan is nothing like this loser."

I had lost too much blood and was already going into hemorrhagic shock.

The doctors immediately grabbed the defibrillator, desperately trying to pull me back from the brink.

The frantic beeping of the monitors mixed with the echoing sound of Claire's mocking words.

I knew that even if I died, she wouldn't care.

But I didn't want to die.

My survival instinct made me thrash like a drowning man, desperately reaching for a lifeline.

The doctors did everything they could, and I refused to let it end like this.

Finally, the numbers on the ECG monitor stabilized.

But my strength was completely drained.

In the last second before I blacked out, I still heard Claire's impatient voice.

"Good, he's not dead. We're already late. Let's go."

"I'll cover the ER bill for now. For anything else, just contact my assistant, Daniel Brooks."