Chapter 2

Naomi had gotten used to scenes like this.

When I stayed quiet, she pulled out her usual soft act—the same fake sweetness that only I ever saw through.

"Hannah, don't blame Mom and Dad. And don't be mad at Elias either. Blame me. It's all my fault," she said.

I looked at her and said slowly, "Yeah, it is your fault. So are you gonna get on your knees and apologize?"

Naomi froze, lost for words.

Right then, Maria shot me a sharp look. "Is that any way to talk to your sister? Apologize."

When Naomi stole my pencil as a kid, I cried and threw a fit—and I was the one who apologized to her in the end.

When she took my place in university, same thing—I cried, threw a fit, and still ended up apologizing.

Now she'd stolen my husband. I didn't cry. I didn't yell. I knew better. And still, my own mother gave me that same old line: "Apologize."

I smiled faintly and looked at Maria. "Okay. I'll apologize."

I stood up and bowed to Naomi.

Then I looked up, calm and sincere, and said, "I'm sorry, Naomi. If I'd known you liked Elias, I never should've married him. I would have just sent him straight to your bed."

Hearing that, all of their faces darkened just a bit—Mom, Dad, Naomi.

Even Elias hadn't expected me to say something like that.

He jumped up and grabbed my arm, his face full of guilt. "Hannah, don't do this. This is on us. I'm sorry."

That guilt on his face looked real.

Elias was never good at faking emotions.

He probably did feel sorry for me, at least a little.

I searched his face for even the tiniest trace of regret. A hint that maybe, just maybe, he still cared.

But what he said next made the world feel like it was crushing me.

"Naomi's kidney failure is at the late stage. If you don't help her, she really won't make it. Hannah, everyone has two kidneys. You can live with one. You make good money—you'll recover just fine," Elias said.

And just like that, all the guilt vanished from his face.

What was left was cold calculation—pathetic, ugly pleading dressed up as logic.

The moment he mentioned the kidney, Naomi went pale and weak, like she was about to faint.

Seeing that, my parents jumped in to help Elias put pressure on me.

Griffin said, "She's your sister. It's your duty to donate."

Maria said, "You were only born because of your sister. You should be grateful."

Elias said, "Naomi is the love of my life. I can't lose her. For the sake of what we once had, help us."

I didn't have the words to argue with them. I wasn't good at playing the victim either. And I sure as hell didn't have a heart big enough to be some selfless saint. So I ran.

I didn't even take my savings from the closet. I just left empty-handed.

I refused their plea to save Naomi. I wasn't going to keep handing over everything like I did when I was a kid.

I'd grown up. I could fight back now. My life was mine to choose. My body was mine to protect.

*****

I hid out at my best friend Millie Watson's place.

She'd just broken up with her cheating ex and was living alone.

After hearing what I'd been through, she felt that being cheated on was nothing at all.

She said, "I mean, I thought I had it bad with one scumbag. But you? You've got a whole house full of them. Trash dad, trash mom, trash brother, trash sister, trash husband… Holy shit, it's a miracle you're still alive."

She even praised me for having such a strong will to survive.

And me? I forced a smile, then broke down sobbing.

Millie hugged me and said, "It's okay. The world's big, and you're smart as hell. You just kicked out the garbage. Your life's only gonna get better from here."

Millie was always so upbeat.

With her support, I started to feel hope again, started wanting to live again.

*****

But that night, Joseph found me.

He was on the state basketball team—tall, strong, ridiculously powerful.

He dragged me to the hospital and forced me onto the operating table.

The doctor, after taking money from my parents, injected me with anesthesia against my will.

The second it kicked in, I couldn't fight back anymore.

When I woke up, I only had one kidney left.

Naomi's hospital bed was next to mine. She looked over and greeted me cheerfully.

Griffin, Maria, Joseph, Elias—they were all standing around her bed, celebrating her second lease on life.

I sat there, watching it all with a bitter smile. Not a single tear came out.

Naomi brought me a bowl of leftover fruit from Naomi's plate. "It's done now. No point complaining. Eat up and get your strength back."

Griffin handed me a slice of Naomi's birthday cake. "Once you're feeling better, go finalize the divorce with Elias. Don't hold up their marriage."

Joseph, from across the room, added, "Oh, quit whining. It's just one kidney, not the end of the world."

Only Elias—he was still glued to Naomi, never even looked at me once.

Luckily, Millie showed up.

She took me away from that suffocating hospital room, away from that disgusting place.

But when she brought me to a public hospital for a check-up, we found out I only had ten cents left in my account.

I pulled up the transaction history and couldn't help but laugh through my tears.

Millie's expression turned murderous. "They made you donate a kidney and use your money to do it?! Calling them leeches is a compliment."

Elias had used my bank card to pay for Naomi's surgery.

My parents had used it to bribe the doctor.

Joseph had used it to buy Naomi supplements.

I really had no words to describe them all anymore.

I didn't know if I was too furious about being broke or because the transplant doctor at the previous hospital was so bad. My intact kidney started showing signs of infection.

After discovering my infection, Millie started speaking to the doctor when I wasn't around.

Within days, I was sleeping all the time.

The nurses had to hook me up to oxygen.

Millie cried sometimes at my bedside. She said a lot of things, but I couldn't hear a single word.

And then, I was floating.

I watched the doctor cover my body with a white sheet.

Millie leaned over me, sobbing uncontrollably.

And that was when I realized I was dead.