Chapter 2

The door burst open, and Samuel appeared in the doorway with a face like thunder.

Looking at him now, the same man I had helplessly adored for seven years, I felt nothing but visceral revulsion.

He was wearing a custom-made black shirt with the collar left slightly open, just enough to expose a suggestive red mark near his collarbone, one that Lily had left there no more than ten minutes ago.

"Nina, what the hell is your problem now?" He strode toward me with that commanding presence unique to men accustomed to power, his brow furrowed and his eyes dripping with impatience.

"Lily is waiting in the operating room. Can you please just be reasonable for once? It's only a little blood, isn't it? Go home and have your mother cook you something nice to make up for it. Problem solved."

Only a little blood?

For five years, I had spent two hours every single month lying here, watching the crimson fluid flow out of me and into that woman's body.

My menstrual cycle had become a complete mess. My face was perpetually pale. I couldn't run more than a few steps without gasping for air, and because my veins were too small and too fragile, every single needle insertion was an exercise in torture.

And in his eyes, all of that amounted to nothing more than me being difficult.

He reached for my wrist with a rough, careless motion that held not a trace of tenderness.

I dodged to the side just in time, his fingers grazing my sleeve and grabbing nothing but air, and the miss made him freeze for a moment.

For the past seven years, all Samuel had ever needed to do was crook his finger, and I would come running after him like a loyal dog wagging its tail.

I had loved him with not an ounce of dignity left to my name, loved him until I no longer knew who I was without him.

Everyone in Westwick knew that the daughter of the Grant family was Samuel's pathetic little doormat, the kind who, if he told her to go die, would smile and hand him the knife herself.

"Samuel." I lifted my head and met his eyes, my gaze flat and still as standing water with no trace of love, none of the usual desperate eagerness to please.

"Lily has a rare blood type, and so do I. That doesn't mean I'm her spare parts kit."

For just a second, something like shock flickered across his face before it hardened into the familiar mix of disgust and scorn.

He pulled out his checkbook with that well-practiced ease, scrawled a number across the page like he was shooing away a stray dog, then tore the check off and flicked it at my face with two fingers.

He sneered, "What is this, some kind of negotiation? I'm getting tired of your little games, Nina. How much do you want? Two million? Or maybe that piece from this quarter's auction?"

The sharp edge of the check stung as it grazed my cheek and then fluttered to the floor where it landed among the broken glass.

"Take it," he said again. "I'm not going to tell you twice. Lie down and let them draw the blood."

And there it was, seven years of my life, all neatly priced. Two million for everything I had left to give.

I bent down. Samuel's mouth curved into that familiar, condescending smile, the one that said he already knew what was coming, that I'd pick up the money like the desperate, groveling thing he'd always taken me for.

I picked up the check and held it taut between both hands, right in front of him.

The sharp rip of paper cut through the dead silence of the room like a blade.

I tore the check to pieces and flung it into the air. White shreds drifted down like snow, scattering over Samuel's expensive leather shoes and across his frozen, astonished face.

"Samuel, I'm not selling my blood." I watched the color drain from his face, and felt a slow, vicious smile spread across my own, the kind of pleasure that belonged only to someone getting revenge.

"Oh, and one more thing I forgot to mention. When I came in earlier, I took that spare bag of blood you prepared for Lily and flushed it right down the toilet.

"Since she's got such a rare blood type, I suppose we'll just have to leave it to fate. Maybe even God decided someone like her doesn't deserve to live."