Chapter 2

The blood from my forehead dripped down my eyelashes, staining the gold-trimmed red invitation.

"Eva, the day after tomorrow is my engagement party with Melody."

"If you want to come and beg for some leftovers, I won't stop you."

Xavier looked down at me from his height, his eyes filled with pure disgust.

My right ear was ringing constantly. Only my left ear could barely catch his words.

Melody was my sister—the biological, pampered daughter of the Sinclair family.

While I was just a walking medical backup, adopted from an orphanage solely to keep her alive whenever her failing organs needed a match.

"Silent?"

Xavier ground the sole of his leather shoe onto my fingers.

The pain shot straight to my heart, making me tremble violently.

He bent down, pinching my chin with disgust, forcing me to look up.

"You were so loud when you took the money and slapped me. What happened?"

"Are you mute now?"

"Or do you think you didn't make enough from dancing tonight, so you're playing hard to get again?"

I used every ounce of my strength to pull my hand out from under his shoe.

"You worry too much, Xavier."

"I'll take the invitation. I wish you two... a lifetime of happiness."

He visibly froze.

He probably didn't expect me to be this calm.

In the six months since we reunited, I had let him humiliate me like a dog just to pay off the massive debts I owed to the loan sharks.

I had even knelt and bowed to the floor in public just for the thousands of dollars he carelessly tossed at me.

He thought I would throw a fit, crying and begging him not to marry someone else.

But he didn't know that thanks to his cruel "generosity," my debts were finally paid off.

And just this morning, I had received my diagnosis: terminal brain cancer.

The doctor said the blood clot in my brain was pressing against my nerves.

I had two months left, at most.

That clot was formed three years ago, when his rival pinned me against a concrete wall and beat my head repeatedly with a metal pipe.

My right ear had gone completely deaf that night, too.

But now, telling him would change nothing.

"Eva, you'd better not play any tricks on me."

Xavier shoved my face away and aggressively wiped his hands with a wet wipe, as if he had touched something filthy.

"A gold-digger like you doesn't even deserve to be compared to a single hair on Melody's head."

He threw the dirty wet wipe in my face and stormed out of the VIP room.

The moment the door slammed shut, I collapsed onto the freezing floor.

I was so tired.

My hearing aid had been knocked out when he threw the invitation, rolling away into some dark corner.

Just like me, forgotten by the world.

Right then, the door opened again.

Melody walked in, wearing a stunning designer gown.

She looked down at me on the floor and giggled, covering her mouth.

"Oh, Eva. Look at you. How pathetic."

She knelt down and lowered her voice.

"Eva, haven't you always wondered how Xavier managed to get that massive investment to launch his business abroad so easily back then?"

I looked up at her blankly.

"Because I intercepted the money you got for him and gave it to him under my own name."

Melody's smile grew wider.

"You were beaten half to death by the casino loan sharks just to pay his medical bills."

"And that ten million you sacrificed your life for? It became the very reason he hates you."

"Thanks for paving the way for me, Eva."

"Now, he's all mine."