Chapter 4

"Miles, you've let us down so badly. This whole family was counting on you. You gave us your word, and now you go back on it?"

"How are you going to face your brother and his wife, and Russell?"

I lifted my eyes to the woman I'd called Mom for over twenty years. I was sitting in a hospital, and the first words out of her mouth weren't a question about why I was here. She walked in and started scolding me.

Why had her favoritism been so obvious, and why had I never once seen it in my last life?

Maybe it was because in my last life I'd spent all my time chasing their approval. As long as they approved of me, I'd do anything they asked.

"Doesn't my brother have plenty of money? Tell him to hurry up and register online to search for a kidney donor. He'll definitely find a better match than mine."

I knew the money they had was mine to begin with, and I'd seen exactly what kind of people they were. But I understood this wasn't the moment to break with them openly.

For now I said the right things to get them to leave quickly. They couldn't find out yet that Greta was pregnant.

Duane just glared at me, wearing that look of deep disappointment. I still remembered what he'd said on the phone about not letting me come home.

They must have really been in a rush, because they didn't stay long.

After they left, Greta came out soon after, and I hurried over to her.

She looked stunned, the test result in one hand, the other resting on her belly.

"Greta, I wasn't lying to you, was I? You're pregnant, aren't you?"

I told her, excited, and only then did she look up at me.

"Miles, how did you know I was pregnant?"

She asked me, puzzled. I only smiled and didn't tell her the truth.

Even if I had, she wouldn't have believed me.

"You can't divorce me now. We're having a baby."

I held her hand tight. She still asked, uncertain, "You're really not donating a kidney to Russell?"

"No, I'm not. Let's go home."

I said it with total conviction, but I could see it in Greta's eyes—she didn't fully trust me.

In my last life, after Greta and I divorced, she first lost the baby, and then things never went smoothly for her again. In the end she came to a wretched fate.

Greta was silent the whole way. I knew she still needed time to work through all of it.

I'd assumed Oswald and the others were doing everything they could to find a kidney for Russell. That wasn't it at all.

They were looking for a donor, yes. But their eyes were still fixed on me.

Seeing that the emotional appeals no longer worked on me, they came up with another plan.

The next day, before I was even out of bed, Florence showed up.

She knocked, and I opened the door. The moment she stepped inside she looked around the room, then asked, "Greta's still here?"

"This is her home. Where else would she go?"

I knew she hadn't come with good intentions, and she meant me no good either, so I threw the question back at her on purpose.

Florence flushed red on the spot, put in her place.

"Miles, we all know that your sudden change of heart about donating a kidney to Russell has everything to do with Greta's influence. But we're the ones who are your family. Russell is your own nephew. You heard what your brother and his wife said, and your father and I have made our position clear too. If there's anything you're not happy with, go ahead and say it."

I stared at Florence's face, and only now noticed I looked nothing like her at all.

Her coming here to talk to me about this on purpose was no sudden whim. The few of them had clearly planned it out ahead of time.

The more they did this, the more it showed how guilty they felt.

But since she'd said as much, I might as well name my terms.

"First, my decision has nothing to do with Greta. I decided on my own not to donate. From now on, stop dumping all your dirt on her."

"Second, since you told me to name my terms, then I won't hold back. Your show of sincerity isn't enough. I want all the family's assets."

I said it with a dead-serious expression, not a trace of joking.

Florence stared hard at my face, and finally she stood up in alarm.

"Miles, do you know something?"

"Is there something you're hoping I don't know, Aunt?"

The moment I called her that—Aunt—Florence went pale with fright.