Chapter 4

I barely managed to dive into my car and lock the doors.

My phone lit up instantly.

"How does it feel to be hated by the entire world?" Eleanor's voice was dripping with malice.

"Giving up yet, my dear son?"

My blood ran cold. "Shut up."

"Hearing that word come out of your mouth makes me sick."

"Does it? How tragic."

"Too bad that no matter how much you hate it, I am the one who gave birth to you."

She let out a dry, chilling laugh.

"I’m giving you one last chance to agree. If you don't, there’s another way to save him."

"Then find someone else," I spat, ready to hang up.

I slammed on the gas, but before I could clear the garage ramp, three black SUVs boxed me in from the front and sides.

Tires screeched. I was forced to a dead halt.

The door of the lead Mercedes opened.

Eleanor stepped out.

She leaned casually against the hood, a mocking smile playing on her lips.

"We tried the easy way. You picked the hard way."

Two hulking bodyguards smashed my driver's window, dragged me out, and threw me into the back of her SUV.

Eleanor slid into the leather seat beside me.

"I really didn't expect this, Ethan."

"I actually wanted you to live."

"Truly. All you had to do was say yes."

"What a shame."

"Since you won't give him an artificial heart... your own heart will just have to replace your father's."

Pinned down by the guards, I glared at her, my eyes burning with pure hatred.

"That’s how my dad died ten years ago, isn't it?"

Eleanor clicked a lighter, lit a slim cigarette, and inhaled slowly.

She blew a cloud of gray smoke into my face.

"You’re smart. But just as stubborn as Arthur was."

She cast a disdainful sideways glance at me.

"I tried reasoning with him. He wouldn't listen."

"He kept saying he promised to take you on a graduation road trip. He insisted he’d only donate after keeping that promise."

"He thought I was stupid. He was just stalling."

"He wanted to drag it out until Julian died so he could keep living his pathetic life. Did he really think I’d let that happen?"

A roar tore from my throat. "So you drugged him! You tied him to a table and ripped his heart out to give to Julian!"

"Yes," she said casually. "Though it turned out his heart was just as useless as the rest of him. It barely lasted ten years."

She turned to look at me, her eyes as dead and cold as marble.

"Lucky for me, the moment I realized his tissue matched Julian's, I forced him to give me a child."

"His heart is giving out, but yours is young and healthy."

"If you hadn't run away ten years ago, I wouldn't have had to waste time hunting down an artificial heart in the first place."

I stared at the woman who gave birth to me, my teeth grinding together.

"The embezzlement charge. The smear campaign. The doxxing. You orchestrated all of it."

She chuckled. "Didn't you figure that out already?"

The SUV pulled into the subterranean bay of a private clinic.

Julian's private sanctuary.

Her men dragged me out. Eleanor stopped in front of me, looking earnestly into my eyes.

"Don't worry. You’ll do just what your father did. You’ll sign an 'Organ Donor Consent Form' to save Julian."

"When the public hears about it, they’ll say you died to atone for your crimes. A tragic, noble redemption."

I bared my teeth, shouting through the grip of the guards, "Eleanor, you will burn for this! You will pay for every single thing you’ve done!"

She didn't even look back.

She gestured to the surgical staff waiting by the doors. "I’ll be waiting."

As my back turned to Eleanor, a faint, cold smile finally touched my lips.

Deep inside my jacket pocket, the tiny red indicator light of a live-streaming transmitter blinked steadily.

Every word Eleanor had spoken. Every confession of murder and conspiracy. It had all just broadcasted live to millions of viewers.

Including the cold-blooded murder of my father ten years ago.

I was wheeled into the sterile white operating room.

On the neighboring table lay Julian Moore.

He looked at Eleanor with tears spilling down his hollow cheeks.

"Thank God... you found him."

"We can finally be together forever."

Right. Julian was never an innocent bystander.

He knew everything from the very beginning. He was an accomplice to his brother's slaughter.

I cast one final, icy glance at him.

They strapped my arms down to the steel table. A nurse tapped the vein on the back of my hand, the cold metal tip of the anesthetic needle pressing against my skin.

Just as the plunger began to move—

A massive crash echoed from the double doors down the hall.

My cavalry had arrived.

The OR doors were kicked open with a thunderous bang, slamming against the tiled wall.

"FBI! Nobody move! Hands where I can see them!"