Chapter 3
At the mention of my mother, my eyes instantly welled up.
Seeing my tears, Julian paused for a moment, then roughly shoved me to the ground.
“Anya Reed, a heartless woman like you can cry?”
“If you hadn’t desperately stopped me from finding my mother back then, she wouldn’t have been pushed down the stairs by your mother. You’re the culprit!”
“If Celeste isn’t happy today, you and your mother can both go to hell.”
His eyes burned with raw hatred, yet he refused to look at me.
Tears streamed down my face. I clutched my chest tightly.
To keep that secret all those years ago, my mother and I had suffered so much. Yet, Julian still hated me so deeply…
If that’s how it was, then after the divorce, I would tell him the truth and clear my mother and my names!
Thinking this, I suddenly felt a sense of relief.
All along, Julian had hated the wrong person.
I wondered how desperate he would be the day he learned the truth.
I staggered to my feet and walked towards the tightly shut metal door.
From deep inside the room, I heard the growls of a dog. Fear surged through me. I turned to run, but the metal door slammed shut.
Julian’s voice was icy.
“I’m taking Celeste to watch the fireworks. Don’t let her out to bother us.”
As the sound of his footsteps faded, the vicious dog instantly lunged at me, sinking its teeth into my arm.
My pathetic screams and the fireworks outside erupted simultaneously.
When I was finally let out, my body was covered in over a dozen lacerations, big and small. The dog kennel was littered with torn flesh and fresh blood.
A bodyguard threw me a roll of gauze and a check.
“Mr. Vance said for you to get lost.”
I picked up the check with trembling hands. The amount was exactly enough for my mother’s treatment this month.
But it wasn’t needed anymore.
I tore the check into pieces and threw it on the ground, forcing myself to stand and leave.
I would never come back to this place.
I took a cab to the hospital, had my wounds stitched, received a vaccine, and then contacted the hospital director using the number on the bounty notice.
“Are you sure you want to voluntarily donate your heart?”
The hospital director looked at my medical report with satisfaction, nodding.
“You are indeed the most suitable candidate for Miss Hayes’s heart transplant. However, the surgical risks are very high…”
“It’s fine.”
I raised my hand and signed the voluntary donor agreement without hesitation.
If death was a release, could anything be worse than this?
After signing the agreement and confirming the precautions, I had just stepped out of the hospital when Julian’s call came through.
“Are you the one donating a heart to Celeste? What’s your name?”
I gripped the phone tightly, my breath catching in my throat.
“I…”
Before I could speak, Julian impatiently cut me off, “Proceed with the surgery as soon as possible. The payment will be transferred to your card afterward.”
The call disconnected. Staring at the name “Husband” on my phone, a mixture of sarcasm and bitterness twisted into an indescribable pain in my heart.
If only he had looked at how he’d saved my contact, he would have known who I was.
On my phone, a news headline popped up: Vance Group CEO Spends Millions Lighting Up the City with Fireworks to Win His Beloved’s Smile.
Meanwhile, I clutched my wounds, found the nearest park, and spent the night lying on a cold bench.
When I woke up, I received a call informing me that my mother’s grave had been arranged.
To ensure they could be together, I used all my remaining savings to purchase a burial plot next to Mrs. Vance.
After visiting my mother’s grave, I bowed three times to Beatrice Vance’s as well.
Just as I was about to stand, a powerful force from behind kicked me.
“You, the daughter of a murderer, what right do you have to visit my mother!”