Chapter 4The Billionaire Wants My Blood

The fever hit that night and didn't let go for days.

Morgan refused to call a doctor. She had a maid pour bitter, nameless herbal teas down my throat while I shivered under thin sheets. I was too weak to even crawl to the bathroom.

Cody would come into my room while she was at work, just to gloat.

"You look pathetic, Nico," he said, tracing a finger down my cheek. I tried to flinch, but I didn't have the strength. "Morgan doesn't love you. She feels sick every time she has to touch you. On your wedding night? She didn't even stay in the building."

He leaned in, whispering with a jagged grin. "She hired a girl from a street corner to sleep with you. It’s a shame you ran away so early—you missed out on her favorite part of the prank."

I stared at him. Even though I knew the truth, hearing it out loud felt like being plunged into ice water. I forced myself to sit up, summoning every ounce of remaining strength to slap his face.

"Get out."

Cody shrieked and fell back onto the floor.

The door flew open. Morgan charged in, her face contorting when she saw Cody on the ground. She rushed to his side. "Cody! What happened?"

Cody started sobbing, clutching his cheek. "I just wanted to check on him, Morgan. I felt bad for him… and he hit me!"

Morgan turned on me, her eyes wild with fury. "You’re asking for death, Nico!"

She lunged forward and delivered a backhand so hard I was thrown across the bed. My lip split, and my ears rang with a deafening hum.

"If you ever touch him again, I will kill you myself!"

I wiped the blood from my mouth and laughed. It was a wet, rattling sound. "Then do it. Kill me now. End the play."

Morgan gripped my chin, her nails drawing blood. "Kill you? That’s too easy. Cody’s kidneys are failing. And what a coincidence—you’re a perfect match."

My heart stopped. "No. You can't. That’s illegal."

She laughed, a cold, sharp sound. "In this city, I am the law. Next month, you’re going under the knife."

The next few weeks were a clinical nightmare. I was force-fed supplements and injected with vitamins every day, like a pig being fattened for slaughter. They weren't caring for me; they were maintaining the hardware.

I tried to escape once. The maid had left the door unlocked. I made it to the kitchen and grabbed the landline, dialing 911 with shaking fingers.

"Help, I’m being held against my will… they’re going to harvest my—"

The line went dead. I looked up to see Morgan standing there, the cord wrapped around her hand.

"You never learn, do you?"

She dragged me by my hair back to the bedroom and threw me onto the bed. "If you’re so eager to leave, we’ll move the surgery up. Today."

The guards strapped me to a gurney. The surgical lights were blinding. I thrashed against the restraints until my wrists were raw and bleeding.

"Morgan! You’ll rot in hell for this! Let me go!"

Morgan stood by the operating table, her face a mask of indifference. "This is what you owe him."

She turned to leave as the anesthesiologist approached, but suddenly, a white-hot pain bloomed in my abdomen. Not the surgery—something else. A deep, tearing agony.

"It hurts…" I gasped. "Something’s wrong…"

The doctor stepped forward, his face going pale as he checked the monitors. "Ms. Blackwell… his vitals are crashing. It’s a massive internal hemorrhage—an old condition must have flared up from the stress and the blood loss. He’s too weak. If we take the kidney now, he’ll die on the table before we even finish the first incision."

Morgan froze. She turned back, staring at me. "What did you say?"

"He’s in critical condition," the doctor stammered.

I was slipping away, the pain so intense I could barely see. "Morgan… please… help me…"

Morgan’s expression shifted, a flicker of something—doubt? Fear?—crossing her face.

But then the doors burst open. Cody was being wheeled in on another gurney, gasping for air. "Morgan… it hurts… I can't breathe… the doctor said if I don't get the transplant tonight, I won't make it to morning…"

In my last life, she let me die in that hospital. In this life, she looked at my fading eyes, then looked at Cody.

"He’s just a piece of trash I picked up," she said, her voice like iron. "If he dies, he dies. Save Cody. Start the transplant now."

I felt the cold take over. "Morgan… I hope you see my face every time you close your eyes…"

Then, a deafening explosion rocked the building.