He Married Me for My Son's Kidneys

My younger sister, Rae, begged me to donate my kidney to save her life. Because of my poor health, I refused—the risk was too high.

From that moment on, my entire family turned against me. They called me selfish, heartless, a disgrace to the family. At my own engagement party, they openly cursed me, saying I'd die a miserable death, calling me an ungrateful wretch for not valuing my sister's life.

Humiliated by the scene, my fiancé, Hunter, ended our engagement on the spot, disgust written all over his face.

As the guests whispered and my family secretly reveled in my misfortune, Kai Richards, the young heir to one of the most powerful families in the city, suddenly stepped forward. His voice was clear, cutting through the silence.

"Milena, I've had a crush on you for ten years. Will you marry me?"

Out of spite—and desperation to escape the humiliation—I said yes.

For the next five years, Kai treated me like a princess. Every want, every need, he fulfilled without hesitation. I thought I had found my salvation, a love that could finally heal me.

But that illusion shattered when our four-year-old son, Leon, suddenly went missing. Days later, his small, lifeless body was found floating in the sea. His kidneys had been harvested.

Grief consumed me, dragging me into an illness I couldn't recover from. My body was weak, my heart broken beyond repair.

Late one night, unable to sleep, I passed by Kai's study and heard voices inside.

"A four-year-old provides the finest kidney, wouldn't you agree, Kai?" my father's familiar voice said. "Now, my daughter is saved. But tell me, Kai, does the cost weigh on you at all, sacrificing your own son for Rae?"

There was a pause—then Kai's cold, detached voice followed.

"Rae is the love of my life. A child born from a woman I never loved means nothing to me."

***

My heart shattered into a million jagged pieces and my legs gave out beneath me. I slowly sank to my knees, gripping the cold wall for support, my trembling fingers barely finding purchase.

The study door stood slightly ajar and my father's voice continued to drift out, each word stabbing deeper into my already bleeding heart.

"Yes, Kai, you're right. After all, men don't endure pregnancies. One night's amusement and voilà—a child. Leon's death is no big deal. You'll replace him easily."

I froze. My breath caught painfully in my throat.

I couldn't believe it—those vile, heartless words came from my own father.

Leon was his grandson. A bright-eyed boy who had once reached up to him with chubby hands and giggled at his silly faces. Yet now, Leon was nothing more than a means to an end—a convenient sacrifice to save his precious Rae.

My father's voice darkened with irritation. "Rae's been suffering from kidney failure for five years, waiting endlessly for the perfect match. If only Milena had agreed to donate back then, we wouldn't have had to drag it out this long!"

Kai's voice followed, calm and cold. "Milena's health was poor. She wouldn't have been a suitable donor."

For a fleeting moment, a fragile sliver of hope bloomed through my anguish—a desperate belief that maybe, just maybe, Kai had cared for me, even a little.

But the hope was crushed under the weight of his next words.

Kai let out a low, mocking laugh. "You're overthinking it, Mr. Nichols. The only thing I ever felt for Milena was disgust—disgust at her weak, sickly body, unworthy of saving Rae."

My nails bit into my palms as his voice carried on, each word more brutal than the last.

"Every time I touched her, I felt so nauseated I wanted to vomit. But to create the perfect donor match for Rae, I had no choice. I had to force myself to father a child with her."

My vision blurred. My entire world tilted on its axis.

So, this was the truth behind my marriage—an elaborate, carefully orchestrated scheme from the very beginning.

Five years ago, when I was set to marry my first love, Hunter, my parents had burst into the ceremony uninvited, creating a scene so humiliating I could barely stand under the weight of their accusations. They called me selfish, ungrateful, a curse on the family. They screamed that I was destined to die a miserable, lonely death.

Whispers rippled through the crowd, the weight of judgment crushing me from every direction.

Hunter couldn't take the shame. With a single cold declaration—"This engagement is off"—he turned and walked away, leaving me stranded, humiliated and alone on the stage.

That was when Kai appeared.

He stepped forward, cutting through the whispers like a blade. With his strikingly handsome face and calm confidence, he extended his hand to me, his smile gentle and reassuring.

"I've had a crush on you for ten years. Will you marry me?"

I thought he was my salvation—a lifeline thrown to me by fate itself.

Only now, standing outside that study, did I finally understand the truth.

The woman Kai had truly loved for over ten years wasn't me. It was Rae.

He married me for one reason—to create the perfect donor match for her. And when I gave birth to that match, my son, my sweet little Leon, they took his kidneys.

They took my child from me—the child I carried, nurtured and cherished.

I hated him.

A scream clawed at my throat, but all that escaped was a choked sob. I clutched my chest, fists pounding against the floor, my cries swallowed by the thunder that roared outside. Lightning split the sky, briefly illuminating the empty hallway around me.

Suddenly, a dark figure stepped out of the shadows.

A hand gripped my arm, strong and unyielding, yanking me to my feet.

"Let go of me!" My voice cracked as I struggled. I knew who it was even before I turned—Kai's personal bodyguard, Clayton.

His grip tightened, his muscular arms like iron bands as he pulled me into a corner. His other hand clamped over my mouth, muffling my cries. No matter how hard I thrashed, he held firm, his face impassive.

Through the narrow slit of the study door, I watched helplessly as Rae walked in.

She smiled sweetly, her voice soft and saccharine. "Kai, thank you for finding me the perfect kidney donor."

My stomach turned.

She knew. She had always known.

For four years, she'd smiled at me over cups of tea, played with Leon like the perfect doting aunt—all while seeing nothing more than two kidneys walking around in a little boy's body.

Lightning struck again, its bright flash lighting up the study just in time for me to see Rae rise onto her tiptoes, arms looping around Kai's neck as she kissed him deeply.

"Kai, you're so good to me," she purred. "You even got me my precious nephew's kidneys..."

How dare she! How dare they!

My whole body shook with rage, every muscle trembling as I fought to break free—but Clayton's hand clamped down even harder over my mouth, silencing me completely.

He wasn't rough out of malice or cruelty. Perhaps fearing I would disrupt Kai and Rae's romantic moment, he held me there, convinced that keeping me quiet was the right thing to do.

I bit him, hard enough to taste blood, my teeth tearing into his flesh—but not a single sound escaped him. He didn't flinch, didn't loosen his grip.

When I finally regained my senses, though still trembling and broken, I found myself feeling an odd sense of gratitude toward Clayton.

Yes. I couldn't let Kai and the others know that I had discovered the truth.

I had to stay silent. Play along. Pretend I was still blind.

Only then could I have my revenge.