My stomach lurched beyond my control. I clamped a hand over my mouth, retching violently as I staggered toward Zane.
But he'd already climbed into the Maybach and pulled the door shut.
I ran to the front of the car. The black Maybach surged forward without warning.
“Bang! ”
The car clipped my arm and sped away.
I hit the ground hard, a stabbing pain tearing through my abdomen.
Before I could even process what had happened, the phone in my bag started buzzing like mad.
【Holy crap! Zane actually played the devoted boyfriend with the mistress's kid for FIVE YEARS!】
【I lost ten million dollars fair and square!】
Five years? Playing a role?
My fingers trembled. I forced myself to breathe through the pain clawing at my belly.
I'd been added to a group chat with Zane's old friends.
【Same here, lost and I can't even complain!】
【Zane really is built different. Keeping that act up for YEARS!】
【Gotta say though, the mistress's kid really did love him!】
【Remember when we fed Zane that idea? Got the hospital to tell her he'd been in a car accident and needed an organ transplant.】
【And she actually went through with it!】
【Hahaha, I remember that too!】
【Zane set up a lottery to pick which body part to take from her. I wrote down "eyes." Her eyes really were gorgeous!】
【I put down "kidney"!】
【I went harder. I wrote "heart"!】
The chat scrolled in a frenzy, message after message flooding the screen.
My mind went blank. I read every word, numb.
My finger hovered over the screen, shaking.
【So what body part did the lottery land on?】
【Zane picked it himself, I think. He hated that she "seduced" his dad, so he wrote……left ear!】
Left ear.
My stomach seized. My hand moved on its own, reaching up to touch the place hidden beneath my hair.
The place that would never be whole again.
All this time, I'd believed I gave it up to save Zane. Willingly. Gladly.
It was a joke to them?
A joke cost me my ear?
Tears spilled down my face, hot and unstoppable.
I remembered the way Zane held me after the surgery, his voice cracking with guilt.
“Paige, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault.”
“If I'd been more careful, if the accident never happened, you wouldn't have lost your ear because of me.”
“I swear I'll love you for the rest of my life.”
Every vow he'd made, every word spoken with such conviction, was a lie.
“Ngh……”
A wave of cold washed through me. I doubled over, clutching my stomach as my muscles cramped and seized.
Blood pooled at my feet, spreading.
Someone pulled me upright and half-carried me toward the hospital entrance.
The security guard at the door blocked our way.
“Mr. Gilbert's orders. No hospital under the Gilbert Group is allowed to admit you.”
The guard said it without a flicker of expression, then shoved me back.
Another bolt of pain drove through my abdomen, sharp as a blade.
Every breath felt like swallowing needles.
“How can you do this?”
“Even a private hospital can't treat people this way!”
“Can't you see this girl is dying?!”
The woman holding me up screamed at them.
The guard didn't flinch.
He stood his ground in the doorway and held out a flimsy card, the same kind Zane had given me. A card for a back-alley clinic.
“Mr. Gilbert said if you want to get rid of it, you can go here……”
I stared at the cheap, crudely printed card.
I didn't say a word. I turned to leave.
Then I heard a voice I recognized.
“Zane, babe, my tummy's just a little upset. I'm already at the hospital.”
“What did you say? You're sending the director to meet me?”
Bonnie Galloway's sugary voice floated up from behind me.
I froze, unable to move.
The guard's face melted into a groveling smile as he turned around.
