A sharp slap cracked through the room.
The next second, the expression on Samantha’s face changed abruptly.
She sucked in a sharp breath, her body tilting toward the window as if pulled by momentum. She clutched my wrist tightly, swaying on the edge, looking as though she might fall from the height at any moment.
“Randall! Help!”
She screamed, her voice shrill and full of terror.
“Tara is trying to push me down! She’s trying to kill me!”
My pupils shrank. My mind went completely blank.
Before I could even react, the door was kicked open.
Randall stormed in. Without a second of hesitation, he grabbed me and violently shoved me aside.
I crashed hard onto the floor. My back went numb on impact, my vision darkening in waves.
“Tara, have you lost your mind?!”
His voice exploded with rage, as though years of suppressed fury had finally found an outlet.
“You actually dared to lay a hand on Samantha?!”
Samantha immediately collapsed into his arms, trembling all over, crying so hard she could barely breathe.
“Randall… I was just trying to explain things to her. She suddenly hit me and said I deserved to die…” Her sobs broke apart. “I was so scared…”
Randall lowered his head to look at her. The pain and tenderness in his eyes were almost overflowing.
But when he lifted his gaze to me, every trace of warmth vanished, leaving only cold disgust.
“Apologize.”
His tone was icy, absolute.
“Apologize to Samantha. Now.”
I pushed myself up from the floor. My throat was tight, but my voice came out unnervingly steady.
“Why should I apologize?”
“She cursed my brother to die. She said I deserved to lose my hand, deserved to never have children—”
“That’s enough!”
Randall cut me off sharply, impatience written all over his face.
“I don’t want to hear your excuses.”
“You did something wrong. You apologize.”
Cold spread through my entire body, but I stood straight.
“I did nothing wrong.”
Randall looked at me, the corner of his mouth twitching. His eyes were dark and bottomless.
Right in front of me, he pulled out his phone and dialed a number.
“John.”
His voice was flat, devoid of emotion.
“Remove Nik’s ventilator.”
In that instant, my world collapsed.
It felt as if my blood reversed course. I froze in place, unable even to breathe.
“Randall!”
I screamed until my chest tore apart. “Are you insane?! Do you know what you’re doing?!”
He ended the call and looked down at me from above, his calm more terrifying than anger.
“This is the price for disobedience.”
“Attempted murder is still a crime. I’m teaching you to respect life.”
I didn’t hear another word after that.
I stared at his phone, my voice shattered into something barely human.
“Don’t remove the ventilator…”
“Please… don’t…”
The call had already been cut off, clean and final.
Randall looked down at me, his gaze as indifferent as if he were staring at a dog pinned by the throat.
“Now,” he said, “you can apologize.”
“Kneel.”
“Apologize to Samantha.”
“As long as she forgives you, I’ll have them put the ventilator back.”
In that moment, dignity, pride, and self-respect were crushed into dust.
I knew him too well. If Randall said it, he would do it.
He truly did not care whether my brother lived or died.
The sound of my knees hitting the floor was dull and deafening.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s my fault.”
I bowed again and again, my forehead nearly touching the ground. My voice shook uncontrollably as tears slammed down.
“Please… spare my brother.”
“I’m begging you… please…”
Samantha said nothing.
She stood there, looking down at me from above.
After a long moment, she slowly pressed a hand to her stomach, her face turning pale.
“Randall…”
“My stomach hurts.”
“Will the baby… be okay?”
Randall’s expression changed instantly.
He no longer spared me a glance. He scooped her up in his arms, panic and concern flooding his voice.
“Come on. We’re going to the hospital.”
I lunged forward like a madwoman, clutching desperately at the hem of his clothes.
“Randall! Call them—”
“Please, make the call first!”
“Tell them to put the ventilator back… please!”
He flung me away without hesitation, his eyes colder than ice.
“Reflect properly on your mistakes.”
I slammed to the ground.
All I could do was watch as their figures disappeared through the doorway, the world falling silent around me.
I collapsed onto the freezing floor, my fingers shaking so badly I could barely hold my phone.
“Please… anyone… save my brother.”
I unlocked the screen in a panic, my fingers randomly tapping through my contacts. I didn’t even see whose name it was before the call went through.
Each ring felt like a hammer striking my heart.
The next second, the call connected.
“Hello?”
The familiar voice broke me completely.
“Senior—”
“They’re pulling my brother’s ventilator…”
“Randall has lost his mind. He really wants to kill my brother…”
My words came out broken and incoherent.
“Can you help me say something… please, ask the hospital to spare him…”
“I’ll agree to anything. I really can’t hold on anymore…”
“Tara.”
My senior’s voice lowered.
“Calm down and listen to me. I’m here. Your brother will be fine.”
I heard him rapidly instruct his secretary to contact people for help, then he said quietly, “I’m not by your side right now, but you can use Erwin anytime.”
There was a trace of gritted teeth in his voice.
“I’ve already sent Erwin to pick you up.”
“He’s nearby. He’ll be there soon.”
“You don’t need to do anything. Just stay where you are and wait for him.”
I opened my mouth, but my throat felt blocked. Only a faint, broken breath escaped.
“Really… nothing will happen?”
“I promise.”
His voice was firm.
At that moment, the tension holding me together finally snapped.
My phone slipped from my hand. I slid down along the wall, tears pouring out uncontrollably, my sobs tearing free.
My consciousness began to fade, my ears filled with nothing but my own frantic breathing.
Before everything went dark, I heard his urgent voice through the phone.
“Tara, hold on a little longer.”
“Erwin will be there any second.”
But I couldn’t hold on to anything anymore.
When I opened my eyes again, it was already daylight.
Sunlight filtered through the blinds in thin strips across the bedsheets. For a moment, I couldn’t tell where I was or what day it was. My whole body felt hollowed out, even breathing dull and painful.
A note sat on the bedside table.
The handwriting was clean and decisive. Erwin’s.
It read: [Your brother is temporarily stable. I stayed with you all night. There’s an urgent matter at the company. I’ll be back as soon as I finish.]
Something inside my chest seemed to lift slightly.
I threw off the blanket and got out of bed, barefoot, heading straight out.
I needed to see my brother immediately.
Only by seeing him lying there, still breathing, could I truly relax.
But the moment I pushed open his hospital room door, it was empty.
My heart sank violently.
My voice changed as I grabbed a passing nurse and asked where he was.
Startled, the nurse stammered, “A pregnant woman just had massive bleeding and urgently needs a transfusion. The blood bank doesn’t have enough supply. Your brother’s blood type matches, so he was taken for a transfusion.”
My head buzzed.
I nearly screamed out of control. “He’s a patient! He’s the one lying in a hospital bed. What right do you have to take blood from a patient?!”
The nurse turned pale. “It was an order from above. We’re just following instructions.”
It had to be Randall.
I didn’t even have time to put on my shoes. I turned and ran toward the operating room.
I was running too fast. The hallway blurred and darkened before my eyes.
Thankfully, I made it in time.
I forced myself in front of the gurney, the wheels screeching as they stopped.
I threw myself forward, gripping the edge with both hands until my knuckles turned white, my voice trembling beyond control.
“He can’t give blood…”
My words were chaotic, my breathing ragged, my vision darkening.
“My brother is sick. If he gives blood… he’ll really die!”
The next second, a brutal force struck from the side.
Someone seized my wrist, squeezing so hard it felt like my bones would shatter.
I let out a muffled cry of pain, forced to let go as I was violently flung aside.
Randall burst out of the operating room, his face terrifyingly dark, violent fury surging in his eyes.
“What are you making a scene for?!”
His voice was cold and final, without the slightest hesitation.
“This is what your brother owes Samantha.”
