But fate had played the cruelest joke on him.
I didn't want him to lose hope, so I had the hospital keep it confidential.
For the past year, I'd practically lived in the lab, day and night, developing a treatment for his condition.
One more round of therapy, and he would have been cured.
Too bad he'd never deserve it now.
"Is that so? Then I wish you two all the best. May you pop out babies left and right and stay shackled together forever."
Nora flushed with rage and raised her hand.
I was bracing myself when someone grabbed me hard from behind and yanked me backward.
A palm cracked across my face.
Leila Henson's eyes burned with enough hatred to flay me alive.
"Amanda Henson, you stay away from my daughter! If anything happens to her, this family will make you pay!"
I pressed my hand to my throbbing cheek.
Looked into those eyes, brimming with disgust.
All I felt was the irony.
Six months ago, she'd been diagnosed with liver cancer. Not a single suitable donor could be found in all of Crestfield.
So I gave her part of mine. That transplant was the only reason she was still breathing.
But it nearly killed me. Massive hemorrhaging on the operating table. I'd flatlined before they pulled me back.
When I woke up, she held my hand, called me "sweetheart" over and over, and swore that even after they found Nora, she'd love us both equally.
That hadn't lasted long.
Now all she had left for me was revulsion.
"I've already had your name removed from the Henson family registry. From this moment on, you have nothing to do with us!"
"I will never give you the chance to hurt my daughter or my grandchild!"
Watching me stand there, stunned, Nora cradled her stomach with a slow, deliberate hand. "Don't tell me you didn't know, sis? I'm pregnant. Three months along."
Carter stood in the doorway, his expression unreadable.
So that was why he was marrying her.
"Congratulations, Mr. Gilbert."
Before the words had fully left my mouth, Leila's hand swung at me again.
"Flirting with Carter right in front of us? Do you think we're dead?!"
But this time, I didn't let her land it.
I caught her wrist and held it. Squeezed until she cried out.
Nora scrambled into Carter's arms, trembling like a frightened kitten. "Carter, is it because I took the drug development project from her? Is that why she's lashing out?"
"Please, sis, if that's what this is about, just let Mom go. I'll give you back the spot."
Then her eyes locked onto mine, glinting with challenge.
I almost laughed.
They had no idea.
That drug development project was mine. I'd initiated it. The only reason I'd handed it to Henson Pharmaceuticals was to elevate their standing in Southgate City.
But I didn't feel like giving anymore.
Carter's face went white with fury. He seized my hand in a crushing grip.
"Amanda, are you done making a scene?!"
"One of them is the sister whose life you stole for twenty years."
"The other is the mother who raised you. Do you really have to be this aggressive?"
His grip was iron-tight.
And suddenly I remembered the day he proposed. He'd held my hand just like this, fingers locked around mine.
Breathing hard. Eyes full of conviction.
Promising that if we both made it home alive, he'd give me a lifetime of happiness.
I never once doubted his love. But love shifts like wind.
Everything he'd given me, he could just as easily give to Nora.
Carter's brow furrowed, and his voice dropped to something dangerous.
"Apologize to Nora and her mother."
"Or I'll make sure you never work in Crestfield again."
He used to defend me just like that. Blindly. Fiercely. Without asking questions.
Now the same ruthlessness was aimed squarely at me.
"Even though you know they provoked me first. Even though you can see I'm the one who got hit." My voice was steady, each word precise. "And you still want me to apologize. Is that right, Carter?"
