The paperwork looked legitimate. Every stamp crisp, every signature in place. Director Hammond had even called personally, claiming my mother pulled every string to secure this slot.
I debated it for a long time. In the end, I decided to go. I wasn't gambling with my life out of spite. This surgery was what I deserved—what I was owed.
But when I walked into the inpatient ward, no surgeon waited for me.
Instead, I found the people I loathed most in this world.
Max Dickerson and his mother.
I shot a sharp look at Dad.
He wouldn't meet my eyes. Stared at the floor, guilt radiating off him, yet his grip on my arm was iron-tight as he yanked me into a chair.
"Max feels terrible," he muttered. "He wanted to apologize personally. And... if your mother hadn't set this up, we knew you wouldn't come back."
The room went cold. My throat constricted.
"So the surgery was a lie?" I rasped. "Your ultimate goal was to ambush me with this charity case?"
Max stood up to play peacemaker.
"Sam, Dr. Henson saved me, but I know it hurt you. It's not her fault—it's mine. I'm so sorry."
He dropped to his knees. Theatrical. Instantly trapping me in a moral deadlock. If I didn't forgive him, I was the villain.
Mom looked at me with that familiar, heavy disappointment.
"Look how sensible Max is. Unlike you, throwing tantrums over nothing. Let it go, Samantha. In fact, you should help Max out more. He comes from a small town, and fighting rejection post-surgery is expensive. It's not easy for him."
Dad nodded enthusiastically. "Exactly. The kid is pitiful. He's had such a hard road."
A bitter laugh escaped me.
I tossed my medical records and the stack of overdue bills onto the table.
"I'm not exactly living the high life either." I said coldly. "General Hospital says without a transplant, I'm on borrowed time. I'm dying."
I glared at the boy on the floor. "Max, if you're so sorry, prove it. Give me my heart back."
Mom slammed her hand on the table, springing to her feet.
"It was bad enough you ran away and refused to come home, but now you're forging medical records to trick us?" Her voice rose to a shriek. "How can you be so vicious? Max is still recovering, and you're talking about stealing his heart?"
I laughed. No humor in it. She hadn't even glanced at the diagnosis. She didn't care about my condition at all.
Even back in the Urban Village, her tears had been nothing but performance.
"Who told me my parents were rich enough to buy a heart for a stranger, but required their own daughter to die for it?" I sneered. "Whatever. If I die, your careers go down with me."
I looked at Mom with open mockery.
"I just don't get it. You'd give your heart and lungs to an outsider, but you're ruthless toward your own flesh and blood."
"I used to think you had principles. Thought you were ethical. But seeing what you did for Max—it's just double standards." My voice dropped. "You're nothing but a hypocrite."
I knew exactly why she saved him.
The election for Deputy Director was coming up next year. She needed the reputation. Saving a poor student from a destitute, single-parent family? Gold for her campaign. Perfect publicity.
At such a critical time, she couldn't risk giving her own daughter priority surgery. People might whisper about nepotism. Might affect her votes.
But that heart was mine. My place in line.
In her scheme, she got the glory, Max got a new life.
And I was the fool sacrificed on the altar of her ambition.
Now I couldn't even afford my medication.
I pulled out my phone and turned on the camera.
"Since you care so much about this poor student, let's make it official. Right now, in front of the entire internet, acknowledge him as your son. It'll definitely pave the road for your promotion."
I turned the lens toward her terrified face. "And as for me, publicly sever our mother-daughter relationship. I'm done being the burden you hide to avoid suspicion."
