When my undercover identity was exposed, someone ran me down with a car, crushing both of my legs.

The attacker then fired three shots at my son, trying to force me to watch as he bled to death.

When I was gravely injured and on the brink of death, my husband, Xander, a police officer, rushed in at the risk of his life and shot the attacker dead on the spot.

When I woke up, his eyes were red as he told me that our son had suffered severe brain damage and would never wake up again.

A year later, I saw my husband kissing the attacker’s daughter, Anais.

“You deliberately exposed his undercover identity and carefully planned that car crash, all so you could wait until his son’s heart matured and transplant it into me?”

“Jasper’s heart was the most compatible with you. And your parents once saved my life. I would never let anything happen to you.”

“That was your own son. Aren’t you afraid Isadora will hate you when she finds out?”

Xander replied coldly,

“I have already given my entire life to him. He should be satisfied with that.”

“Besides, he was an orphan with no parents. Even if he finds out, he won’t be able to stir up any trouble.”

What he did not know was that before my parents sacrificed their lives, their final wish was for me to continue supporting that girl with the special identity.

And I will send them all to hell together.

……

“Let me in. My son is on the verge of death. What right do you have to stop me?”

The moment the truth slammed into my mind, the only thing I wanted was to take my son and flee this cold hospital.

My hands clenched the armrests of the wheelchair until my nails cut into my palms. Blood slid down the backs of my hands and stained the icy metal beneath my fingers.

The officer standing at the ward entrance gave me a brief, indifferent glance. His eyes skimmed over the blood on my clothes, disgust barely concealed.

“The patient inside is Mr. Xander’s child. What does that have to do with you?”

“And besides,” he added, swallowing the rest of the sentence halfway, “how could someone as young and accomplished as Captain Xander be connected to a disabled woman like you?”

Though the words were left unsaid, the contempt in his eyes was unmistakable.

I lifted my head, my voice hoarse and shaking, and held out my phone with our family photo.

“Xander is my husband. The one lying inside is my son.”

“You do not believe me? Fine. I will call Xander himself and have him come out and say it.”

The officer’s expression did not change. Just as I pressed the call button, a hand suddenly snatched the phone away.

It was Anais.

She wore a pristine white coat, her face calm, as if she had nothing to do with the madwoman who had fired three shots at Jasper.

She glanced at the photo on my phone, the corner of her mouth lifting slightly as she leaned close to my ear.

“Sorry. Your son’s heart. I am taking it.”

“Send my thanks to Xander for me. If he had not gotten me that medication, the child would not have been in a coma for a whole year.”

Cold swept through my entire body.

As I watched her walk straight toward the ward, I nearly screamed myself hoarse.

“She is a murderer. Why does she get to go in?”

“Anais. If you dare touch my son, I will make you pay.”

I tried to push my wheelchair after her. At the edge of losing control, I saw Xander hurry over.

He crouched in front of me, looking into my eyes as if soothing something ready to explode.

“Calm down, Isadora. I only let her in to operate on Jasper.”

“The child is critical. She is the only one who can save him. What choice do I have?”

I froze, as if torn cleanly in two.

Even after hearing the truth, I still refused to believe he could be this cruel.

“Xander… let me see him once. Just once. Please.”

Xander said nothing. His silence came down like a hammer, shattering the last of my hope.

My eyes burned, my voice trembling.

“She took those three bullets for you. You know it was Anais who fired the gun. How can you still let her get close to our child?”

A flicker of struggle crossed Xander’s eyes. But when I mentioned Anais again, his face hardened like steel.

He motioned for the officers to push me away and spoke softly.

“Get some rest. When you wake up, everything will be fine.”

I fought desperately.

In the chaos, my gaze collided with Anais inside the ward.

She was leisurely extinguishing the cigarette in her hand.

Pressing it straight onto Jasper’s pale arm.

The moment the flesh burned through, fresh blood seeped out.

My vision went black as a beastlike roar tore from my throat.

I did not know where the strength came from, but I actually stood up from the wheelchair.

Clinging to the wall, I staggered toward the ward.

But just as my fingers touched the door handle, Xander blocked my way.

When he saw that I could stand, there was no joy on his face. Only a dark, chilling cold.

He pinned me down and forced me back into the wheelchair.

Ignoring my struggle, he pulled two white pills from his pocket and shoved them into my mouth.

“This is my fault. I should not have stopped your medication. Your delusions are acting up again.”

At that moment, I was completely broken.

Tears slid down my face.

“Xander… how could you do this? Are you really going to trade your son’s life for Anais?”

“What kind of debt is worth that price?”

His movements paused.

He had not expected me to know.

Before the drugs dragged my consciousness into the abyss, he spoke softly.

“I will make it up to you later. Anais does not have much time left.”

In my haze, their voices drifted in and out.

“Why are you so anxious about her? It is just medication to keep her from standing up. The side effects are not unbearable.”

“It was my oversight. She almost entered the operating room today. That could have affected you. Do not worry. I will not let her get close to you again.”

“Xander, thank you for everything. With you here, I can hold on until now.”

At that moment, I finally understood.

My legs had healed long ago.

I had never suffered from delusions.

My child should have woken up long ago.

And he… had already decided to sacrifice both my son and me a year earlier.

When I woke up, the sky was dim and the surgery was long over.

The words I heard before losing consciousness stabbed into my mind again and again like blades. Even the smell of disinfectant carried a rotting, bloody stench.

My tears had dried.

At this moment, there was only one thing I regretted.

Not discovering the truth sooner.

Not seeing Jasper one last time.

Click.

The ward door was pushed open.

Xander walked in wearing casual clothes, holding a thermal lunch container. His movements were cautious and restrained, careful in a way that did not resemble his usual self.

Perhaps out of guilt, he avoided my gaze the entire time.

“Isadora, you are awake,” he said softly. “I made some medicinal soup for you.”

“Do not be too sad. The dead cannot come back to life. Besides… Jasper had agreed to donate his heart.”

I let out a cold laugh.

“Agreed? You told me his brain was damaged and that he would never wake up.”

The spoon in his hand trembled slightly, then quickly steadied.

“He woke up briefly some time ago. I was afraid it would upset you, so I did not tell you.”

“You do not believe me? I have a video of him agreeing to donate.”

Eagerly, he pulled out his phone and played the video without waiting for my response.

In that instant, my heart was nearly torn apart.

A year.

After an entire year, I finally heard Jasper’s voice again.

He sounded weak, but his tone was firm.

“Mom, I agree to donate my heart… as long as Dad…”

Before he could finish, the video was abruptly cut off.

“You saw it yourself,” Xander said expressionlessly. “He did it voluntarily. Rather than suffering, it is better to help someone else.”

He spoke with such confidence, as if he had truly done something noble.

If I had not already known the truth,

if I had not known that Jasper’s coma was something he personally engineered,

I might really have been deceived by him.

Bang.

I swept the thermal container off the table.

The thick soup spilled across the floor. In the scalding liquid, unmistakably, were white granules that had not fully dissolved.

In that moment, my whole body turned cold, as if I had been thrown into an abyss.

Slowly, I lifted my head and looked at Xander.

“You should go,” I said, my voice so low it felt forced out of my throat. “I want to be alone for a while.”

He seemed to sigh in relief, nodded lightly, and left.

As soon as the door closed, I pushed my wheelchair out of the ward.

The hospital morgue was cold to the bone. I searched for a long time.

Finally, in the most inconspicuous corner, I found Jasper.

My son’s body was icy and rigid. His small chest had been carved open, leaving a horrifying hollow.

That heart.

It was already beating inside Anais’s chest.

I collapsed to my knees, my hands trembling as I gathered his broken body into my arms.

“Jasper… Mom is here… I am sorry… I am so sorry…”

I cried until my voice tore apart, as if my soul had been split open.

Again and again, I swore it.

“I will make them pay. I swear I will.”

The medication seemed to have lost its effect on me.

I was actually able to brace myself against the wheelchair and slowly stand.

I lifted Jasper onto the wheelchair and covered the horrifying wound in his chest with a burial shroud.

Step by step.

I pushed him all the way to the entrance of the police station.

I refused to believe this world truly had no justice for me.

“I want to file a report,” my voice was shockingly steady. “Xander and Anais are suspected of intentional homicide and deliberate leakage of classified information.”

I pulled back the shroud.

Jasper’s wound was exposed under the harsh white light, grotesque and terrifying.

“My son was murdered,” I said coldly. “You can perform an autopsy. You will find out exactly what drugs were used on him.”

The officer’s expression shifted from shock to grim.

Then he slammed the desk and pointed at me, shouting.

“Mr. Xander has long stated that you suffer from delusions. Nothing you say can be trusted!”

“And besides, he already signed a donation agreement on behalf of the child. That was legal!”

My heart felt as if it were being crushed alive.

I had never imagined this.

That for Anais, Xander could set such a flawless trap.

I stepped back, only to bump into someone.

I turned around.

It was him.

Xander stood there.

He still carried the scent of hospital disinfectant, his expression colder than the first time I ever met him.

The moment he saw that I had brought Jasper out, his face changed drastically.

“Isadora, are you insane? Stealing a body is a serious crime!”

When he noticed the bloody hollow in Jasper’s chest, his anger slowly faded, replaced by a display of false grief.

“I already chose a burial site for him. Dragging him around like this, are you trying to make sure he never rests in peace?”

The last thread of my reason snapped.

“This is my son!” I roared. “Of course I will demand justice for him!”

“Have you forgotten how my legs were broken? Have you forgotten who fired three shots at him?”

Xander did not answer.

Instead, a weak and familiar figure appeared at the end of the corridor.

It was Anais.

She was wearing a hospital gown, her face pale, her steps unsteady. Yet she walked straight up to me and dropped to her knees.

She actually knelt.

“Isadora…”

Her voice trembled with sobs. “Back then, I was blinded by obsession. I was wrong.”

She pulled out her surgical scalpel and pressed it against her chest.

“If you hate me… I am willing to die right now to atone.”

The blade rested against her chest. One slight push and it would pierce her heart, blood splattering everywhere.

Everyone held their breath.

And for the first time,

I saw real fear in her eyes.

“Anais, you just had surgery. Do not get agitated!”

Seeing the bandages still wrapped around her chest as she held the scalpel to her heart, Xander completely lost control.

He rushed over almost frantically and snatched the blade away.

When he looked back at me again, his eyes were already stained with barely restrained hatred.

It was the first time I had ever seen him panic this much for a woman.

“Isadora, how far are you planning to take this?”

His voice trembled, though he forced himself to sound calm. “Do you only feel satisfied when you push Anais to her death?”

“She did make mistakes back then, but she has already paid the price. She barely survived. Is that still not enough?”

I stood there in silence.

All the rage, grief, and confusion churned violently in my chest, until in the end, only exhaustion remained.