I gripped my phone tightly, glaring at Carter on the bed, rage burning in my eyes.

The vase on the nightstand was thick and heavy; smashing it over his head would split his skull.

Just as I was about to strike, the phone suddenly rang.

“Give me the phone...” Carter murmured the order with his eyes closed.

“My phone’s ringing.”

I quickly composed myself, carefully deleting the call record before placing the phone back beside him.

“Your ringtone is the same as mine?”

He raised an eyebrow, half-opening his eyes. My face, which had just calmed, was now red and wet with tears.

“You’re the only one allowed to use that song as a ringtone?”

I lifted an eyebrow in fake composure, countering his question. Before he could reply, the urgent ringtone sounded again.

“Audrey, what’s wrong?”

“Carter, come to the hospital now! Something happened to Sevi!”

He jumped up from the bed with a start, pushing me aside as he rushed toward the door.

Just as he reached the doorway, he halted abruptly, turning as he ordered, “Wake Aaron! Hurry!”

I clenched my teeth in refusal. “Aaron was traumatized today. I sent him to my uncle's house.”

“You come with me to the hospital first. I'll send someone to pick him up from his place.”

He grabbed my wrist, dragging me forward until I stumbled and yanked my arm free.

“He just came back from the hospital. He can't go again.”

Carter's face darkened. With a cold smirk, he then lifted me up and carried me away.

“Carter! Put me down!”

I struggled violently, but he tossed me into the car with brutal force. My head slammed against the window with a thud.

Ignoring the throbbing pain, I grabbed his collar and hissed, “Is this how you kidnapped Nicholas two years ago?”

Carter held me down.

Panic crossed his eyes before his face turned cold. “What are you talking about?”

“Nicholas never went out alone. Why did he go to the beach by himself that day?”

“He clearly couldn't swim. Why did he take off his shoes and jump into the sea?”

My flood of questions left him silent. His long fingers gripped the seat, making a soft cracking sound. It reflected the strain between us.

“Kids are just playful. They don’t think about things like that.”

But as he spoke, he avoided my gaze.

A sudden pain pierced my heart, leaving my throat burning with bitterness.

Nicholas was his eldest son; how could he have done that?

Tearing out the heart of a three-year-old child, didn’t he have nightmares?

I suddenly sneered. “Really? Sevi and Nicholas look more and more alike. Is it because they share the same heart?”

“Enough!”

Carter suddenly stood up, his tone cold. “Don't push me further. Otherwise, both you and Aaron will suffer.”

With that, he slammed the car door with a loud bang.

My expression hardened as I quickly took out my phone and texted Dylan. [Carter is looking for Aaron. Escape now!]

The car sped forward and soon Carter dragged me to the emergency room entrance.

Audrey, wrapped in her coat, leaned against the doorframe, her face buried in her hands as she sobbed uncontrollably.

“Audrey, how is Sevi?”

Carter pushed me aside and rushed over, holding the trembling Audrey in his arms.

“The doctor said he has myocarditis. His condition is serious…”

Audrey's voice was hoarse and trembling, her long lashes still wet with tears.

“The transplanted heart has been rejecting Sevi's body all along. I’m afraid he can’t hold on…”

As she spoke, her cold gaze shifted toward me.

My chest tightened in that instant, then was pierced by a cold voice. “If it comes to that, I'll do whatever it takes to find a second heart donor.”

The word heart kept repeating in my mind like a demonic sound, striking me like lightning, freezing me completely.

Just yesterday, he had been as caring as a loving father toward Aaron. The three of us had even taken a new, heartwarming family portrait.

Yet the gentle father in that photo seemed stripped of his skin, revealing the terrifying, cruel monster beneath.

Carter’s gaze was as cold and cutting as a blade.

I trembled, stepping back until I hit the corridor bench. At that moment, the operating room door slowly opened.

“The child’s inflammation is too severe. The heart must be replaced immediately!”

Audrey let out a sharp scream, collapsing like an empty puppet into Carter’s arms.

I pushed myself up from the bench and ran toward the elevator entrance. I couldn’t let Aaron fall into their hands.

“Abigail! Get back here!”

The elevator doors suddenly chimed open and a spark of hope crossed my face. The next moment, I ran straight into a group of men dressed in black.

My arms and shoulders were seized in an iron grip. I fought with all my strength, but couldn’t move an inch.

“Let me go! You bastards!”

“Abigail, have you finished causing trouble?”

Carter walked over with a dark expression and slapped me hard across the face.

“Aaron wasn’t even at his uncle’s house. How dare you lie to me?”

Pain shot through me as blood trailed from the corner of my mouth, but I looked up at him with a cold smile.

“What kind of father are you? Even a tiger won’t harm its cubs, but you’re worse than an animal.”

Carter’s face darkened with fury, on the verge of exploding, when his bodyguard reported.

“Mr. Thompson, we’ve sent twenty men in pursuit.”

“They’ve stationed two thugs at the hotel. It’ll take some work to get the child back.”

Carter snorted coldly, gripping my chin tightly, forcing me to look at him. “You've hooked up with another man?”

“Who is he? Speak up!”

I curled my lips into a smirk, my eyes filled with disdain. “You cheated on me while I supported your sister. Why can't I have someone else?”

“You don't deserve to be Aaron's father. You'll never see him again in this lifetime!”

He trembled angrily, his fingers digging into my jaw as if he wanted to break it.

“So Aaron is your child with that bastard?”

“You've been playing the victim all this time just to make me raise someone else's son?”

I jerked my head free from his grip. “You're such a fool! If you don’t believe me, why didn't you get a paternity test?”

Rage nearly boiled over in his eyes as he whipped his head toward the bodyguards and roared.

“Tie her up and take her to the rooftop. No one lets her down without my order."

"Send more men immediately. Bring Aaron back!"

"Yes, Mr. Thompson."

As soon as he finished speaking, I was dragged into the elevator.

The bodyguards tied me up with ropes and hung me high above the rooftop railing.

My body swung in the air, hands bound tight. I looked down to see tiny figures shrinking like ants eighteen stories below.

“Help... help me...”

Before my words died away, Audrey’s sharp voice. “Abigail, you really are incredibly lucky!”

I snapped my head up, meeting her dark, distorted face.

She aimed the scissors in her hand straight at the rope, her eyes burning with hatred. “That car accident six years ago didn't kill you and it forced Carter to donate a kidney to you.”

“You monster! Why did you drag Carter into that car that day?”

I clenched my fists tightly, gritting my teeth as I asked, “Did you plan that accident?”

She poked the spun rope with scissors, her face twisted with resentment.

“I was one step away from inheriting the Taylor Family’s fortune and marrying into the Thompson family as a noble lady.”

“You’re the one who ruined everything!”

She drove the blade into the rope with all her strength.

As the rope neared breaking, panic rose in my chest and I shouted hoarsely, “Stop! If you dare kill me, you'll never find Aaron!”

The scissors, lifted high, halted mid-air. Fear washed over her face as she opened her mouth to ask for answers.

Suddenly, my phone rang. It was Carter. “We’ve found him. I’ll handle everything for you.”

After I hung up, a cold light flashed in Audrey’s eyes.

“I won't kill you... But your precious little darling will meet an accident tonight!”

My body stiffened, as if dropped into an ice pit. Then, Audrey told her bodyguards to shove me into the car.

“Abigail, if you hadn't cheated on your husband back then, you wouldn't have given birth to those twins!”

“Shut up...”

I ground my teeth, wanting to slam my head into hers, but the car lurched forward, sending me tumbling backward without warning.

“You’re so naive! Just grabbing a kidney from the storage makes you grateful to tears.”

“One word from Carter and you'd rush to entertain him without a second thought, only to end up getting played and dumped in a bed full of male models.”

“Shut up!”

Unable to break free from the ropes around my wrists, I could only shout at her. “Why are you hurting me? If you want Carter, I'll give him to you! I don’t want him!”

A heavy, stabbing pain rushed through my chest, as if reliving that day’s torment. My body tightened, my breath hitching in my throat.

They hadn’t just betrayed me; they had trapped me in a place I could never escape. Tears slipped silently, while boiling hatred burned against my fists.

The car finally halted by the sea. Beneath the night sky, the ocean stretched in a vast, inky expanse, its waves raging wildly.

The bodyguards pushed me out and I screamed toward the endless coast, “Aaron! Where are you?”

Suddenly, a burst of lights blazed in the darkness, lighting up the sea. A small lifeboat drifted atop the turbulent dark waves.

Aaron clutched the edge of the lifeboat, crying helplessly.

“Mom! Help me!”

The boat was sinking bit by bit, the cabin already filled with seawater. My chest ached and I clutched it tightly.

Carter, aboard a speedboat in the distance, lifted his hunting rifle. A deafening bang rang out as the bullet tore through the lifeboat’s deck.

Aaron swayed with the rocking waves, nearly falling. In that desperate instant, my breath caught.

I screamed with all my strength. “Carter! Don't hurt Aaron!”

“You wanted a heart? Take mine! Is mine enough?”

Carter stayed emotionless, lifting his rifle and firing two more shots.

Watching Aaron cry in that small boat tore me apart.

Dylan’s message flashed across my screen. Divers were waiting a hundred meters below.

Right now, I have to get Aaron out of the line of fire. In that crucial moment, a burst of raw strength surged through every part of me.

I pushed the bodyguards aside and ran toward Aaron without hesitation.

Ice-cold seawater streamed into my collar. Hearing his distant cries, I swam forward with every bit of strength I had.

A hundred meters, ninety, fifty, forty... Overwhelmed with relief, I reached out and caught the boat, only for a violent wave to crash over my head.

As the seawater swallowed me, I gathered Aaron into my arms and dove beneath the surface.