The next morning, the second I opened my door I was hit by a glare of red. Paint had been splashed everywhere, all over the door and the wall.

Several dead rats lay on the ground too, their bellies torn open.

The stench rushed into my nose and I gagged, hurrying out the front gate before it eased.

Out on the street, people pointed and murmured about me.

I pretended I couldn't hear any of it. Mom and Dad had already gotten the trending topics taken down, and in a while these people would forget.

But when I got to work, I was told I'd been fired.

My things had been boxed up and dumped beside the trash can.

A coworker I got along with pulled me into the restroom and dropped her voice.

"Hannah, what did you do to the Winfields? They pressured the boss and said he had to fire you, or they'd cancel their contract with the firm!"

I looked at her fretting on my behalf and nodded, giving her a reassuring smile.

"It's fine. I was planning to leave soon anyway."

She patted my shoulder and left.

I'd only come to this firm to get some experience. I really was going to move on before long.

I was carrying my box downstairs when I saw the Winfields sitting in the lobby.

Lola's eyes were certain she'd already won.

"Come back. Once you've cured your sister, be the Winfield family's private attorney. I'll pay you five hundred thousand a year, a lot more promising than this little firm."

"New York isn't run by the Winfields. There's justice in this world, and people are watching what you do!"

I glanced at Lola and kept walking, my things in my arms.

The smug look on her face froze on the spot.

"Stop right there! You are donating bone marrow to your sister today! I'm your mother! You do as I say!"

Lola couldn't hold the refined-lady act together anymore, stamping her feet in fury.

"Hannah, when did you get so heartless? You were so kind as a child!"

Quinn blocked my path, his face a picture of grief and pain.

This time I really looked at him, and let out a cold sneer.

"So what did being kind get me back then? A knife in the back from the people closest to me? I'm not stupid enough to do that twice. Move."

I slammed hard into Quinn as I passed. His mouth opened, but not a word came out.

Hatred flickered in Nadia's eyes. She trotted over to me and gripped my leg, refusing to let go.

"Sis, please, save me. I really don't want to die. It's just bone marrow, it won't affect your health at all. If I live, I can honor Mom and Dad in your place, ah!"

I kept walking, then heard a cry. Nadia's body suddenly toppled backward.

Her head cracked against the corner of a table, and warm blood came pouring out at once. She slumped limply into the arms of Quinn, who had rushed over.

"Don't blame Sis. It was my own fault, I wasn't careful. If she doesn't want to, then forget it. I just hope that after I'm gone, she'll honor Mom and Dad for me..."

Blood covered Nadia's face, and still she was thinking of them.

Louis and Lola broke into tears in an instant, clutching her hands tight.

"No! You're our only daughter, we can't lose you. If anything happens to you, Mom won't go on living either!"

"Call an ambulance! Somebody help!"

"Nadia!"

The three of them were a chaotic mess. Quinn turned to look at me, his eyes full of hatred.

"If anything happens to Nadia, I'll make you pay with your life! You're coming to the hospital with us!"

The words had barely left his mouth before several bodyguards dragged me into a car by force.

They dragged me to the blood-draw window, and when I saw the thick collection needle, I shook all over with fear.

During the time after I'd been thrown out of the Winfields, selling my blood was the only way I could scrape by. The sight of a needle had become a trigger for me.

"Let go of me. What you're doing is against the law!"

"If it can save my Nadia, I'd kill for her. We gave you life once. Consider this paying us back."

They held me down so I couldn't move, and the thick needle drove through my skin without mercy.

Bag after bag of blood was drained out of me, endless, until my vision went black and my whole body felt like it might float away.

"This woman has already given the maximum. She can't give any more."

The young nurse saw my face was white as paper and, unable to bear it, warned them.

"She's fine. She's strong. Keep going. Nadia needs more blood in reserve, just in case."

Lola gave the order coldly, as though she couldn't see how pale I was.

"Hannah, hold on a little longer. Nadia is very sick. If you save her, I'm willing to marry you."

Quinn came and stood in front of me and stroked my head, the way he used to comfort me back in the orphanage.

"Quinn, don't you forget who pulled you out of that orphanage. Ten years ago you put a knife in me, and now you want to twist it again. Doesn't your conscience hurt at all?"

I glared at him, hard.

The color drained from Quinn's face all at once, and he couldn't get out a single word.

"You shut your mouth! Quinn belongs to Nadia. Don't you dare set your sights on him."

I had just finished bleeding and was trying to stand when Lola struck me across the face.

The force of it, on top of legs that already wouldn't hold me, sent me cracking into the chair.

Pain tore through my forehead. Blood clouded my eyes and I couldn't see.

This was the second time Lola had hit me.

In her heart, I had never once been her daughter.

I couldn't hide the hatred anymore.

"Her life is a life. Mine isn't?"

But my raw, screaming voice was nothing but a clown's act in Lola's eyes.

She let out a cold snort.

"How I wish Nadia were my real daughter. I regret ever giving birth to something as venomous as you."

Hearing that, I couldn't stop myself from bursting into laughter.

All three of them went cold down the spine at the sound.

"You think I ever wanted to be your real daughter? Being your daughter in this life is the most disgusting thing that's ever happened to me."

"You—!"

Lola shook with rage, pointing at me, unable to speak.

"Is the patient's family here? The patient is in acute kidney failure. She needs an immediate transplant, or her life is in danger."

The doctor hurried out of the operating room as he spoke.

Louis, Lola, and Quinn all rushed at him at once, and Lola dropped straight to her knees before him.

"I'm begging you, save my daughter. Whatever it costs!"

Quinn shoved me toward the doctor and said urgently,

"Doctor, her blood type is a perfect match for Nadia's. The kidney would be a good match too, wouldn't it?"

"In theory, yes. But it still depends on whether she consents herself."

"She consents! She consents! You can operate right now, as long as it saves my precious daughter!"

Lola seized me as though she'd just heard the best news of her life.

She pinned my hand down, trying to make me sign the surgical consent form.

"I do not consent!"

I wrenched my hand free and flung the pen hard to the floor.

"There is no way I'm giving her my kidney. Her life is a life. Mine isn't?"

"Hannah, I'm begging you, save Nadia. She's about to die. You can lose one kidney and still live a perfectly normal life!"

Quinn held onto my hand, his words earnest, his face all frantic worry.

"Live a normal life with one kidney gone? Tell that to someone stupid enough to believe you. I'm leaving, or I'm calling the police."

I hadn't finished speaking when I felt a needle stab into me, and I went limp and crumpled down.

I turned and saw Lola holding a syringe of anesthetic, her face twisted.

"Stop wasting words on her. Take her straight into the operating room! We're her parents. We have the right to sign for her!"

"If anything goes wrong, I take full responsibility!"

My mind grew hazier and hazier. I wanted to struggle but couldn't move a muscle, and I could only let them wheel me into the operating room.

Then, just as the operating room doors were about to close, I heard a familiar voice.

"Who dares touch my precious daughter?!"