Not long afterward, I heard the sharp click of high heels echoing down the corridor outside.

Letizia came back into the hospital room alone. Marcello wasn't with her. The previous display of meekness and aggrievedness had vanished from her face, replaced by blatant smugness and malice.

I ignored her.

The fever caused by the hemolytic reaction had already drained me. I didn't even have the strength to lift my arm.

Letizia walked to my bedside and flicked my IV line with her fingers.

"My, my. How pathetic you are. Did you know? While we were out in the corridor just now, Cello called you a nuisance."

She leaned closer and lowered her voice. "You can see it clearly now, right? Between you and me, I'll always be his first choice."

I exerted the effort to open my eyes and stare coldly at her. "Are you done? If you are, get out."

But Letizia didn't get mad. In fact, her smile widened in delight.

"You're so stubborn, Stella—but it's fine. You won't be able to keep that up for long."

She pulled a palm-sized microcomputer from her handbag and began typing rapidly on the tiny keyboard. The screen emitted a faint blue glow.

"Cello keeps saying you're just pretending to feel unwell. I don't think that's true. Why don't I help you make your condition seem a little more realistic, hm?"

The moment she finished speaking, the alarm went off. Shrill beeps rang from the cardiac monitor beside my bed, with the red light flashing.

My heart rate shot up to 190. My blood pressure plunged, dropping below the safety threshold.

The piercing sounds echoed through the entire floor.

I watched Letizia's performance with a stoic expression.

Suddenly, hurried footsteps came from the corridor.

"What's going on?" Marcello was the first through the door, his face dark as a storm cloud.

A group of panicked doctors and nurses came in after him.

The moment the door opened, Letizia had surreptitiously slipped the microcomputer back inside her handbag before staggering two steps backward. She covered her ears, shaking as she cried out, "Cello! I don't know what's going on. The alarm just started going off! I'm so scared…"

She threw herself into his arms, crying so hard her body trembled.

Marcello wrapped an arm around her and gently patted her back. "It's okay. Everything's alright. I'm here."

A doctor rushed over to inspect the monitor, sweat beading on his forehead.

"That's strange. Her vital signs are stable. Why would the monitor's alarm go off?"

Marcello began to scowl. After calming Letizia, he turned toward me, his gaze sharp as a knife.

"Stella! When are you going to stop playing these games? How dare you mess with the medical equipment just to get me to stay? When did you become this person? I'm so disappointed in you!"

Staring right back at his livid expression, I didn't even have the energy to shout back at him. "You think I did it?"

Marcello sneered. "Who else could it be, besides you? You're jealous of Letizia, so you're trying to frame her!"

He strode over and yanked my blanket off in one swift motion.

"Get out of the bed right this instant and apologize to Letizia!"

The cold air swept over my burning body. I fell into a violent coughing fit, the blood filling my throat. Swallowing it back down, I looked up, my gaze flat and cold.

"Did you get kicked in the head, Marcello?"

He froze. In our entire eight years of marriage, I had never spoken to him like that before. I'd always been gentle, patient, and accepting of everything.

"How dare you insult me like that?" Marcello spat out through clenched teeth, his eyes wide with disbelief.

"I'm just calling it like it is—and you're an idiot." I calmly reached out and unplugged the monitor's power cord.

The shrill alarm cut off instantly.

At last, the hospital room was quiet again.

"The next time you guys decide to act like complete hypocrites and twist things around like that, don't bother disgusting me with your performance."

I flipped over on the bed, showing my back toward him.

"It only repulses me."

Marcello's fists clenched so tightly his knuckles cracked. "Very well. I see how it is. Since you're so tough and stubborn, Stella, you can stay here all by yourself! I shall see how long you can keep this up!"

He grabbed Letizia's hand and stormed out.

"Cello, does Stella hate me very much?" Letizia asked, looking hurt and aggrieved as she cried.

"Ignore her. She's just a nutcase."

As the footsteps grew fainter, I closed my eyes and swallowed down the second mouthful of blood that rose in my throat.

The next day, a breaking news bulletin interrupted the regular programming on the television in my hospital room.

"Major security vulnerabilities have been discovered in the Marchetti family's smart driving system, Phantom. At 8:00 am this morning, eight vehicles equipped with the system suddenly lost control on the highway, causing a chain collision. Three people have already suffered severe injuries and…"

Leaning against my pillow, I struggled to wipe the blood from the corner of my mouth. My vision had already begun to double. I knew the hemolytic reaction was gradually destroying my body's ability to produce blood.

Marcello stood by the window, shouting into his phone, "Is the entire PR department on vacation? Suppress the news immediately. I don't care how much it costs. Just find a scapegoat and say it was caused by some freelance programmer who was acting alone."

Furious, he ripped off his tie and hurled it onto the couch.

Letizia was curled up in a corner of the couch, twisting her fingers together and looking completely innocent as she said, "I'm sorry, Cello… I just thought the system's firewall was too basic and wanted to give them a surprise. How was I supposed to know it would end up causing a car accident..."

Marcello took a deep breath before walking over to her. Patting her on the head, he said, "It's fine. I'll take care of it. Just don't be so cheeky next time. The media loves blowing things out of proportion all the time. It was just a minor accident. We can easily settle this by paying the victims some compensation."

My stomach churned as I heard him speak in such a flippant tone.

Human lives had been jeopardized, but in his eyes, it was just a "cheeky" act that could be smoothed over with some "compensation".

Enduring the agony of multiple organ failure, I reached beneath my pillow and pulled out my laptop. The moment my fingers touched the keyboard, I felt slightly more awake.

My fingers flew across the keyboard as I swiftly coded something.

To protect Letizia, Marcello would undoubtedly erase every trace of evidence that linked the accident back to her. I had to gather all of her original data before my time ran out.

The progress bar crawled across the screen. My vision grew blurrier by the second. By now, I was relying almost entirely on muscle memory to type.

"What are you doing?" Marcello had just gotten off another call and turned around to see me typing away on my laptop.

He marched over and slammed the laptop shut. "We have a major crisis on your hands, yet you're still in the mood to play computer games? How can you be so heartless and unfeeling, Stella?"

I looked up at his infuriated expression.

"You're accusing me of being heartless and unfeeling?" I snorted, coughing up a bit of blood. "What gives you any right to say that when you've chosen to cover up for a murderer, Marcello?"

His expression hardened, and his gaze turned stormy. "What the hell are you talking about? Letizia is still a child!"

Letizia hurried over and hugged his arm. "Are you trying to report me to the authorities, Stella? But you don't have any evidence."

She winked at me, her smile taunting. "Cello already had all of my activity logs deleted. Even if you go to the authorities, no one will believe you."

Seeing her fearless expression, I opened up my laptop again. "Is that so?"

I pressed the Enter key, and the encrypted archive was completed.

The folder contained evidence of her tampering with the smart driving system that led to this incident. Not only that, but it also had the complete record of every server intrusion and trade-secret theft she had committed against the rival families over the past five years.

"Don't act rashly, Stella!" Marcello reached out to snatch the laptop away from me.

I drew away from him and eyed him coldly. "Relax. I'm just writing my will."

His hand froze in midair. After staring at my colorless face, he suddenly snorted. "Your will? Why would you need a will when you're barely injured? You're becoming more and more unreasonable every day!"

He grabbed Letizia's hand and walked off without hesitation. "We're going. Let her carry on with her crazy stunts alone!"

The moment the door closed, I could no longer hold myself upright. My head collapsed onto the pillow.

On the screen, the delivery for the encrypted archive had been scheduled. It would be sent out four days after my death.

Late at night, the hospital room was as silent as a cemetery. Only the sound of my heavy, uneven breathing echoed through the darkness.

By now, the hemolytic reaction had reached the final stage, leaving me in a terminal condition. My kidneys had completely shut down. My lungs were filling with fluid. Every breath felt like swallowing shards of broken glass.

Suddenly, fireworks started to burst outside the window, the sounds somehow getting through the soundproof glass as they exploded in the sky.

I checked my phone and saw Letizia's livestream.

Marcello had rented out the entire amusement park nearby. Letizia stood under the dazzling fireworks with a diamond tiara on her head, smiling like a princess.

Standing beside her, Marcello looked at her with a gentle, tender gaze.

"Happy birthday, Letizia. I'll give you anything you want for your birthday," he said in a voice filled with affection while holding a glass of champagne.

Even as I stared at this scene, I didn't even have the strength to sneer. The phone slipped from my hand and hit the floor with a loud clatter.

Just then, the door opened. The nurse making her rounds took one look at me and let out a scream.

"Doctor! Emergency! The patient in Bed 3 has gone into shock!"

There was a huge commotion out in the corridor. Moments later, the crash cart was wheeled into the room, and the harsh lights of the hospital shone brightly on my face.

"Her heart rate is dropping! We can't get a blood pressure reading!"

"Push epinephrine!"

The medical team's frantic shouts buzzed in my ears, but it sounded like they were speaking underwater.

"Where's the next of kin? Contact her family immediately and have them sign the critical condition notice!"

The nurse fumbled with the phone as she called Marcello.

On the livestream, Marcello's phone started buzzing in his pocket. Frowning, he pulled it out and took a look. The number belonged to the hospital.

Letizia leaned over to take a look before pursing her lips. "Stella must be faking it again, Cello. She's just upset that you're hanging out with me instead of staying with her."

Scoffing, Marcello rejected the call without any further hesitation.

When the nurse tried calling him again, all she heard was a robotic automated message. "The number you have dialed cannot be reached at this moment…"

"I can't get the next of kin! He blacklisted the hospital's number!" the nurse cried out, so panicked that she was almost in tears.

Gritting his teeth, the doctor continued performing chest compressions on me.

"Keep going! Don't stop the resuscitation efforts!"

I watched as they made the futile effort to save me. Using the last shred of strength I had left, I turned my head toward the window.

The last firework bloomed across the night sky, which finally faded back into complete darkness.

It was just like the preposterous marriage I'd been trapped in for eight years now.

On the cardiac monitor, the waveform that had been rising and falling suddenly flattened into a single straight line. The sharp beep was the only thing that could be heard in the room.

Suddenly, I had a weightless feeling.

The medical staff stopped in defeat and finally draped a white sheet over my body.

"The patient no longer has any vital signs. Time of death—1:43 am."