By law, hospitals were prohibited from revealing the identity of bone marrow donors.

But Courtney, desperate to save her own life, had bribed the hospital director and gotten her hands on all of my personal information. That was why she had shown up at my doorstep.

Since we had already crossed paths in my past life, I didn't need to resort to such underhanded tactics. Instead, I went straight to the Smith residence and knocked on the door.

When they laid eyes on me, the entire family froze. It was as if a mortal enemy had appeared before them.

Courtney, in particular, stared at me nervously. It was as though I were a demon who had come to claim her life.

Before I could get a word in, her father, Gerald Smith, spoke first. "Isabella, Courtney already told us that you have leukemia. Getting a disease like that simply means bad luck.

"You can't blame anyone else for it. Since you still have some time left, you should enjoy what remains of your life and start making funeral arrangements."

Yet, I barely reacted to his words. Wearing a desperate expression, I pleaded, "The doctor said that as long as someone is willing to donate their bone marrow, I can survive. Three years ago, I donated mine to Courtney. I'm here today to ask her to save me."

All at once, the living room fell silent.

The next moment, Gerald slammed his hand on the table and bellowed, "Do you think donating bone marrow is some trivial matter? Do you have any idea how much damage it does to the body? Are you trying to get Courtney killed?"

At that, Courtney's mother, Elizabeth Moore, finally exploded. Her features contorted with fury as she pointed at me.

"We don't owe you anything! Why should Courtney donate her bone marrow to you?" she screamed. "If you're going to die, then just die already! Don't bring your disease in here and make our house filthy!"

I couldn't help but chuckle inwardly.

Gerald and Elizabeth could turn on me in a heartbeat. Yet, back then, they had been on their knees, begging me to donate my bone marrow to save Courtney. Funny how they hadn't mentioned how damaging it was supposedly to the body.

And now that the person who had once helped them had fallen ill and came asking for help, they showed no gratitude.

With her parents backing her up, Courtney was no longer as frightened as she had been at first.

"No one forced you to donate your bone marrow back then," she said, a trace of cruel amusement flickering in her eyes. "I survived because I was lucky. That has nothing to do with you.

"Besides, you brought this on yourself. You should just accept your fate. Wouldn't it be better if you just died? There's no point in you staying alive."

Even though I had braced myself, hearing those words from Courtney still made my blood boil. The Smiths were the very definition of burning bridges.

Before I could respond, they shoved me out the door, hurling insults and mocking me for my wishful thinking.

What they didn't know was that my phone had been recording everything all along.

I went to work the next morning. However, before I even reached the office entrance, my phone started buzzing repeatedly.

I checked it, only to see that a coworker had sent me a video.

"Isa, look! Isn't this the family whose daughter you previously donated bone marrow to?"

I focused on the screen. Sure enough, it was the Smith family. They were gathered outside my workplace, causing a commotion.

In the video, Gerald and Elizabeth sank to the ground as they wailed about how hard their lives had been.

"Three years ago, we sold everything we had to save our daughter," Gerald cried. "She's only just recovered, and now, some heartless woman is trying to guilt her into donating her bone marrow!"

Elizabeth sobbed even louder. "She can die for all we care, but she wants to take our daughter down with her! Who could be this cruel?"

Their cries soon prompted several coworkers to step forward and defend me.

"Donating bone marrow doesn't even cause serious harm!" someone argued. "If it weren't for Isabella, your daughter might not even be alive today!"

Another chimed in, "Exactly! Just because your daughter doesn't want to die, does that mean someone else has to? She's just trying to survive!"

Seeing everyone around them speak up in my defense, Courtney looked utterly devastated. Tears streamed down her face as she cried out, "So, her life matters. But what about mine?

"Donating is an act of kindness, and I have every right to refuse! Why should anyone try to guilt me into it?"

Elizabeth's eyes blazed with rage when she saw Courtney cry. Without hesitation, she stepped forward and seized the wrist of the young woman who had just spoken.

"Put it in writing then!" she snapped. "If anything happens to my daughter because of this bone marrow donation, you'll take full responsibility!"

At that threat, the young lady immediately withdrew her hand and didn't dare say another word.

Meanwhile, the rest of the onlookers instinctively stepped back. They, too, were afraid of being dragged into the Smiths' scheme.

With no one left to defend me, Gerald and Elizabeth began twisting the facts.

They accused me of extorting a huge sum of money from them three years ago before agreeing to donate my bone marrow. They even said I had shown up at their home with a knife, forcing Courtney to donate hers.

Worse, they claimed that I had threatened to drag their entire family down and ruin them completely if they refused.

Seeing sympathy begin to ripple through the crowd, Gerald and Elizabeth immediately put on a show of selflessness.

"If our daughter's leukemia were to relapse, we'd rather give up treatment than force someone already in poor health to donate their bone marrow."

Elizabeth added, "Besides, she's carrying a fatherless child. If she goes through with a bone marrow transplant, that bastard won't survive.

"But if she skips the surgery, she could live a couple more years. What kind of mother would abort her own child just to save herself? Someone like that will get what karma has coming!"

My grip on the phone tightened until my knuckles turned white.

The word "bastard" struck a nerve. My baby was not a bastard. It was the child of a hero.

Still, I forced down the rage burning inside me and quietly saved the video. I couldn't help wondering if they'd still be able to keep up that righteous act when they eventually learned that Courtney's leukemia had relapsed.

The video of the Smiths making a public scene went viral almost overnight.

To keep the momentum going, I funneled money into boosting their posts. In no time, the hashtag DebtOfGratitudeGoneWrong shot to number one on the trending list.

Clips of Courtney and her parents wiping away tears sparked an outpouring of sympathy online, followed by a wave of condemnation aimed squarely at me.

One person commented, "Can't she find another donor? Why does she have to cling to the same person?"

Another comment read, "I can't believe someone would be this brazen these days. Threatening someone with a knife over a bone marrow donation? That's basically extortion!"

Before long, public opinion completely tilted in favor of the Smith family. The office phones wouldn't stop ringing as complaints flooded in, pressuring my employer to fire me.

Unable to take the strain any longer, my supervisor, Brandon Lloyd, summoned me to his office to get the story straight.

I laid out the medical proof showing I wasn't sick and explained that I was conducting a social experiment on human nature.

Hearing that, Brandon nodded in approval. Then, he granted me special leave, telling me to stay home for a while until the storm blew over.

…

When the online frenzy reached its peak, I finally spoke out. Facing the camera, I wiped away my tears and said, "I saved her life back then. Is it really so wrong to ask her to save mine just once?"

Once again, people online were stunned by my sheer audacity.

Furious, Courtney went online and fired back, "You're absolutely shameless! How can you even say something like that out loud?"

I laughed at her response. Funny enough, those were exactly the words I had wanted to say to her.

Without wasting another second, I hired a group of online trolls to swarm Courtney's comment section, egging her on to file a lawsuit. I wanted her to be the first to accuse me of manipulation.

Just as I had anticipated, the trolls nudged her into taking me to court.

It didn't take long before the court summons arrived. A wave of relief washed over me when I saw that the trial was scheduled for the very next day.

At the same time, Elijah's former commander called to check on me and asked if I needed any help.

I rested a hand over my stomach, feeling the baby stir inside me. This time, no matter what, I wouldn't let anyone hurt it.