Terence's POV

In five years of marriage, Queenie Hawkins, who once claimed I was her whole world, betrayed me three times.

The first time, she was drugged and ended up sleeping with a “pure” college boy someone had gifted her. When she sobered up, eyes red with guilt, she told me she had to take responsibility for him.

The second time, she wanted to cheer that same boy up. So, right after I’d had a vasectomy, she made me sit submerged in a giant aquarium as a live exhibit for three full days and nights. When they finally pulled me out, my wounds had already started to rot.

The third time, that boy got sick. To force me into donating a kidney for him, Queenie hung my mother, who was hooked up to a ventilator, on an excavator like a swing. She looked me in the eyes and said, “Terence, don’t push me. You know he means everything to me.”

I dropped to my knees. My tears wouldn’t even fall. They were stuck somewhere deep inside me.

Only then did I truly realize that he was her everything. The woman who once loved me with all she had was gone.

Numb, I nodded. “Fine. I’ll do it. I’ll donate. Just please, let my mom go. I’ll do anything.”

Queenie smiled with satisfaction. But her hand was already on the control panel.

And then, the rope broke. I watched, frozen, as my mother fell from the sky, her body crashing to the ground.

“Mom!” My scream tore through the air, wild and raw.

But all I got in return was Queenie’s cold voice, “Remember, this is what happens when you let Jeremy suffer one more day. If you just listen and behave, everything can go back to the way it was.”

Ignoring her, I shoved her aside and ran out, crazed and shaking.

But deep down, I knew the truth. There was no “back to before.” Not anymore. Not with her.

——

I ran just a few meters, but I tripped over and over again. Stones scraped my feet open, yet I felt nothing, no pain, no fear. There was only one thought pulsing in my mind—get to Mom.

When I finally reached her, her small body was crumpled on the ground, blood pooling beneath her like a nightmare I couldn’t wake from.

Seeing her awful state, the pain in my chest exploded. I collapsed next to her, screaming from the very depths of my soul. “Mom!”

As if she heard me, her eyes fluttered open. She struggled to speak, her voice barely whispered, “Terence… I don’t think… I can stay with you. You have to… live well. Promise me… you’ll be happy.”

“No… no!” I cried, shaking my head violently, clinging to her weakening body. “Mom, please… please don’t leave me. You’re all I have now. We’ll go to the hospital right now. We'll see the best doctors. We’ll make it in time!”

At that moment, I lost all grip on reality. The only thing that mattered to me was to save her.

I lifted her in my arms and stumbled onto the road, blocking a car with my body. The driver slammed the brakes, furious, but I dropped to my knees and bowed until my forehead hit the pavement.

“Please! Please take us to the hospital! My mother—she’s dying!”

The driver looked annoyed at first. But then, when he saw her pale and bleeding, his expression softened.

“Get in,” he finally said.

I broke down, crying hard as I carefully placed Mom in the backseat.

I slid off my engagement ring, a giant diamond the size of a bird egg, and handed it to him.

“Thank you. I don’t have my phone or wallet on me, but please take this as payment for the ride.”

The driver looked startled. “That’s not necessary. It’s no trouble. And besides, how could I take your ring? It’s huge. You and your wife must be deeply in love.”

I looked down at that ring. Then laughed bitterly.

Love?

Maybe once, a long time ago.

But now?

For the sake of another man, Queenie had actually let my mother fall to her death without a second thought.

Terence's POV

Queenie knew my mother was the only family I had left. And yet, she still chose to do that.

For a moment, the memory of our sweet proposal flashed through my mind. But it collided violently with the scene I’d just witnessed. Together, they twisted into a blade that stabbed straight through my chest.

Tears streamed silently down my face. I shook my head and whispered, “She’s already dead.”

Then I placed the ring on the car’s console, shut my eyes, and prayed my mother would still make it.

But when I carried her, barely breathing, to the hospital, the doors were locked.

A security guard barked, “No one’s allowed in. Ms. Hawkins’s beloved is having surgery tomorrow. The entire hospital is on standby. No interruptions.”

I stepped forward, clutching my mother tighter.

The guard saw me and froze. Panic flashed across his face.

“S-Sir, those are Ms. Hawkins’s direct orders. I can’t go against them. Maybe try calling her?”

I snatched his phone and dialed that all-too-familiar number.

As soon as she picked up, I tremblingly begged, “Queenie, my mom fell. It’s bad. Please, let me in. Let the doctors take a look. Please.”

But all I heard on the other end was a mocking laugh.

“Save her?” she scoffed. “And why should I? Terence, remember, she's your mother, not mine.”

Just three sentences, yet they shattered what was left of my heart.

But I didn’t stop. I kept begging, swallowing every bit of pride I had left.

“Queenie… please. My mom was always so good to you. Just for that, I’m begging—”

But then, she hung up.

I called again, hands shaking uncontrollably, but this time I was met with a cold, automated message.

"The number you have dialed is currently unavailable. Please try your call later."

Just like that, my last thread of hope was cut.

My mom’s breathing was growing shallower by the second.

As such, I snapped.

Grabbing a fire extinguisher, I charged the locked doors. Glass shattered everywhere, slicing into my skin, but I didn’t feel a thing. All that mattered was getting her inside.

The guards hesitated, stunned by how wild I looked. None of them dared stop me.

Shortly, a doctor on duty rushed over, wheeled her to a bed, and immediately began examining her.

Barely two minutes passed, and he stepped back, shaking his head. “I’m sorry. We did everything we could. Her pupils have dilated. You should start preparing for the worst.”

I stood there frozen, my ears ringing. Then my knees gave out, and I collapsed to the floor.

“No… no, this can’t be happening.”

I looked up at the doctor, eyes filled with desperation. “Please. I’m begging you, save my mom. She’s all I have left in this world!”

The doctor looked torn, sighing heavily. “It’s not that I don’t want to help, but she’s already gone too far. If you’d come even a few minutes earlier, maybe…”

Sighing, he added, “Now, unless you can get the top cardiac specialist in this hospital, there’s nothing anyone else can do. But he’s upstairs in a private consultation and—”

I didn’t wait for him to finish.

I grabbed the hospital bed and pushed it straight toward the elevator.

When the doors slid open, I saw Queenie. She was gently helping Jeremy out of bed, like he was some fragile treasure.

But the second she looked up and saw me, her tenderness vanished and was replaced with disgust.

“Terence,” she snapped, “Who let you in here? What if you scared Jeremy?! Get out!”

I ignored the sting of her words and dropped to my knees right there. “Queenie, please… I’m begging you… Let the cardiac specialist take a look at my mother. She’s barely hanging on.”

Terence's POV

"Please… I can’t lose her…" I begged, my voice breaking as I slammed my forehead to the floor again and again. Blood ran down my cheeks, mixing with my tears.

Queenie frowned, clearly shaken. She looked like she was about to say something. But before she could, Jeremy started crying first.

“Terence,” he whimpered, “I know you don’t want to donate your kidney. That’s why you made up this whole story about your mom being in critical condition. You’re just trying to make Queenie feel bad. But fine, forget the surgery. Let me die in pain.”

At those words, Queenie’s face turned ice cold.

She stormed forward and grabbed me by the throat. "Terence, I guess the lesson I taught you earlier wasn’t enough. You’ll say anything to get out of donating that kidney. You think I won’t kill your mother right now?!"

The word “kill” made my whole body tremble.

I forced myself to point at the hospital bed and whispered hoarsely, “You’ve already almost killed her. Isn’t that enough? Queenie… do you really want to turn me into an orphan?”

Maybe it was the look in my eyes, but for a split second, she hesitated.

She took a step toward my mother’s bed.

But just then, Jeremy groaned dramatically behind her.

“Ah—Queenie, it hurts. It hurts so much. Please, help me.”

In a flash, her face changed again. She spun on me with venom in her voice. “Enough already! Terence, do you really think you can guilt-trip me into backing down? That I’ll just let you off the hook and not donate your kidney to Jeremy? Save it. And by the way, the person on the excavator was just a dummy, not your mom. So drop the act!”

I shook my head wildly, pointing to the bed where my mother lay, barely breathing.

“No… that’s not true. She’s right there. My mother’s right there! She’s barely alive! Look for yourself—!”

Before I could finish, Queenie grabbed my jaw and pressed down hard with her thumb, sneering at me.

“Still pretending? If it weren’t for that ventilator, your mother would’ve been dead a long time ago. Actually, maybe it’s better this way. Saves me a fortune in medical bills.”

She said it so casually, as if “death” was just another item on her to-do list. And in that moment, something inside me shattered completely.

Then, the heart monitor next to my mother’s bed let out a sharp, continuous beep.

My lungs locked up, and panic surged through me like lightning.

I broke free from Queenie’s grip and dashed toward the bed. But I only made it one step before Jeremy suddenly screamed, “Ah! It hurts so much, Queenie! I’m dying, help me!”

Without even glancing at me, Queenie barked at the guards, “Hold him down!”

In seconds, a group of massive bodyguards had tackled me to the ground. I thrashed like a rabid dog, screaming so loudly my throat burned.

“Let me go! Let me go! My mother’s waiting for me! She’s waiting—!”

I bit down on one of the guards' arms, not even thinking. Then, a surge of electricity ripped through me.

The glass cuts all over my body lit up in searing pain as pus and blood oozed out. Immediately, I collapsed to the ground, twitching uncontrollably.

When I managed to lift my head, I saw Queenie standing over me with cold eyes and an electric baton in her hand.

“Terence, if you won’t behave,” she said coldly, “then don’t blame me for what happens next.”

Turning to her bodyguards, she instructed, “Take him to surgery. Right now. I want that kidney out of him immediately!”

With that, they tied me down like an animal and dragged me into the operating room.

I fought and screamed, but the ropes were too tight. All I could do was watch as my mother’s hand slipped lifelessly off the side of the bed, and the monitor went flat.

I let out a broken, soul-crushing scream. It felt like a thousand knives tearing into my chest at once.

The next moment, a cold needle jabbed into my rotting skin. My vision blurred, and darkness crept in.

Just before I lost consciousness, I heard Queenie’s ruthless voice saying, “No mistakes. If one kidney isn’t enough, take the second one.”