But when I followed the ambulance to the Moretti family's private hospital, I found the main gates shut tight.

Black-clad bodyguards were shouting, "No one is allowed in! The Boss's woman has surgery tomorrow. No one is to disturb them."

I took a step forward, holding my mother in my arms. The moment the bodyguard saw me, he froze, a flicker of panic involuntarily crossing his face.

"M-Ma'am... these are the Boss's orders. I don't dare disobey. How about you give him a call?"

I snatched the bodyguard's phone and dialed the number I knew by heart.

When the call connected, my voice trembled as I spoke.

"Dante, my mother... she just drowned and she's badly hurt. Please, let me in so a doctor can see her. I'm begging you..."

But the man on the other end just scoffed.

"Save her?" he sneered. "On what grounds? Remember this, Stella. She's your mother, not mine!"

Those few short words pierced my heart with a searing pain. But I couldn't afford to be hurt; I continued to plead humbly.

"Dante, for the sake of how good she always was to you, I'm begging you..."

Before I could finish, he hung up with an abrupt click. I refused to give up, my trembling hands dialing the number again. This time, all I got was a notification that the phone had been turned off.

And with that, the last shred of my hope was extinguished.

Watching my mother's breaths grow fainter and fainter, I grabbed a nearby fire extinguisher and charged at the closed doors.

In an instant, shards of glass sliced across my skin, but I couldn't feel the pain. I scooped up my mother and rushed inside.

The bodyguards moved to stop me, but seeing the crazed look on my face, they couldn't bring themselves to intervene.

The on-duty doctor saw us and rushed to place my mother on a hospital bed to examine her. After just two minutes, he walked out, shaking his head.

“I’m sorry, we did everything we could.”

“The patient's pupils have dilated. You should start making the final arrangements…”

I froze, a buzzing sound filling my head as I collapsed weakly to my knees, my voice almost a plea:

“No… it can’t be…”

“Doctor, I’m begging you… I’m begging you to save my mom… She’s the only family I have left in this world!”

The doctor looked on with pity and sighed.

“It’s not that I won’t save her, it’s just that the patient is already… If you had come just a few minutes sooner, there might have been a chance. At this point, no one can bring her back, except maybe a leading authority in cardiology.”

"It's just that he's in a consultation on the penthouse floor. He's not seeing anyone..."

Before the doctor could finish, I pushed my mother's gurney and charged for the elevators.

The moment the elevator doors slid open, I saw Dante carefully cradling Isabella in his arms as they walked out of a room.

He held her as if she were a priceless treasure, so fragile she might shatter at a touch. But the moment his gaze fell on me, his eyes filled with loathing.

"Stella, who gave you permission to be here? What if you frighten Isabella!"

"Get out!"

Ignoring the sharp pain stabbing my heart, I fell to my knees before him.

"Dante, I'm begging you, please have the cardiologist see my mother. She's on her last breath."

"Please... I can't live without her..."

With that, I started slamming my forehead against the floor, again and again. In an instant, blood from the gash streamed down my face.

At the sight, Dante's brow furrowed tightly. He opened his mouth to speak, but Isabella’s tears fell first.

"Stella, I know you don't want to donate your kidney to me. That's why you'd invent a story about your mother being critically ill, just to make Dante feel sorry for you."

"Fine, forget it. I won't have the surgery. At worst, just let me suffer until I die."

At my words, Dante's face twisted in fury. He strode forward, his hand clamping around my neck:

"Stella, it seems the lesson I just gave you wasn't enough. You'll stoop to telling any lie just to get out of donating your kidney. You'd better believe that I can make your mother die right this instant!"

Hearing the word "die," my whole body trembled. I pointed toward my mother, struggling to get the words out:

"You're already... killing her, aren't you?"

"Dante... are you really going to make me an orphan?"

Perhaps the sorrow in my eyes was too convincing. Dante froze. Just as he was about to step forward, he heard Isabella let out a deliberately pained moan from behind him.

The man's expression hardened instantly, and he snarled at me,

"Enough! Stella, did you really think this would make me go soft on you, that I'd let you out of donating your kidney to Isabella."

"Save it. Besides, that thing in the lake was a dummy, not your mother. So stop putting on an act for me!"

I shook my head frantically, my gaze fixed on my mother, who lay on the hospital bed, barely breathing.

"No... that's not true, Dante. My mother is lying right there. She's almost stopped breathing... If you don't believe me, just look..."