Hours later, Elena was still in the ER, her scrubs stained with blood, her body numb with exhaustion. The trauma rush had finally ended. During a brief lull, she pulled out her phone.

No signal from her apartment. A knot of anxiety tightened in her stomach—she couldn't help but wonder if the mysterious, dangerous stranger on her couch had woken up, or if she'd brought lethal trouble right to her doorstep.

She searched her recent photos—the image she'd snapped before leaving: his face, unconscious but striking. She ran a quick search through the hospital database.

Keith Buchanan. CEO of Buchanan International. One of the most powerful men in the country. Names on half the buildings in Manhattan.

Elena stared at the screen, her stomach sinking.

What have I dragged into my life?

Before she could process the shock, a nurse appeared at her elbow. "Dr. Blair? The VIP wing requested you for an urgent consult. You're needed immediately."

Elena frowned, forcing her mind back to hospital reality. "Who?"

"Keith Buchanan. His private ambulance brought him in half an hour ago," the nurse explained, lowering her voice. "His savior and fiancée, Miss Carroll, specifically asked for you. She said you're her sister and she wants you to oversee his consult."

Elena's heart stopped. Keith Buchanan. Destiney.

The pieces collided in her mind with brutal clarity. Destiney had taken him from her apartment. Destiney was posing as his savior. And now, Destiney was calling her up.

She hurried toward the elevator, her pulse hammering. A sick feeling churned in her gut—Destiney hadn't called for her out of sisterly love. This was a trap designed to freeze her in her tracks.

The elevator doors opened. She stepped into the VIP suite, taking a deep breath to force down the surging panic.

And froze.

There he was—Keith Buchanan—lying in a state-of-the-art hospital bed, pale but alive. Sitting beside him, calmly peeling an apple as if she belonged there, was Destiney.

Several well-dressed, important-looking people—representatives of the Buchanan empire—were gathered around, listening intently as Destiney tearfully recounted a vague, heroic tale of "finding him injured and getting his wound patched up by a private house doctor before calling the ambulance."

Destiney saw her. Her eyes flashed with calculated triumph as she instantly smoothed her expression into bright, sisterly warmth. "Oh, she's here! Thank you all for calling my sister up so quickly."

A nurse stepped forward, nodding to the chief attending. "This is Mr. Buchanan's savior, Miss Destiney Carroll. She's your sister—what a coincidence."

The words hung in the air, sealing Elena's fate. The lie was now public record, validated by the hospital staff. Ice flooded her veins. She looked at her sister's face—a perfect copy of her own—performing this flawless, monstrous act.

She wanted to scream the truth. But as her mouth opened, she caught Destiney's warning glance—a sharp, icy flicker of pure malice. Elena thought of Leo, lying in a care facility miles away, his life hanging by a thread that only her paycheck maintained. If she ruined Destiney's play now, Destiney would crush Leo without a second thought.

Destiney stood and linked her arm through Elena's, her fingers pinching tightly into Elena's sleeve—a hidden, physical threat.

"This is my sister, Elena," Destiney announced to the room, her touch proprietary and cold. "She works at this hospital. I specifically asked for her so she could offer a second opinion and help oversee Keith's care."

In one smooth sentence, Destiney demoted her from hero to a mere accessory—inviting her to the scene solely to parade her theft, establish dominance, and keep Elena under her thumb where she couldn't whisper a word of truth to the doctors.

The consulting doctors, eager to please the "savior's sister," politely deferred to Elena. "Dr. Blair, since Miss Carroll requested your expertise, what are your thoughts?"

Elena forced her personal nightmare into the background. The patient came first—even if that patient was the billionaire who had stolen her first kiss in a fevered rage.

She stepped past Destiney, avoiding the clean bandage covering Keith's torso—a bandage Destiney had carelessly applied over Elena's intricate sutures—and reviewed his chart. They had treated the stab wound, but the vitals didn't add up.

"He may have been poisoned," Elena stated, her voice steadying into pure professional authority. "Look at the localized vasodilation and early signs of neurological stress. You need to run a full toxicology panel immediately."

The lead doctor frowned, clearly annoyed by an intern overstepping, but the gratitude of the Buchanan family was a palpable force in the room, and Destiney quickly chimed in with fake concern: "Oh, please do whatever my brilliant sister says!"

Reluctantly, the doctor agreed.

After the consult, Destiney grabbed Elena's wrist and pulled her into an empty stairwell. The heavy door swung shut, cutting off the noise of the VIP hallway.

The gentle mask fell away in an instant.

"How does it feel, dear sister?" Destiney's voice was laced with venomous glee. "To go from hero to a nobody, riding my coattails? I called you up there just so you could watch me take what's yours."

"Why, Destiney?" Elena's voice shook with suppressed rage. "Why are you doing this?"

Destiney laughed, a cold, ugly sound that echoed off the concrete walls. "Why? Because I have to. I need money, I need status, and most of all, I need a healthy kidney. The doctors say I need a transplant within the year. And you, my dear sister, are a perfect match."

The confession hit Elena like a physical blow, leaving her breathless.

"You will keep your mouth shut," Destiney continued, stepping closer, her eyes turning hard as stone. "Play your part as the quiet little intern sister. Once I am Mrs. Keith Buchanan, I will see to it that he gives you enough money to take care of Leo for the rest of his life. But if you say one word of the truth..." Her voice dropped to a sinister whisper. "I'll make sure your brother dies on that hospital bed before the sun sets."

Elena felt the world tilt. She had known Destiney was spoiled and selfish, but she had never imagined this depth of cruelty.

Destiney leaned in close, her breath hot against Elena's ear. "And from now on, Keith Buchanan is my fiancé. You will stay far away from him."

She turned and swept out of the stairwell, her high heels clicking with finality against the concrete steps.

Elena was left standing alone in the cold, sterile stairwell. Her hand flew to her chest, her body trembling with a despair so profound it felt like dying—yet beneath the grief, a dangerous spark of defiance began to ignite.