3: 3

The next morning Ned made breakfast like nothing had happened.

He carried over a plate of fried eggs and a glass of milk, his face full of concern.

"Honey, I was too pushy last night. I'm sorry."

"But since your tests came back with hepatitis B, the priority is getting you healthy again."

"I had a friend put me in touch with a top private hospital. Very discreet, and the specialist trained overseas."

The pop-ups exploded across my vision.

【Don't go! That private hospital, Kentic Medical, is the illegal clinic he secretly bought into last year!】

【They've already got the operating room and the sterile boxes ready. Go there and they'll knock you out and cut out your kidney!】

I took a sip of milk and looked up at him.

"A private hospital? No."

Ned froze. "Why? That place has excellent equipment—"

"I only trust public hospitals." I pulled out a tissue and wiped my mouth.

"An infectious disease like this. If a private hospital cuts corners, I could end up a medical accident."

Something panicked flickered in his eyes.

"Honey, public hospitals are always packed, the wait is forever, and if we run into someone we know—"

"So what if we do? Is being sick something to hide?"

I stared straight at him.

"Or is it that private hospital of yours that has something to hide?"

His throat bobbed hard. He forced out a smile.

"How could it? I'm only thinking of you. If you want a public hospital, fine, we'll go to City General. I'll come with you."

I nodded, adding another layer of guard inside.

At three that afternoon I got into Ned's car for City General.

Quietly, I flipped the switch on the recorder in my pocket, and shared my live location with Amber.

Halfway there, Ned glanced at the GPS and frowned.

"Honey, there's an accident on the overpass ahead. Looks like we won't make your appointment slot at City General."

"Let's just go to that private hospital. Their specialists are excellent."

"No." My face went cold, every nerve on alert. "If we can't make it, we'll go another day."

Seeing how firm I was, the last trace of false kindness in his eyes shattered.

"Then it's not up to you anymore!"

Ned locked every window and door with one button. From the air vents, a sharp, strange smell began to spread.

The pop-ups flooded my vision.

【Hold your breath! It's a strong anesthetic spray!】

【It's over! This road's too remote, there's no signal at all! Amber can't find you!】

"Ned! Open the door!" I clawed at the door with everything I had, but my head was already swimming.

Ned watched me in the rearview mirror, every bit of tenderness gone.

"Honey, stop fighting it. Bianca can't wait any longer. If she doesn't get a kidney soon, there's really no saving her."

"Don't worry. Once we take yours, I'll take good care of you. If you survive, that is."

After I passed out, the car drove straight in through the back door of the clinic.

Several butcher surgeons rushed over and pinned me down hard onto a gurney.

"Take her to the underground OR! Prep for general anesthesia!"

When I woke, my eyes were red and I bared my teeth and screamed. "Ned! This is murder!"

Ned leaned down and patted my cheek, his smile viciously cold.

"Murder? Don't put it so ugly."

"The insurance company and the police will only ever know that you loved your husband so much you were willing to risk your life to secretly save his ex, and you tragically died on the operating table. That's all."

Bianca walked out of the shadows in a hospital gown, smug all over her face.

"Sister, thank you for the kidney. When you get down there, don't blame me and Ned."

They wheeled me into the cold operating room. The surgical lights blazed on all at once, stabbing my eyes until they ached.

The butcher doctor came toward me step by step, a long, thick anesthetic needle in his hand.

"Prep the frozen section. Get ready to take the kidney."

The pop-ups appeared again.

【It's over! The OR's locked from the inside! One shot of that anesthetic and you'll never wake up!】

【The clinic's surrounded by his hired thugs. Dead end. This is a setup where you die no matter what!】

The needle was only a few centimeters from my carotid artery!

I could even feel the sharp sting of the tip breaking my skin!

And at that split second— "BOOM—!!!"

The heavy blast-proof steel door of the underground operating room was slammed clean open by some huge force from outside!

4: 4

The blast rocked the whole basement, and the walls seemed to hum with it.

Detectives surged in before anyone could react, slamming Ned, Bianca, and every doctor in the room flat against the floor.

"Police! Don't move! Hands behind your heads, faces to the wall!"

Amber ran to me, eyes rimmed red, and worked the restraints off my body.

I collapsed into her arms, every ounce of strength gone, my palms slick with cold sweat.

"Laurel! Thank God we kept a team tailing him the whole way!" Amber's voice shook. "The second his car turned onto that back road and the signal cut out, we knew he was going to make his move, so we brought the police in on a shortcut and cut them off!"

Ned was pinned hard to the ground, his cheek pressed to the cold concrete, panic flickering wild in his eyes.

The moment they hauled him toward the car, he suddenly started screaming himself hoarse:

"I've been framed! You've got the wrong man, this black-market clinic tricked me!"

"I only wanted to save my ex-girlfriend, and this dirty doctor told me they had a legal treatment brought in from overseas! I had no idea it was an illegal clinic! I'm a victim too!"

Bianca crumpled to the floor right behind him, sobbing like her heart was breaking. "That's right, we didn't know anything, we only came here for treatment..."

They dumped every last charge onto that trembling black-market doctor.

Once it reached the police, though, things started sliding off the track I'd expected.

Ned hadn't been in custody six hours before a well-known lawyer in an expensive suit showed up at the station with a bail application in hand.

Amber stormed into the reception room, her face like iron.

"Laurel, this isn't looking good for us."

She handed me a document. "Ned hired the top criminal defense lawyer in the business. Because the detectives broke in when they did, the doctor's needle never got into your vein, and your organs weren't physically damaged... so legally, they're pushing hard to frame him as a 'victim of an illegal medical operation, an unknowing third party.'"

"They're arguing Ned was just desperate to save someone and got fooled by an illegal clinic's false advertising. Even that forged organ donation agreement, Ned swears the doctor handed it to him, and he 'thought it was proper paperwork.'"

Amber ground the words out through her teeth.

"No serious injury, no death, and with his lawyer working every angle, the police can only bring him in for questioning as a 'suspected accomplice to illegal medical practice.' The bail application... will most likely go through."

Just as the cold sank into my chest, another line of blood-red text drifted slowly across my vision:

【Careful! Ned has someone powerful coaching him from behind. The clinic's major shareholder is officially just a puppet taking the fall, the ownership is walled off so cleanly you'll never trace it back to him!】

【He's using the gap while he's out on bail to forge a certificate saying you're mentally ill, and a transfer agreement to go with it!】

【The first thing he'll do the moment he's out tonight is spread lies to get back at you! Be careful!】

The words stung my eyes until they ached. I looked out the window at the leaden sky, and something in my gaze went to ice.

"He thinks he can walk out of here clean. Then I'll show him what it means to want to live and not be allowed, to want to die and not be able."