Chapter 2

I didn’t wait for Julian Thorne to return. Instead, his mother, my mother-in-law, arrived.

She wore an expensive designer suit and a massive diamond ring the size of a pigeon’s egg. Her face was etched with undisguised contempt.

“Chloe Maxwell, where’s my son?”

She stood imperiously beside my bed, as if scrutinizing a soiled object.

“He… he’s in surgery.”

“Hmph, at least you have some self-awareness.” She sneered.

“Seraphina is a million times more important than you are. It’s only right that Julian went to save her. Someone like you, on the verge of death, shouldn’t drag him down.”

The pain in my chest was nothing compared to the agony her words inflicted. I looked at this elegant, imposing woman and suddenly felt ridiculous.

It was she who had approached my family, claiming to admire me, hoping I would marry Julian.

She’d said she would cherish me like her own daughter. All that warmth, all that affection, had been a lie.

“Today was the day of my heart transplant surgery,” I stated calmly, simply stating a fact.

“So what?” Eleanor Thorne rolled her eyes, her tone incredibly sharp.

“It’s just a heart. If it’s gone, find another. Seraphina is an internationally renowned pianist! If her hands were crippled, that would be a loss to the entire world!”

She paused, her gaze turning even more malicious.

“Ultimately, you’re just bad luck. If it weren’t for you, Julian would have married Seraphina ages ago. You should just die now and stop occupying the Mrs. Thorne position, you’re an eyesore.”

I closed my eyes, refusing to look at her ugly face any longer. Liam pushed the door open, entering just as she finished speaking.

His body radiated a terrifying aura of rage as he slowly advanced toward Eleanor.

“Say that again.”

Eleanor flinched back, startled by his intensity, but quickly straightened her posture.

“Did I say something wrong? This sickly girl is clearly not good enough for my son! If you know what’s good for you, sign the divorce papers now and stop delaying my son and Seraphina’s perfect future!”

“Smack!”

A crisp slap echoed through the hospital room. Liam had put all his strength into it; Eleanor’s face instantly swelled, blood seeping from the corner of her mouth.

She clutched her cheek, screaming in disbelief, “You dared to hit me! You uncultured brute!”

“I’m hitting you, you disrespectful hag!” Liam was furious.

“Is my sister’s life worth nothing in your eyes?! Your family didn’t contribute a single penny for that heart, and now you speak so lightly of it!”

“You… you’re talking nonsense! What money?!”

“That heart cost the Maxwell family thirty million dollars! We bought it from an overseas channel to give my sister a chance to live!” Liam’s voice was filled with a mix of tears and fury.

“Now, that chance has been personally destroyed by your son!”

Eleanor’s face instantly turned ashen.