Chapter 4

Dr. Reed had barely left when a nurse walked into the room with a syringe. She inserted the needle into my skin. The little strength I had managed to regain drained away.

Liam’s voice beside me was clear, soothing me. “Skylar, it’s okay. It’ll be over soon.”

“I’ll wait for you outside. You just have to hold on.”

Then, I felt as if I was being pushed into an operating room. Several people in white coats were working with cold surgical instruments. The sensation of my kidney being surgically removed from my body was agonizingly clear, yet I was powerless to stop it. Only bitter tears streamed down my face uncontrollably.

I don't know how long I was in the operating room. When I woke again, Liam’s strikingly handsome face was there, right in front of me. Before, seeing his face would fill me with immense joy, but now, only an icy chill remained.

Seeing me awake, he seemed to brighten, pulling me into a tight embrace. “Skylar, you’re finally awake! You don’t know how worried I’ve been about you.”

“The heir status is gone, who cares. I just want you to be well forever.”

Watching the red rimming his eyes, my heart ached. Liam, I could have been well, but now I’m like this, isn’t it all thanks to you?

I instinctively looked down at my legs—amputated completely below the knee. The 20-centimeter-long incision on my abdomen still throbbed. I didn't need to guess; this surgery was for the removal of my kidney. Liam, did you truly not care about me at all? How could you be so cruel?

Seeing my indifferent expression, he tentatively asked, “Skylar, do you remember what happened?”

I shook my head, saying nothing, but everything that happened that day was already seared into my bones. Hearing my response, he softened his voice, feigning comfort.

“Skylar, that day, you were heartbroken after losing your heir status, so you drank too much and got into a severe car accident… your legs were amputated, and one of your kidneys ruptured, which is why it was removed.”

“Don’t worry, no matter what you become, I’ll stay by your side. I don’t care about the inheritance or anything else. I only want you.”

He dared to say this, probably because he thought the memory-altering drugs had worked, which is why he twisted the facts so brazenly. Listening to his lies, my heart felt squeezed by a giant hand, and even breathing became painful.

He didn't suspect my lack of enthusiasm at all. He just thought it was because I had just been through a car accident and hadn't fully recovered. He bustled around my hospital bed, a picture of a perfect husband.