Chapter 4

As my voice echoed in the room, a sudden, heavy silence fell.

My mom turned to look at me, her face draining of color. But she quickly regained her composure.

"Who authorized your transfer to a private room? Don't you know that by taking this room, you’re denying it to another patient who actually needs it?"

I let out a bitter, weak laugh. "Don't worry, Mom. As long as you're here, Mia will always have her VIP suite."

"I went to the Florida Organ Transplant Bureau today. My match, and my dad's heart... what were you thinking when you gave them away?"

My mom's face flushed red, then turned pale. She snapped, yelling at me, "I am your mother! I have the legal right to make medical decisions for you!"

Suddenly, there was a commotion in the hallway. Mia rushed in, followed by her brother, Mason, and a crowd of reporters.

Mia threw herself onto her knees beside my bed, tears streaming down her face. "Chloe, if you want to blame someone, blame me and Mason! It’s our fault for being sick. We didn't mean to force Dr. Miller to redirect the matching heart to us!"

Mason also dropped to his knees, looking incredibly guilty. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have lived. If I had just died back then, your dad’s heart would still be yours..."

With that, he grabbed a fruit knife from the fruit basket on the bedside table and aimed it at his own chest. "I’ll give your heart back to you right now!"

The people around him quickly grabbed his arm to stop him. A surge of pure, blinding anger overtook my mind. I snatched the knife from the floor and thrust it toward Mason.

"You want to give it back? Then do it!"

"Give it back to me right now! That was my dad's heart! What right did you have to steal it?!"

The reporters’ cameras flashed frantically. My mom, standing in the middle of the flashing lights, clenched her teeth and delivered a hard slap across my face.

"Smack!"

"Chloe! How long are you going to keep throwing this tantrum? Is your life the only one that matters? Do other people not deserve to live?!"

I screamed back, my voice cracking, "But what about my life?! Just because I'm your daughter, do I not have the right to live?!"

Reporters shoved their microphones into my face.

"Chloe, your mother, Dr. Miller, is known for her selflessness. Why are you acting so selfishly? Is this because of your father's influence?"

"Are you trying to drive Mia and her brother to suicide today?"

My mom noticed my face turning blue as my heart rate spiked past the danger zone. But just as she stepped forward, Mia suddenly collapsed to the floor. "Dr. Miller... my chest hurts..."

Without a second thought, my mom rushed to Mia’s side and carried her out of the room, leaving me behind without a single backward glance.

The reporters continued to crowd around my bed, shouting questions. I couldn't hold on any longer. Darkness rushed in, and I collapsed onto the mattress.

Even as I lost consciousness, the reporters kept badgering me.

"Are you faking a faint now?"

"Are you trying to use public sympathy to force Dr. Miller to give in?"

Dr. Evans’ face was black with rage as he began shoving the reporters out. "Get out! All of you, get out! The patient is in critical condition!"

But by the time I woke up, I had already become the villain of the internet.

The headlines were everywhere on Ins and TikTok:

[Ungrateful Brat! Dr. Miller’s Daughter Tries to Force Sick Patients to Commit Suicide!]

[Shocking! Selfless Dr. Miller Has a Monster for a Daughter!]

No matter where I went, people whispered and pointed at me.

When I tried to buy food at a nearby diner, someone suddenly threw a plastic bottle at me.

"You’re sick too, so why are you trying to ruin other patients' chances of surviving? You monster!"

More trash was thrown at me. Someone even dumped leftover food over my head. I had no choice but to run away in utter humiliation.

Then, my mom called me.

"Chloe, you need to apologize to Mia. Her surgery is coming up, and she cannot handle this kind of stress."

I let out a cold laugh. "Shouldn't she be the one apologizing to me?"

My mom’s voice turned deadly cold. "Apologize. Or I will cut off your medical funds immediately."

My mom was a woman of her word. That very day, completely ignoring the fact that her biological daughter was on the verge of death, she cut off my medical insurance and hospital funds. I was forced to leave the hospital.

To afford my basic medication and stay alive, I had to find a low-paying job.

But my weak heart couldn't handle the physical labor. I collapsed, coughed up blood, and my heart even stopped three times.

In the end, I found myself lying helplessly by the side of a busy street, quietly waiting for death to claim me.

Just then, a pair of expensive leather shoes appeared in my blurry field of vision.