My daughter, Lila Hayes, lay with her small body covered in tubes and machines. Her pale face was tinged with a sickly red.
I rubbed my eyes. Somehow, I had returned to this familiar scene, witnessing the heart-wrenching moment from my past life once again.
With trembling hands, I reached for my little girl’s warm hand. My heart ached, and tears rolled down my cheeks.
"Dad misses you so much, my sweet daughter. I miss you… I’m so sorry..."
My wife, Emma Hayes, gently patted my shoulder.
"Don’t disturb her anymore, let’s go. It’s time."
At the nurse’s urging, I forced my shaky legs to move, and we left the ICU together.
We sat down in a cramped office, and Emma placed a pen in my hand.
"You’ve seen it for yourself. Every second Lila stays alive after brain death is just suffering for her."
She gestured to the organ donation consent form. "Sign it, let her be at peace."
Hearing the cold, matter-of-fact tone in her voice, a surge of hatred shot through me, drying up my tears instantly.
I slammed the pen onto the desk and shrugged off her hand from my shoulder.
"I’m not signing it! Lila is not brain-dead!"
Emma looked stunned.
"But… we agreed earlier, didn’t we? You saw the doctor’s diagnosis. This is the best hospital in the city. What else is there not to trust?"
Trust?
Looking into her eyes that feigned innocence and surprise, I felt like I could see the cruelty hidden behind them.
In my past life, I had trusted her far too much.
Lila had been admitted to this top hospital for pneumonia. I had no idea that the attending doctor, Blake Thompson, was Emma’s old flame.
Pneumonia was not supposed to be life-threatening. Yet after just one night away from Lila, her condition suddenly worsened, and she was rushed to emergency care.
By the time I returned to the hospital, I was told by Blake that Lila was already brain-dead.
Before I could process the devastating news, Emma was pulling me into signing the organ donation form.
"Lila was always kind. Her life can save others now. I believe she would want this."
I was beyond devastated. Half coerced, half convinced, I signed my name on the form.
What I did not know at the time was that once they removed the ventilator, Lila’s heart was immediately transplanted into Blake’s daughter, who had been born with a congenital heart defect.
While I remained lost in grief over the loss of Lila, Emma quickly resumed her normal life.
One day, purely by chance, I spotted them in a neighboring city’s amusement park, with a little girl on Blake’s shoulders, and my “wife” leaning lovingly against him.
I followed them, and when I confronted them for the truth, they joined forces and pushed me off a building.
As I lay in a pool of blood, I gripped tightly onto the locket that held a lock of Lila’s hair.
There were so many times I wanted to escape through death. But in that moment, seeing the joy on their faces, the flames of hatred burned through my weakness.
Now, given this second chance, I felt nothing but gratitude.
Even heaven wanted me to avenge my daughter!
Thinking about it, I wanted nothing more than to slap Emma’s fake innocent face."I’m transferring Lila to another hospital right now for a new diagnosis! I will never sign that form!"Seeing the anger in my eyes, Emma frowned."Leo, stop being unreasonable. You went home last night, but I stayed here all night without sleep. I watched the entire resuscitation process."I know you’re in pain, but this is reality. Can you please control your emotions?"I let out a bitter laugh."You’re asking a father to control his emotions when his child’s life is hanging by a thread?"Why did I even go home last night? Wasn’t it because your mom claimed her heart was acting up and demanded I go take care of her?"A flicker of annoyance crossed Emma’s face."Stop blaming my mom, stop blaming me. It’s Lila’s fate that’s unlucky."You agreed to sign the form earlier. Now you’re backing out. Don’t you think you’re being overly emotional?"How could a mother be so cruel?I could not even bother respondin
In the midst of the standoff, a figure rushed over and grabbed Emma."Emma, are you alright?"It was my mother-in-law, Sarah Hayes. Her eyes were filled with concern as she looked at Emma. Then, she turned to me, her face brimming with anger."Leo! Are you trying to hit Emma? You’re acting like a complete madness!"Lila’s condition is beyond hope now, and it’s not Emma’s fault. Stop taking it out on her! She is as painful as you are!"And what’s wrong with signing the organ donation form? The dead can’t come back to life! Are you planning to keep her body at home forever?"As Sarah grew more agitated, her words became increasingly absurd. I could not control my anger and my eyes were red with fury. I raised my hand and slapped Emma hard across her left cheek.The slap left her completely stunned. Sarah was completely caught off guard. She screamed as she rushed to check her face. She was clearly heartbroken.I looked coldly at my hand, now red from the impact."Does it hurt? Good. Onl
Emma quickly chimed in, "As his family, I agree!"Seeing the nurse approach with the syringe, I struggled in desperation. I was yelling, but no one around stepped in to help."Stop! Let he go immediately!" Suddenly, a loud, commanding voice silenced the entire room.My brother, Evan Jasper, had arrived with the medical team just in time.Taking advantage of the stunned security and nurses, I shoved them aside and rushed to Evan’s side in a few quick steps."Evan, save Lila!"He comforted me with a reassuring pat on the shoulder, then turned to Emma with fiery anger."Are you really helping outsiders harm your own husband and child?"Where’s the diagnosis declaring Lila brain-dead? Show it!"My entire body drenched in cold sweat. If Evan had not arrived in time, I would have been sedated and forced to sign the form, losing Lila forever.Blake regained his composure and looked at Evan with arrogance."And who are you?"This is an intensive care ward! Security! The patient's immediate fa
Blake bit his lip upon hearing this."I don’t understand. This was something the family had already agreed to. Our team has been working all day, and the reporters we invited are anxiously waiting."And now, just because one family member refuses to accept the truth, we’re being pushed to this extreme?"The surrounding doctors and nurses could not help but voice their support."Yeah, we’ve all seen how hard Dr. Thompson has worked!""All that hard work for nothing because of some unreasonable troublemaker!""This man already agreed to sign the form. Think of all the families waiting for those organs. How happy they must have been when they heard the news! And now, giving them hope only to take it away. That's just cruel."Emma stood behind Blake, firmly supporting him."As the family, I don’t doubt Dr. Thompson’s diagnosis for a second."Leo, you’ve made enough of a scene! And now you’ve brought all these people here to apply pressure? You’ve gone too far!"Bitterness filled my mouth
I shouted with full confidence. "Emma, since you’re pushing me to the edge, I’ll give you exactly what you want!"The moment my words fell, the once-quiet screen outside the room suddenly lit up with a recording of Blake’s voice in a flirtatious tone."Really? You’re so heartless, it’s almost scary!"All eyes turned to the screen, which began playing footage from Blake’s private office. There Emma was, wrapped around Blake’s neck. She was sitting on his lap, twisting seductively as she spoke."Alright, alright, stop moving. Are you going to take responsibility if things get too heated?" Emma stared at Blake with lust in her eyes."If I don’t act heartless toward Lila, how can I save our daughter, Sophia?"The ICU costs hundreds of thousands a day. Who knows if she can even be saved? Instead of going bankrupt for her and that mad man, I’d rather leave everything for Sophia."It’s settled then. Sophia’s body can’t hold on any longer. We can’t wait anymore! This is our only chance. Hurry
The girl named Sophia, was about the same age as Lila. She was sitting in the backseat of Emma’s car, holding a nearly melted ice cream cone.Blake, sitting in the passenger seat, playfully hit Emma on the waist, pretending to be annoyed. This made Sophia burst into laughter as the melting ice cream dripped all over the seat.Emma was not upset at all. The three of them just laughed even harder.Emma had always been meticulous about cleanliness and never allowed me or Lila to eat anything in her car.One time, we were stuck in traffic and Lila was starving. I could not bear to let her go hungry, so I gave her a chocolate bar.A few crumbs melted and fell onto the seat. Emma immediately lost her temper, throwing both me and Lila out of the car.I stood in the middle of the heavy traffic, holding Lila.Watching as Emma drove away without hesitation, Lila burst into tears, begging."Mommy! Don’t leave daddy and me! It’s all my fault! I’ll be good, I promise I won’t dirty mommy’s car agai
"There’s definitely seduction involved, but it’s not me," I said with a smirk as we reached the door to room 701.I nodded at the staff member, and she swiped the key card. With a soft beep, the door unlocked."Ah! Who’s there?" The room fell silent for a moment before Blake’s voice broke the quiet.Emma froze with her eyes widening in shock. "Blake? What are you doing here?"She stepped toward him, but Blake, wrapped only in a towel, quickly blocked her way.Flustered, he stammered, "What are you doing? I’m in the middle of a shower."Emma glanced inside the room. "Why are you even in a hotel room?"I leaned casually against the doorframe. "Emma, does this scene really need any more explanation?"Blake shot me a furious look and tried to shut the door. "There was a conference at the hotel today. I just came up here after it ended. Let me get my pants."But I quickly stopped her and pulled out my phone. "Forget it, words don’t prove anything. You should see for yourself."I played the video on m
The city was not large, and by the next day, explosive rumors of the scandal had already spread everywhere.Mrs. Zimmer did not dare report it to the police, let alone pursue any legal action. She quietly checked into her own hospital for treatment, claiming she had fallen and injured himself.The nurses, however, could not contain their giggles as they gossiped among themselves. "Fallen? With handprints all over her face?"Blake was too ashamed to return to work and clung to Emma like a lifeline. "It was all Mrs. Zimmer’s fault. She coerced me. She’s my boss, what was I supposed to do?"I stood outside, listening to their conversation, deep in thought. It wasn’t enough. That scumbag Emma still needed one final blow. Luckily, I had already prepared for it.An hour later, I waited by Emma’s car. Her anger seemed to have cooled somewhat, with Blake clinging closely behind her. When they saw me, Blake’s face flushed with both shame and anger."You got what you wanted. What more do you wa