Chapter Three

Chapter Three

When I woke up, the first thing I saw was Lucian's haggard face.

When he saw I was awake, his voice was gentler than usual. "The reason I didn't save you was because Bianca is sick."

I said quietly, "I understand."

He let out a sigh so faint I could barely hear it, then added, "You're donating your kidney in a few days. You need to take care of yourself."

I smiled bitterly.

No wonder he'd been sitting here. He was afraid I'd be too hurt to give Bianca her kidney.

After a long silence, he spoke again. "And no matter what, I won't forget my promise. Even after I'm married, I'll keep you safe for the rest of your life."

I raised my eyes slightly and answered him silently:

Too bad. I don't need it anymore.

For the rest of the day, he didn't come back. I waited alone for my IV to finish and checked myself out.

I'd just finished the discharge paperwork when a gurney rushed past me toward the ER.

I spotted his frantic figure running beside it, and lying on the gurney was Bianca.

Something in my head snapped. In my last life, Bianca died because I didn't give her my kidney.

But now I'd agreed to donate. Why was she on a gurney?

I didn't have time to think. I ran toward the ER.

Outside the doors, Lucian sat with his head down, looking lost, his fingers drumming nonstop on the bench, giving away how anxious he was.

I asked what had happened, and found out Bianca had a clotting disorder.

She'd gotten dizzy in the shower and hit her head on the edge of the bathtub. She was bleeding badly.

After a while, a doctor came out of the emergency room. "The patient has lost a lot of blood. Is there any family who can donate?"

Lucian jumped to his feet. "Me!"

"The patient is Rh-negative. What's your blood type?"

His face went white. His voice was shaky and weak. "I'm B."

Rh-negative blood is extremely rare. Of everyone there, only I had it.

I stood up almost without thinking. "I'm Rh-negative. Take mine!"

Everything I'd gone through in my last life was still vivid. I was finally about to escape my fate.

I couldn't let history repeat itself.

So I followed a nurse inside, and they took a full liter of my blood.

When it was done, everything went black, and I collapsed in the donation room.

When I woke up, there was no one beside me.

I tore out the needle, jumped out of bed, and ran barefoot to Bianca's room.

At the door, I saw a tender scene.

Lucian was holding Bianca tightly, like a man who'd lost something precious and found it again, murmuring in a choked voice, "You're okay. Thank God you're okay."

Bianca managed a weak smile. "Lucian, if I died, it would make things easier for you and Ms. Rossi. Why go through all this?"

He solemnly pressed her hand to his chest. "Bianca, I won't let you talk nonsense like that!"

"Can you hear it? My heart beats only for you. Don't bring up people who don't matter to hurt what we have."

"In this life, the next life, every life after that, you're the only one I'll ever love."

My heart lurched. I could almost feel a real, sharp pain.

I leaned against the wall and whispered to myself:

"This time, the tragedy won't happen again."

...

Not long after we got home from the hospital, Lucian received an invitation to an underground auction.

It was a private auction for the big families of New York, open only to "our own."

When he told Bianca, she ran excitedly back to her room to pick out a gown.

After a while, he looked at me on the sofa and spoke like he was doing me a favor. "You can come too. Since you gave Bianca your blood."

I was about to say no, but he'd already turned and gone back to his room, without giving me a chance to say anything.

...

At the auction, Lucian bid on and won every piece Bianca showed even the slightest interest in.

I wasn't interested in any of it. I didn't even touch my paddle.

Then a set of priceless antique jewelry was carried out, and gasps rose all over the room.

Bianca hung on his arm and purred, "Lucian, I want to wear this set when I marry you, so everyone can see."

He raised his paddle without hesitating.

In the end, he won the jewelry for the staggering price of twelve million dollars.

Everyone in the room said the Moretti heir really spoiled the woman he loved.

I couldn't even be bothered to look up. Until the next second, when I heard the auctioneer's voice.

"Our next item has great historical significance. From the shootout at the Brooklyn docks ten years ago, a bullet casing left by Moretti capo Marco Rossi!"

Marco Rossi... That was my father's name.

My head jerked up in shock.

My eyes stung. I raised my paddle without a second thought.

Lucian didn't bid. He just watched me, his expression complicated.

"Thirty thousand dollars, going once!"

"Thirty thousand dollars, going twice!"

"All right! Congratulations to our Ms. Rossi..."

"Wait!"

Bianca, who hadn't shown the slightest interest before, suddenly tugged at Lucian's arm. "Lucian, I want that casing for my collection too."

Maybe because he knew what that casing meant to me, this time he hesitated.

But when he saw the hope in Bianca's eyes, he turned to me anyway, as if he were asking me to be reasonable.

"Stella, stop bidding. Anything else you want, I'll buy for you. But Bianca wants this one."

A wave of sorrow rose inside me. I didn't say a word. I just stubbornly raised my paddle again.

His eyes darkened. Then, as if he'd made up his mind, he signaled to the podium: no limit.

"Oh my God, Mr. Moretti just went unlimited! Who would dare bid against him?"

"I've never seen anyone actually make that signal. When a Moretti spoils a woman, there's no reasoning with him!"

The murmuring around us grew louder, and my face grew paler.

He knew exactly how much that casing meant to me, and he still...

My eyes filled with tears, and I nodded. "Fine."

I let go of my paddle, and I let go of the obsession I'd held onto for him for so many years.

I picked up my bag and, ignoring his startled look, walked quickly out of the auction.

My phone lit up with my flight information: tomorrow at six p.m., to Anchorage. The same day I'd donate my kidney.

I let out a long breath.

Finally. Just one more day.

Then I could leave for good.

Back at the estate, I packed my suitcase in minutes.

It was almost funny. I'd lived here for more than ten years, and I had fewer things here than Bianca did.

I'd just set my suitcase down when someone kicked my door open.

Lucian's face was frighteningly dark. The air around him was so heavy it sent a chill through me, and his eyes were vicious, sharp as a blade.

"Stella, when did you turn into this? You'd stoop to stealing just to get what you want!"

I stood there, completely lost. I was about to ask what he meant, but he didn't give me a chance.

"I know that casing was your father's. I'd already planned to give it to you once Bianca got bored of it. But look at you now. I'm so disappointed in you!"

"It's my fault you turned out like this. I didn't raise you right. To be able to face your parents in heaven, I have to teach you a lesson."

He was shaking with rage. He stepped forward and slapped me across the face.

The blow knocked my head to the side, and my cheek was instantly on fire. My head was ringing. I couldn't believe it.

In all these years, it was the first time he'd ever hit me, and it was for something I hadn't even done.

He'd barely lowered his hand when his phone rang. It was the hospital.

"Hello, are you a family member of Ms. Lane? She's in the emergency room right now. Can you come in?"