Chapter 5
Dean West eventually fell into a coma due to excessive grief.
It took three hours before he regained consciousness.
The moment he woke, he asked to see his wife.
The anesthesia had worn off, but Elaine still hadn’t regained consciousness. Her condition continued to deteriorate.
The doctors issued a critical condition notice.
Even if a kidney became available now, Elaine’s body was too weak to withstand the operation.
Olivia sat at her bedside, clutching her cold, frail hand, unable to stop crying. She whispered countless apologies, again and again.
“This isn’t your fault, sweetheart,” Elaine finally opened her eyes and spoke in a faint voice. “Take care of Dean for me. You’re a good girl… stop blaming yourself.”
“Good girls don’t cry,” she added softly. “Go home and get some rest.”
Her eyes darted toward the door. “I want to speak to Dean… just the two of us.”
Olivia bit back her sobs, nodded, and reluctantly stood to leave.
From there, she headed straight to the hospital’s admin building, intending to retrieve her daughter’s body. But the moment she inquired, she was met with a shock she wasn’t prepared for.
Her daughter’s remains had already been donated—as a full-body cadaver for anatomical study.
“What… what do you mean?” Olivia staggered back, knees buckling under the weight of disbelief. She barely managed to stay standing. “I’m her legal guardian. How… how could this happen without my knowledge?”
The staff calmly placed a stack of documents in front of her.
Every single line bore her signature—inked during a time she barely remembered breathing.
She felt as if lightning had struck her skull. Scenes flashed through her mind—Harrison shoving stacks of papers at her to sign during her mental breakdown. She hadn’t known what she was signing then.
God knows what else he had her authorize.
Just then, two nurses walked in, chatting cheerfully. They placed freshly brewed coffee on the table.“Dr. Emily Ross just landed another full-body donor—four years old! That’s probably the youngest we’ve had. She’s treating the whole team to lattes. Got Employee of the Month.”
Full-body donor?
A four-year-old?
Olivia’s clenched as if a steel vise had locked around it, each breath carving her alive. Her heart seized violently, and she doubled over in pain. Every breath felt like being skinned alive.
Was this all… arranged by Harrison?
All of it… for Emily?
He had paved Emily’s career with Lily’s body—his own daughter.
Her fingers trembling, Olivia fumbled for her phone to confront him. But her grip failed and the phone slipped from her hands. As she bent down to retrieve it, her vision went black and she collapsed to the ground.
She hadn’t eaten all day, her blood sugar had crashed, and the emotional collapse hit like a wrecking ball—everything went dark.
By the time she came to, the first thing she saw was Harrison’s face—cold, unreadable.
His eyes had a flicker of something complicated.
“Harrison,” she croaked, clutching his wrist with desperate strength. “Please. I’m begging you. Let me have Lily back.”
“She’s just a child. She already donated everything she had—her heart, her liver, her life… isn’t that enough… please don’t let them use her for medical dissection.”
Tears streamed down her face. “You used to love her the most… She was your little girl, remember?”
Harrison frowned. “What the hell are you talking about? Lily’s still in the hospital. Stop with the delusions.”
“But you…” His voice hardened. “Why are you spreading lies about Emily? Saying she used me to climb ranks? Everyone’s seen how hard she works. You’ve really hurt her with this.”
He gave her a cold, sideways glance full of disdain.
“I want you to go live. Public apology. Full retraction. On record.”
Olivia’s hand slowly released his, her eyes swirling with disbelief and despair.
It felt like her throat had been shredded by glass. A sharp, metallic taste flooded her mouth.
“She’s the only one you see now, isn’t she?”
“You want to throw a tantrum now?” Harrison’s voice dropped, icy. “You and Lily will always have a place in my heart. But right now, I admire Emily more.”
Admire?
Admire enough to sleep with her?
Admire enough to let her kill their daughter?
“I said go live. I’ll join you,” he ordered, with no room for negotiation.
“What if I refuse?” Olivia asked hoarsely, making one last, fragile attempt to hold on to her dignity.
“You don’t have the right to refuse,” he said lightly—but the words landed on her chest like a brick.
“What do you want from me? Do you want me shattered, humiliated, erased?” Her voice cracked, tears gushing down her cheeks.
“Sweetheart,” he said gently, as if comforting a child, “you’re the one destroying things. If you hadn’t kept going after Emily, none of this would’ve happened.”
