Chapter 4
1513words
My phone buzzed non-stop with his calls. I ignored every one.
When he stormed the hospital, the security team I'd hired stopped him cold at the ward entrance.
He raged like a wild animal in the corridor, screaming obscenities as patients and staff stared in shock.
"OLIVIA! GET OUT HERE, YOU BACKSTABBING BITCH! I KNOW YOU SET ME UP!"
Inside Vivian's room, I gently moistened her dry lips with a damp cloth, acting as if I couldn't hear the chaos outside.
Vivian was awake but frail, her eyes finding mine with worry. "Liv… is that Zachary out there? What's going on?"
"It's nothing," I smiled reassuringly. "Just focus on getting better, okay?"
The drama continued until hospital security called the police.
They dragged Zachary away in handcuffs for disturbing the peace.
Blessed silence fell over the hospital wing.
That night, my phone lit up with a text from Quinn: "Impressive show. What's Act Two?"
I texted back: "Just keep watching."
The next morning, the police announced a formal investigation into "allegations of organ trafficking against Zachary Reed."
Ethan Miller was placed under witness protection as a key informant.
He sang like a canary, painting himself as Zachary's helpless victim.
The recording I'd given Zachary—now in police possession—was the smoking gun.
Between Ethan's testimony and the audio evidence, Zachary was cornered.
They held him without bail while building their case.
I thought the game was over.
Then, on day three of his detention, Zachary changed tactics.
He claimed I was the mastermind behind everything.
According to his new story, I'd approached Ethan, paid him off, and orchestrated the whole scheme without Zachary's knowledge.
He provided evidence: bank transfers from my account to Ethan's.
The account I'd used was directly linked to my identity.
Suddenly I was the villain, and he was the innocent dupe.
I was helping Vivian with her lunch when my lawyer called.
"Miss Shaw, things have taken a bad turn. Reed's flipped the script, and the police want you in for questioning immediately."
My hand didn't even tremble as I set down the spoon.
"I'll be there."
I hung up and glanced out the window at the darkening sky, heavy with impending rain.
So, Zachary Reed. You still think you can win this game.
Then I'll have to make sure you never get up again.
The police station was cold and sterile.
In the interrogation room, fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, harsh and unforgiving.
The detective slid a folder across the metal table. "These are Reed's statement and your bank records. Care to explain?"
I examined the bank statements showing my payments to Ethan.
"Yes, I made these payments," I said calmly.
The detective leaned forward. "So you admit to orchestrating this organ trafficking scheme?"
"No." I shook my head and pulled a sealed envelope from my purse. "I was following Zachary Reed's instructions. And he's been lying to everyone from the start."
I slid a DNA test report across the table.
A genetic analysis comparing Zachary Reed and Vivian Shaw.
The detective's eyes widened as he scanned the document.
"What the hell is this?"
"Zachary Reed is my sister's biological brother."
Each word fell like a hammer blow.
"They share the same mother. My grandmother revealed this after my mother died. Zachary's birth mother gave him up for adoption to the Reed family after a traumatic accident. She believed he had died until she discovered the truth years later."
"Zachary has known about his biological sister's kidney disease for years. But to protect his precious image and career, he refused to acknowledge her—much less donate a kidney."
"So he created this elaborate scheme."
"He pursued me, proposed to me, all to use me as his cover while he found a kidney donor for his sister. He played the devoted fiancé while setting me up to take the fall for what he should have done himself."
The room fell into stunned silence.
The detectives' expressions morphed from shock to disgust.
"Why should we believe any of this?"
"Because of this." I pulled out my phone and played a video.
The footage showed Zachary and me in the hospital hallway the day before surgery.
"Do you actually love me, Zachary?"
"Of course I do."
"Because sometimes I think you don't love me at all. You love having a puppet who'll do whatever you want."
My voice was crystal clear on the recording.
Then Zachary's voice, cold and threatening: "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
I stopped the video and met the detective's gaze unflinchingly.
"He never loved me. I was just a convenient tool. He exploited my desperation to save my sister while protecting his own reputation. The man would let his own flesh and blood die rather than risk his career."
Between the DNA evidence and my testimony, the case flipped completely.
The police dug into Zachary's past, confirming every detail of my story.
The truth emerged like a monster from the deep.
The public reaction was apocalyptic.
Lying about his own sister. Letting her suffer rather than risk his image. Using his fiancée as a pawn. Zachary Reed had crossed every moral line imaginable.
Overnight, he transformed from beloved star to reviled monster.
His fall was complete and irreversible.
[Revenge Mission: 90% Complete]
I emerged from the police station into a gentle rain.
Quinn Parker waited at the bottom of the steps, black umbrella in hand.
"Congratulations in order?" His expression was unreadable.
"Nothing to celebrate." I let the rain kiss my face as I approached him. "He got what he deserved."
"What now?" he asked. "Reed's finished, but your sister still needs a kidney…"
He had a point.
Ethan had never actually donated his kidney.
Vivian could survive on dialysis temporarily.
But that was no permanent solution.
"He'll donate his," I said with quiet certainty, eyes fixed on the rain-heavy clouds.
"How can you be so sure?" Quinn frowned. "The man despises you. Why would he save your sister now?"
"Because," I turned to him with a cold smile, "I'm still holding his last secret."
I arranged to visit Zachary through my attorney.
The detention center's visiting room was stark and depressing. Zachary sat across the glass partition in an orange jumpsuit, his celebrity good looks faded, his hair brutally short.
When he saw me, pure hatred blazed in his eyes. He slammed against the glass barrier, spittle flying.
"YOU FUCKING SNAKE! I'LL KILL YOU WITH MY BARE HANDS!"
I watched impassively as guards wrestled him back into his chair.
I lifted the receiver, my voice perfectly steady.
"One last deal, Zachary."
"Go to hell," he spat, knuckles white around the phone.
"Really?" I pressed a folder against the glass. "Then you might want to see this first."
It was a police report.
Inside: evidence of his adoptive mother's embezzlement and vehicular manslaughter from fifteen years ago.
The blood drained from his face.
"How—where did you get that?" His voice cracked.
"You think I discovered your family connection by accident?" I met his gaze coldly. "When your mother was in trouble, my grandmother took the blame. Protected her. These files were part of my inheritance."
"Your mother's heart condition is getting worse, isn't it? Imagine what would happen if she learned her precious son refused to save his own sister and ended up in prison. The shock might kill her on the spot."
Zachary looked like he might vomit.
His adoptive mother was the one person he truly loved.
The woman who had given him everything—wealth, connections, unconditional love.
"You wouldn't," he whispered, but his eyes betrayed his terror.
"Wouldn't I?" I smiled thinly. "You were willing to let my sister die. Why should I show any mercy to yours?"
"Donate your kidney to Vivian. I'll bury this evidence forever. You can even spin it to the media—tell them you're atoning for your sins, trying to make things right with your sister."
"You'll still go to prison, but you'll save a shred of dignity. Maybe even earn some public sympathy. Make your sentence a little more comfortable."
"Refuse," my smile vanished, "and I'll destroy both you and your mother completely. Her reputation, her freedom—everything."
He glared at me with pure hatred, chest heaving with rage.
After a long, tense silence, his shoulders sagged in defeat. Three words escaped through clenched teeth.
"I'll do it."
[Revenge Mission Complete: Target's reputation destroyed. Target forced to donate kidney to sister.]
[Congratulations, Host. Mission successfully completed.]
Two weeks later, Zachary Reed was wheeled into surgery, a convicted criminal donating an organ to the sister he'd denied.
The transplant succeeded.
Vivian grew stronger each day.
Zachary's "selfless act to save his sister" earned him a reduced sentence—a small mercy in his fall from grace.
The day they transferred him to state prison, I came to watch.
Through the transport van's window, his eyes met mine—not with hatred, but with empty defeat.
I said nothing, just offered him a small, serene smile.
As I turned away, warm sunlight broke through the clouds.
At last, I could take my sister home.
