I Hired Elite Tycoons as My Parents for Five Cents Chapter 04
Evelyn’s face went rigid. She looked away, too quickly, and didn’t answer.
Richard didn’t speak for a long time. When he finally did, he didn’t soften it. Every word cut.
“You want the truth? Fine. Years ago, we figured out that Brooke wasn’t ours by blood. But we’d already raised her. She was ours in every way that mattered, so we gave her the Stratton name and never looked back.”
“Then Evelyn went into renal failure. She needs a transplant, and you’re a perfect match. That’s the only reason we came looking for you.”
“We brought you into this world. You owe us your life. Your mother needs saving, and giving her a kidney is the least you can do. You don’t get to walk away from that.”
And just like that, the whole picture came into focus.
The tearful reunion, the guilt, the whole we-missed-you act. It had all been a lie.
This whole homecoming was a transaction from the start.
They had two biological sons standing right there.
They had Brooke, who they’d treated like a princess for twenty-one years.
But none of them were options.
So they came for me, the daughter they had no bond with. The one they wouldn’t miss.
I wasn’t a lost daughter. I was a spare parts donor.
I lifted my gaze. Whatever warmth had been left in me was gone.
“What about your precious sons? I’m sure one of them would match just fine.”
Every face across from mine went pale.
Richard’s expression turned thunderous. He jabbed a finger at me.
“Don’t be ridiculous. Trenton is the Stratton heir, and Caleb’s still a kid. Leave them out of this.”
Evelyn whipped around to face me, and her eyes were vicious.
“They’re boys! If something goes wrong with the surgery, it could ruin their health for life!”
“What kind of person are you, Hazel? Trying to sacrifice your own brothers? You’re sick.”
Brooke rushed to Evelyn’s side, her voice dripping with rehearsed devotion.
“Mom, I wish I was your real daughter. I’d give you both kidneys if I could. I wouldn’t even think twice.”
The contempt in the room thickened like a wall closing in.
Trenton stepped forward and pulled a folded document from his jacket pocket.
“Hazel, consider this your second lesson.”
“Sign this consent form, and you’re officially a Stratton. This time, for real.”
I laughed, a short, sharp sound with no warmth in it.
“A Stratton? I never wanted to be one of you. Not for a single second.”
“And you’ll never get my kidney.”
I turned and walked toward the door.
“Grab her!”
I didn’t look back. But the second I yanked the door open, two bodyguards filled the frame.
They hauled me back inside, pinned my arms, and shoved a pen into my hand.
Then they strapped me down and dragged me into the operating room.
The doctor reached for the anesthesia, but Brooke’s voice sliced through the room.
“Skip the anesthesia. She thinks she’s so tough, right? Let her feel every second of it. That’s what she gets for going against us.”
The doctor hesitated, clearly uncomfortable, and glanced at Evelyn.
“I… if we operate without anesthesia, she could go into shock and die from the pain alone.”
Evelyn let out a laugh that could cut glass.
“Then that’s on her. She brought this on herself. If something goes wrong, the Stratton family will cover any liability. Just do it.”
The scalpel moved closer. I could see the light running along its edge, feel the cold of it just above my skin.
I stared up at the white ceiling, shaking so hard the table rattled beneath me.
Then the whole room shook.
The operating room door blew off its hinges.
A custom chopper screamed through the wreckage, engine roaring, and skidded to a stop right next to the operating table.
Stella ripped off her helmet and hurled it across the room. It smashed the scalpel right out of the doctor’s hand.
Vincenzo kicked the doctor to the floor, eyes wild as they swept the room, and his voice tore through the silence.
“Which one of you touched my daughter? Tell me right now, because somebody in this room is about to stop breathing.”
