Lily's face went deathly white. She swayed on her feet.

Graham didn't lash out at me the way a lesser man might. He simply let out a heavy, pained sigh.

Adopting the lofty air of someone who couldn't be bothered to stoop to my level, he spoke coolly.

"Serena Kingsley, you're too strong. You never need anyone's protection, so you'll never understand what it's like to be vulnerable."

"Since everything's out in the open now, let's talk business."

He deliberately lowered his voice, slipping back into the composed authority of a department chief.

"Crestview Medical Center has secured a single clinical trial slot for the Starlight targeted therapy."

"It's currently the only drug in the world that can cure Lily's rare condition."

"One injection, and Lily survives. Our baby gets to be born safely."

He looked at me, issuing his decree in the tone of someone granting a favor.

"The application requires a family member's signature and a substantial financial guarantee."

"I'm at a critical stage in the race for vice president of the hospital. I can't afford any personal scandals, and I definitely can't have suspicious large fund transfers traced back to me."

"So the money comes out of our joint account."

"Publicly, you'll claim Lily is your distant cousin. You go in, sign the consent form yourself."

I listened to every word of this breathtakingly shameless arrangement in silence.

I almost wanted to applaud his meticulous scheming.

Use my money to save his mistress.

And have me put my name on the line, all to preserve his crumbling reputation as the noble healer.

He didn't just want my money. He wanted to nail me to a cross of moral humiliation and twist the screws.

"And if I don't sign?" I said, the corner of my mouth curving into an icy smile.

Graham's gaze turned cold. His voice dripped with threat.

"Serena, you work a desk job in the pharmaceutical system. You should understand how these things work."

"If you dare sabotage Lily's chance at survival and blow this up --"

"I'll file for divorce immediately. And when that happens, your reputation in this industry will be destroyed."

"I'm asking you -- no, I'm begging you. Consider it a last shred of dignity for our seven years of marriage."

He was the first person I'd ever met who could make something so vile sound so elegant.

I looked at his smug face, so certain I would fold for the sake of "dignity."

"Fine."

I said softly.

"Bring me the application form."

A flicker of triumph flashed in Graham's eyes. He immediately pulled a thick stack of documents from his briefcase.

The next morning.

I went to Crestview Medical Center as Graham had instructed.

I didn't go to the billing office. Instead, I walked straight up to the VIP ward on the top floor.

Lily was propped up against the pillows, eating imported Shine Muscat grapes.

Two young nurses hovered around her, fawning over "Dr. Forsythe's wife" with every other breath.

When I pushed the door open.

Lily instantly dropped the pampered expression. She waved the nurses away.

The moment the door clicked shut.

Every trace of fragility vanished from her face, replaced by undisguised provocation.

"Serena, you came."

She rubbed her belly, grinning like the cat that got the cream.

"Graham's at a conference. He told me to wait here until you finish signing."

I walked over to the bed and dropped the clinical trial family consent form onto her blanket.

"I can sign."

I looked down at her.

"But I sponsored you for ten years. Does your conscience not bother you at all?"

Lily let out a derisive snort.

She spat out a grape seed with deliberate slowness, her eyes full of venomous jealousy.

"Conscience? Serena, spare me the savior act."

"You sponsored me to feed your own ego, to feel superior."

"All you do is go to work and stare at a computer screen. You live like a robot. Graham got sick of you ages ago!"

"He told me I'm the only one who makes him feel like a man -- like he's actually needed!"

Her words were like venom dripping from a serpent's tongue.

But I felt no anger whatsoever. Getting worked up over an ingrate this rotten to the core would only drag me down to her level.

"Are you done?"

I took a pen from my bag and uncapped it.

Just then, Lily's gaze fell on the open tote bag.

Inside sat an exquisitely crafted temperature-controlled specimen case, wrapped in velvet.

It held the final-iteration prototype sample of the Starlight targeted therapy -- the one I'd brought from the lab just last night.

It was the result of five years of my life. A one-of-a-kind formulation I'd designed specifically to counter the genetic mutation behind her condition.

Lily's eyes lit up.

She didn't understand medicine, but she recognized the top-secret classification seal from Crestview Medical Center printed on that case.

"What's that?"

She lunged forward and snatched the specimen case right out of my bag.

"Give it back!" I snapped, reaching for it.

But Lily recoiled like a woman possessed, clutching it away from me.

"This is the drug for me, isn't it!"

"Graham said once I get the new drug, I'll be completely cured!"

She hugged the case to her chest, eyes blazing with frenzied greed.

In the struggle, a flash of calculated malice crossed her face. Her fingers deliberately slipped.

CRASH --

The specimen case -- worth millions, the product of years of my life -- slammed into the hard marble floor.

Glass shattered.

The blue serum spilled across the ground and oxidized instantly into a glaring black. Completely destroyed.

The room fell into a silence like death.

"What's going on?!"

The door to the hospital room was flung open.

Graham strode in wearing his white coat, his face taut with urgency.

The moment Lily saw him, she transformed into a completely different person.

She collapsed weakly onto the bed, clutching her belly and letting out a piercing wail.

"Graham! Save my baby!"

"Serena won't let me live... She snatched my medicine and smashed it to pieces!"

Graham glanced at the wreckage on the floor, then at my hand still frozen in midair.

His composure shattered. All that was left was raw fury.

"Serena! What the hell do you think you're doing!"

He charged over, planting himself between me and Lily, staring me down like I was a murderer.

"I know you're upset, but do you have any idea what that was?!"

"I spent three months begging the director before he finally agreed to release that one-of-a-kind prototype sample from the central lab!"

"And you destroyed a dying patient's only lifeline over some pathetic jealousy!"

"You are cold-blooded beyond belief!"

I looked at that agonized face of his and let out a low laugh.

The laughter grew louder, echoing through the empty hospital room, eerie and unhinged.

The iterative drug I'd poured my heart and soul into formulating for her — she'd smashed it with her own hands.

And this husband of mine, so quick to accuse me of being cold-blooded —

He couldn't even read the encrypted lab serial number on that culture dish. My serial number.

"Graham."

I killed the laughter. My gaze turned glacial, devoid of any warmth whatsoever.

"Are you sure it was me who destroyed her lifeline?"

Something in my eyes unsettled him, but he held his ground, shielding his precious soulmate behind him.

"Who else could it be!"

"I'm ordering you — sign the trial slot application form. Right now."

"As for the cost of that drug, I'll deduct it from your account and reimburse the hospital! And if you so much as breathe a word of protest, I'll have security escort you to the psych ward today!"

How hilarious.

This was the man I'd once believed was my salvation.

I took a deep breath, pulled the crumpled Trial Slot Family Consent Form from my bag, and laid it flat on the overbed table at the foot of Lily's bed.

Under the desperate, greedy gazes of both Graham and Lily —

I smoothed the paper out, uncapped my pen, and signed my name in one fluid stroke.

Lily's eyes blazed with barely concealed euphoria.

Graham exhaled a long breath of relief, looking at me the way one looks at a madwoman who's finally been tamed.

"Smart choice." He let out a cold scoff and reached for the consent form.

But I slapped my hand down on the paper with a sharp crack, pinning it to the table.

Then, right in front of them, I took out my phone.

I dialed the number in my contacts marked "Top Secret."

The call was answered on the first ring.

"Professor Kingsley! You've finally reached out to us!"

From the other end came the voice of the head of Crestview Medical Center's highest-level pharmaceutical research division.

I watched Graham and Lily freeze in front of me.

My finger hovered over the red End Call button.

The cold glow of the screen illuminated the razor-sharp smile curling at the corner of my lips.