Jovan sneered. "My mom? I’ve never heard of my mom having heart disease, let alone heart failure. If you’re going to make up a story, at least make it believable. Just because you don’t want Winona to use the heart source, you’re cursing her into the ICU?"

My mother-in-law had been diagnosed with heart failure six months ago, but she kept it from her son to avoid worrying him. She had been having check-ups quietly whenever Jovan was resting, usually with Dr. Zidan.

"It’s true! Mom was afraid you’d worry, so she had me arrange the heart source under my mother’s name. The one with severe heart failure is your mom! Her condition is critical; if she doesn’t get a heart transplant soon, she’ll die!"

Jovan hesitated for a moment. "Are you telling the truth?"

I sighed in relief. "The ICU is just over there. If you don’t believe me, you can go see for yourself."

Jovan glanced worriedly at Winona.

"Jovan, go ahead. It’s okay if I’m delayed a bit. But Siora's mother is older now. Please don’t make her go through this kind of trouble just to make a scene."

Hearing this, Jovan exploded with anger. "Just because I haven’t seen you recently, you came up with such a low-down scheme? And you’re joking about my mother’s life?"

Winona cast a smug glance at me.

I was burning with anger. “I’m telling the truth, Jovan! You’ll regret it if you give the heart to Winona today!”

Jovan looked at me with a half-smile and said, “Regret? The biggest regret of my life is marrying you! Move out of the way!”

“Jovan!”

Seeing him push the bed away, I dropped to my knees with a thud. “I’m begging you, Jovan. Just go see Mom. She really needs the heart source! You… you’ve always wanted a divorce, right? After the surgery, we’ll get divorced. I’ll make it easy for you. Please, Jovan!”

Thinking about my mother-in-law in the ICU, I broke down in tears. She had always treated me like a daughter. If I didn’t get Jovan to go see her today, she… I couldn’t bear to think about it.

Jovan turned around. “Using retreat as a tactic? Siora, I’m very busy and don’t have time to play along with your drama. You’re going to such lengths to prevent me from performing Winona’s surgery! How malicious!”

With that, he strode away, not wanting to say another word to me.

I blocked the bed. “No, you can’t leave, Jovan! If you go like this, you’ll be killing Mom!”

Jovan’s face darkened completely. He pushed me aside roughly. “Enough! Siora!”

I lost my balance and fell to the ground, the leg I had injured in a car accident beginning to throb painfully. I watched helplessly as Jovan entered the operating room. As the lights in the surgery room came on, I felt utterly hopeless.

Stumbling back to the ICU, I saw my mother-in-law pressing her hand against the glass to touch my face. “Siora, what’s wrong? Your little face is all red from crying.”

Seeing her pale face, I was unable to stop my tears.

“Jovan has made you suffer again? That blind, heartless beast! Don’t cry anymore, dear. Mom has already prepared the soup. When you get home, I’ll make your favorite drunken crab and a plate of spicy chicken…”

My mother-in-law gently comforted me as if I were the most precious thing in the world. With many siblings at home, there was little maternal love left for me. I had never experienced such unique and devoted affection.

But she was in the late stages of heart failure. Speaking so much had already drained her strength. She breathed heavily, her face flushed red from the effort. Even so, she still remembered to smile and soothe me.

I rushed out, desperate to prevent my mother-in-law from dying. I dropped to my knees in front of Dr. Zidan, begging him to save her.

Dr. Zidan shook his head. “Without a heart source, there’s nothing I can do! How could Jovan be so foolish?”

“What about transferring to another hospital? Is there still time to transfer?” I asked anxiously.

“There’s only one heart source available in Armdera and if you hadn’t registered it, it wouldn’t have come to our hospital at all… Wait, there’s another one! Yes, there’s another one. The Provincial Cardiology Department contacted us a day ago! I’ll call them. Quick, get ready to transfer your mother-in-law!”

I was overjoyed. There was hope for my mother-in-law.

I ran to the ICU, shouting inside, “Mom! There’s hope! I can save you now!”

My mother-in-law weakly smiled at me and made a heart shape with her hand. I was beaming with happiness, finally able to save her.

Dr. Zidan walked over with a serious expression.

“When can we leave? You need to bring an oxygen machine for us. My mom…”

Dr. Zidan interrupted, “That won’t be necessary.”

I stood there in shock. “What do you mean?”

“The Provincial Cardiology Department contacted Jovan at that time…”

“So what?” I didn’t understand how this was related to Jovan.

“He… refused. Now that heart source has been given to someone else.”

Everything went dark before my eyes. I bit my lips so tight and quickly looked over at my mother-in-law. Fortunately, she hadn’t seen what was happening.

A nurse rushed out. “Bed 7 is failing! Where are the family members?”

My eyes widened in shock. Mother-in-law?

The nurse handed me a card. “The patient asked me to give this to you.”

It was my mother-in-law’s salary card, something I was very familiar with. Every time we went to the mall, she proudly handed me her card and said, “Siora, you are so beautiful. I'm happy to spend money on you!”

I flipped the card over and found a line of small text on the back. "Siora, take good care of yourself. Be brave, you deserve better."

I clutched the card tightly, a torrent of hatred surging within me.

I calmly completed the funeral arrangements for my mother-in-law, sold the house and sent the divorce papers to Jovan.

Three days later, holding my mother-in-law's ashes, I arrived at the old house to prepare for her joint burial with my father-in-law. To my surprise, Winona was living here. She was sitting by the window, her complexion rosy.

"Siora, are you here to see Jovan? He was very tired last night and is still asleep. He specifically instructed me not to let outsiders disturb him!" she said, looking at me with a victorious smirk.

I found it amusing and ignored her, heading straight for the room.

Winona, furious, yelled, "Siora! Why are you so arrogant? Jovan used to revolve around you and now he's mine. I don’t believe you don’t feel a bit of turmoil inside!"

Before Winona returned to the country, Jovan had indeed been a competent husband. After that, everything changed. I endured a lot for the sake of my mother-in-law. Now, I no longer care.

I sneered. "You’ve only picked up a piece of trash. What’s there to be proud of?"

Her expression changed and she soon sneered. "Have you forgotten how you were on your knees, like a dog, begging for mercy that day? Haha, it’s a pity that Jovan wouldn’t even glance at you!"

She still had the nerve to mention that day, the one responsible for my mother-in-law’s death.

I took a turn and stood in front of Winona, raising my arm and delivering a sharp slap to her face.

"Using someone else’s heart and you’re still so dirty!"

“Do you get a thrill from stealing things? Aren’t you afraid of ghosts knocking on your door in the middle of the night when you dare to take someone else's life?”

She was terrified and sweating profusely. “What are you talking about? That was something Jovan specifically left for me!”

“Let him be a good son to you from now on!”

“Siora, you’re going too far! Dorry!” She shouted toward the door.

A nearly full-grown Rottweiler charged out of the room, glaring menacingly at me. I had heard that Jovan spent a large sum of money on a guard dog for Winona and now I saw it was true.

“Siora, blame yourself for coming here! Dorry, attack her!”

The Rottweiler charged at me like a mad beast. I carefully placed my mother-in-law's ashes under a tree and tried to redirect the dog.

Its patience was limited and it finally seized the chance to knock me to the ground, biting my calf tightly. The pain was almost suffocating.

My screams woke Jovan.

He came outside, displeased. “What’s all this noise?”

When he saw the scene before him, he was furious. “Siora! You’ve dirtied Mom’s yard! Dorry is usually so well-behaved; why did you provoke it? Can’t you even tolerate a dog?”

My mother-in-law was right. Jovan was a blind and heartless brute. Despite me being bitten and bleeding by the vicious dog, he turned a blind eye and twisted the truth.

I gritted my teeth, clenched my fists and smashed the Rottweiler's head wildly. It felt the pain and actually bit off my flesh. My eyes went dark.

Jovan's face changed. "Dorry!"

It ran back to Winona proudly.

I looked down at my skirt stained with blood and my calf bones ached. If I had known this, I would have let Jovan die in the car accident three months ago.

I collapsed on the spot with a bloody broken leg, staring at the couple in front of me fiercely.

"What's that look in your eyes? Dorry was just playing with you, so why hurt it? You are so petty, you are not even as good as a hair of Winona. How dare you come here? Mom is not here, no one will speak for you. I am not going back with you, you vicious woman!"

Winona leaned against Jovan. "Jovan, when Siora came, she was holding a box in her hand and sneaking to the backyard. Who knows what dirty thing she brought with her?”

A sudden jolt of dread surged through me.

The next moment, Jovan's lips parted slightly. "Dorry, go!"

“No!”

My breath caught as I screamed and tried to crawl over, but I had overestimated myself. With old injuries compounded by new pain, I couldn't make it past the dog and fell heavily to the ground.

The Rottweiler had already grabbed the box containing my mother-in-law’s ashes. With a shake of its head, the ashes scattered everywhere. The dog, now in a playful mood, carried the box around the yard, tossing the ashes about. The remains of the ashes were scattered and trampled, quickly diminishing.

“Mom!” My eyes widened in agony as I pushed myself up and frantically crawled over.

The dog was already lying beside the box, chewing on it.

“Mom! Mom! No! Go away… Mom!” I scrambled to gather the ashes of my mother-in-law, but the wind blew and nothing remained.

Winona’s tinkling laughter rang out. “Jovan, look how amusing she is!”

Jovan, equally intrigued, said, “Siora, have you lost your mind? Calling filthy things 'Mom'?”

I could no longer contain my anger and shouted at him, “Jovan! This is your mother, your own mother! Are you even human? Your mother is dead and you let a dog desecrate her!”

Jovan’s expression darkened. He quickly descended and grabbed me by the neck.

“Siora, have I ever told you not to curse my mother?”

He forcefully ground the ashes beneath his foot. “You are seeking death!”

I struggled to breathe as he choked me.

“I’m giving you one last chance. Take your filthy things and get lost!” He threw me harshly to the ground.

Winona looked at me with a smug expression.

The Rottweiler wagged its tail and trotted over, placing the ashes box at Jovan’s feet in an affectionate manner.

When he saw the photo on the box, Jovan froze, as if struck by lightning.