PART 2 – The Price of a Kidney

Emily didn’t sleep that night.

She sat in the hospital corridor, knees pulled to her chest, staring at the flickering fluorescent lights. Every time the doors to the ICU opened, her heart jumped—only to fall again.

Her mother lay unconscious.
Her father lay two floors above, his life balanced on borrowed time.

Money.
Everything came back to money.

The next morning, a familiar voice broke the silence.

“Well… looks like you’re still alive.”

Emily looked up.

Ethan Lu.

He stood there in a tailored coat, hands in his pockets, as if visiting a zoo exhibit. Behind him were two assistants, eyes cold, expressions bored.

“You came to laugh at us again?” Emily asked quietly.

Ethan smirked.
“No. I came to help.”

He pulled out a document and dropped it onto her lap.

“Two hundred thousand dollars.”

Emily’s hands trembled.

“With that money,” Ethan continued casually, “your mother gets surgery. Your father gets treatment. You all get to live.”

Her eyes lifted slowly.
“What do you want?”

Ethan smiled wider.

“A kidney.”

The world went silent.

“My friend’s sister needs a transplant. You’re a match.”
He leaned closer.
“One kidney won’t kill you. People like you should feel honored—saving someone important.”

Emily stood up.

“No.”

Her father, who had just been wheeled out of imaging, heard everything.

He shook his head violently.
“No. Absolutely not.”

Emily turned to him.
“Dad, if I don’t—”

“I’d rather die,” he said hoarsely, gripping her wrist.
“I will not let you trade your life for ours.”

Ethan rolled his eyes.

“Old man, don’t be dramatic. Two hundred thousand for one kidney is generous.”
Then his voice dropped.
“If it weren’t for your daughter’s blood type, you wouldn’t even be worth the offer.”

Emily stepped in front of her father.

“We won’t do it,” she said. “Leave.”

Ethan stared at her for a long moment.

Then he laughed.

“Fine.”
He turned away, then paused.
“Just don’t come begging when the machines stop beeping.”

The Breaking Point

That night, Emily’s mother’s condition worsened.

The doctor pulled Emily aside.

“If we don’t operate within forty-eight hours…”
He didn’t finish the sentence.

Emily nodded.

She walked to the stairwell and slid down against the wall.

She closed her eyes.

One kidney.

She imagined her father’s face if she did it.
She imagined her mother never waking up if she didn’t.

When she opened her eyes, her decision was already made.

The Sacrifice

Emily went alone.

She signed the papers without reading them.

As she lay on the operating table, the cold lights blinding her, she whispered:

“Mom… Dad… please forgive me.”

The surgery was rushed.
Careless.
Hidden.

When she woke up, pain tore through her side.

And no one was there.

She learned later—

Ethan never paid the full amount.

Only enough to keep her mother alive.

Across Town – The Forgotten Truth

That same night, Madam Lu stood in front of an old photograph.

A little girl, smiling brightly, wearing a jade pendant.

Her hand trembled.

“That girl at the gala…” she murmured.
“She had the same eyes.”

Her eldest son frowned.
“Mother, coincidences happen.”

Madam Lu shook her head.

“No.”
Her voice broke.
“A mother knows.”

She ordered a full investigation.

Every hospital.
Every charity list.
Every young woman matching the age.

Including—

Emily Harper.

The Fall

Days later, Emily returned to the Lu Group headquarters for work.

She was pale.
Still in pain.

A supervisor sneered.
“Clean the restrooms.”

“I was hired for administrative work,” Emily said quietly.

“Then quit.”

She clenched her fists and picked up the mop.

That afternoon, Ethan appeared.

“So?” he said.
“Feeling lighter?”

Emily didn’t answer.

He leaned in, voice cold.
“Remember this. People like you exist to be stepped on.”

She met his eyes for the first time—unafraid.

“And people like you,” she said softly,
“don’t know what they’ve already destroyed.”

End of PART 2