Word spread quickly that simply taking the test would earn fifty thousand dollars and everyone jumped at the chance to volunteer.
Amara even dangled a sky-high offer: five million for a matching donor.
For everyone else, it was a golden opportunity: save a life and get rich.
But I simply shook my head.
“My son’s health has always been fragile. He won’t be participating.”
Besides, I had no obligation to help her child, her son, with Laurence.
She could go to such lengths for theirs, yet she couldn’t even spare a thought for the child lying sick in a hospital bed, my son.
The thought of how we had scraped by, living humbly with barely enough to get by, made my chest ache.
Amara, perhaps this was heaven’s way of punishing you for your lies and cruelty.
The assistant’s face darkened, clearly not expecting my refusal. His eyes shifted, growing cold and threatening.
“Don’t refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit. You’re just a pathetic delivery guy. Offend President Lancaster and we’ll make sure you can’t survive in this city.”
With that, he gave a signal to the two bodyguards behind him.
They grabbed me and forced me toward the examination room.
Even my unconscious son was carried out against his will.
My eyes burned with rage as I struggled to save him, but pain suddenly exploded in the back of my leg.
The assistant had kicked the hollow of my knee and I collapsed to the floor.
He yanked my hair and sneered coldly.
“You and your bastard son, how could your lives ever compare to President Lancaster’s beloved husband and child?”
“I advise you not to make a scene, or you’ll alert them. After that, things won’t be so simple!”
I couldn’t help but let out a cold laugh. “What do their lives have to do with me? If they die, even better...”
Before I could finish, a searing pain exploded in my mouth; he had lit a lighter and shoved it straight in.
I tried to dodge, my body wracked with agony, but the two burly men behind me held me down so tightly that I couldn’t move.
The taste of burnt blood filled my mouth and the pain was so intense I nearly lost consciousness.
“That’s what you get for talking shit!”
“Daddy! Don’t hit my daddy...”
Just as I felt myself slipping into darkness, my son’s cries yanked me back to reality.
I struggled to get up and protect him, but dizziness slammed into me like a hammer.