I Thought Love Meant Staying, Until She Taught Me Otherwise

Terence's POV

"Please… I can’t lose her…" I begged, my voice breaking as I slammed my forehead to the floor again and again. Blood ran down my cheeks, mixing with my tears.

Queenie frowned, clearly shaken. She looked like she was about to say something. But before she could, Jeremy started crying first.

“Terence,” he whimpered, “I know you don’t want to donate your kidney. That’s why you made up this whole story about your mom being in critical condition. You’re just trying to make Queenie feel bad. But fine, forget the surgery. Let me die in pain.”

At those words, Queenie’s face turned ice cold.

She stormed forward and grabbed me by the throat. "Terence, I guess the lesson I taught you earlier wasn’t enough. You’ll say anything to get out of donating that kidney. You think I won’t kill your mother right now?!"

The word “kill” made my whole body tremble.

I forced myself to point at the hospital bed and whispered hoarsely, “You’ve already almost killed her. Isn’t that enough? Queenie… do you really want to turn me into an orphan?”

Maybe it was the look in my eyes, but for a split second, she hesitated.

She took a step toward my mother’s bed.

But just then, Jeremy groaned dramatically behind her.

“Ah—Queenie, it hurts. It hurts so much. Please, help me.”

In a flash, her face changed again. She spun on me with venom in her voice. “Enough already! Terence, do you really think you can guilt-trip me into backing down? That I’ll just let you off the hook and not donate your kidney to Jeremy? Save it. And by the way, the person on the excavator was just a dummy, not your mom. So drop the act!”

I shook my head wildly, pointing to the bed where my mother lay, barely breathing.

“No… that’s not true. She’s right there. My mother’s right there! She’s barely alive! Look for yourself—!”

Before I could finish, Queenie grabbed my jaw and pressed down hard with her thumb, sneering at me.

“Still pretending? If it weren’t for that ventilator, your mother would’ve been dead a long time ago. Actually, maybe it’s better this way. Saves me a fortune in medical bills.”

She said it so casually, as if “death” was just another item on her to-do list. And in that moment, something inside me shattered completely.

Then, the heart monitor next to my mother’s bed let out a sharp, continuous beep.

My lungs locked up, and panic surged through me like lightning.

I broke free from Queenie’s grip and dashed toward the bed. But I only made it one step before Jeremy suddenly screamed, “Ah! It hurts so much, Queenie! I’m dying, help me!”

Without even glancing at me, Queenie barked at the guards, “Hold him down!”

In seconds, a group of massive bodyguards had tackled me to the ground. I thrashed like a rabid dog, screaming so loudly my throat burned.

“Let me go! Let me go! My mother’s waiting for me! She’s waiting—!”

I bit down on one of the guards' arms, not even thinking. Then, a surge of electricity ripped through me.

The glass cuts all over my body lit up in searing pain as pus and blood oozed out. Immediately, I collapsed to the ground, twitching uncontrollably.

When I managed to lift my head, I saw Queenie standing over me with cold eyes and an electric baton in her hand.

“Terence, if you won’t behave,” she said coldly, “then don’t blame me for what happens next.”

Turning to her bodyguards, she instructed, “Take him to surgery. Right now. I want that kidney out of him immediately!”

With that, they tied me down like an animal and dragged me into the operating room.

I fought and screamed, but the ropes were too tight. All I could do was watch as my mother’s hand slipped lifelessly off the side of the bed, and the monitor went flat.

I let out a broken, soul-crushing scream. It felt like a thousand knives tearing into my chest at once.

The next moment, a cold needle jabbed into my rotting skin. My vision blurred, and darkness crept in.

Just before I lost consciousness, I heard Queenie’s ruthless voice saying, “No mistakes. If one kidney isn’t enough, take the second one.”