Love Drowns In the Lake

"It's just that he's in a consultation on the penthouse floor. He's not seeing anyone..."

Before the doctor could finish, I pushed my mother's gurney and charged for the elevators.

The moment the elevator doors slid open, I saw Dante carefully cradling Isabella in his arms as they walked out of a room.

He held her as if she were a priceless treasure, so fragile she might shatter at a touch. But the moment his gaze fell on me, his eyes filled with loathing.

"Stella, who gave you permission to be here? What if you frighten Isabella!"

"Get out!"

Ignoring the sharp pain stabbing my heart, I fell to my knees before him.

"Dante, I'm begging you, please have the cardiologist see my mother. She's on her last breath."

"Please... I can't live without her..."

With that, I started slamming my forehead against the floor, again and again. In an instant, blood from the gash streamed down my face.

At the sight, Dante's brow furrowed tightly. He opened his mouth to speak, but Isabella’s tears fell first.

"Stella, I know you don't want to donate your kidney to me. That's why you'd invent a story about your mother being critically ill, just to make Dante feel sorry for you."

"Fine, forget it. I won't have the surgery. At worst, just let me suffer until I die."

At my words, Dante's face twisted in fury. He strode forward, his hand clamping around my neck:

"Stella, it seems the lesson I just gave you wasn't enough. You'll stoop to telling any lie just to get out of donating your kidney. You'd better believe that I can make your mother die right this instant!"

Hearing the word "die," my whole body trembled. I pointed toward my mother, struggling to get the words out:

"You're already... killing her, aren't you?"

"Dante... are you really going to make me an orphan?"

Perhaps the sorrow in my eyes was too convincing. Dante froze. Just as he was about to step forward, he heard Isabella let out a deliberately pained moan from behind him.

The man's expression hardened instantly, and he snarled at me,

"Enough! Stella, did you really think this would make me go soft on you, that I'd let you out of donating your kidney to Isabella."

"Save it. Besides, that thing in the lake was a dummy, not your mother. So stop putting on an act for me!"

I shook my head frantically, my gaze fixed on my mother, who lay on the hospital bed, barely breathing.

"No... that's not true, Dante. My mother is lying right there. She's almost stopped breathing... If you don't believe me, just look..."