Took My Kidney for His Love

I always knew that Cecilia was special to Maddox. I was nothing more than her stand-in. After three years of holding onto Maddox, it was only right that I returned him to her.

Maddox had lost his mind when Cecilia left the country. He desperately went searching for women who resembled her.

I was the one who looked most like Cecilia, as well as the most obedient and the most understanding. After countless days and nights of unwavering devotion, Maddox reluctantly chose me to be his wife.

I overheard him talking to his friends on the eve of our wedding. He said, "If I can't marry Cecilia, then it doesn't matter who I marry."

At that moment, I was standing right outside the door, but I did not even have the right to be upset.

I loved Maddox so much that I lost myself. The idea of him not loving me was painful, but the thought of losing him was unbearable.

Yet, Cecilia called him on our wedding day, and Maddox walked out without hesitation, leaving me alone in the grand wedding hall, lost and helpless like a child.

I should have known that Cecilia was irreplaceable in Maddox's heart.

After that, she even sent me a text, taunting me.

"A fraud will always be a fraud. All I have to do is curl my finger, and Maddox comes running like a dog. How does it feel to have a wedding all to yourself?"

I bit my lip so hard it almost bled. It felt like my heart had been torn open. I confronted Cecilia, demanding to know why she did not marry Maddox herself if she had come back.

Her response made me realize what a pathetic joke I had become.

"Marry him? Are you kidding? Maddox is just one of my many lovesick suitors. I'm not about to give up an entire forest for one tree.

"Marriage is boring. Only an idiot like you would cling to a man who doesn't love you."

That night, Maddox returned and immediately demanded a divorce. I refused. Instead, I showed him Cecilia's messages.

I just wanted him to see the truth—the woman he had placed on a pedestal only saw him as a backup plan.

Maddox impatiently knocked my phone out of my hand, looking at me like I was some kind of monster.

"Rhea, I never thought you'd go so far as to get a fake number just to frame Cece in order to have me all to yourself. Your heart is absolutely filthy.

"Since you're so desperate to cling to the title of Mrs. Jagger, I'll let you have it. But don't expect even a shred of love from me. And don't think I'll ever touch you!"

It was at that moment that I finally understood—Cecilia did not have to do anything. Maddox would love her with everything he had.

"Maddox, I suddenly have a craving for your walnut pie," Cecilia's soft voice pulled me back to reality.

I watched as the two of them stood together in the hospital corridor, wrapped in their little world of affection. Passersby glanced their way, some with admiration, others visibly moved by the sight.

Maddox smiled gently as he tapped Cecilia's nose.

"Alright. As soon as you're allowed to eat, I'll make them for you."

A sharp, unbearable pain spread through my chest.

I used to stalk Cecilia's social media, digging through her old posts just to understand her better. Years ago, she had once shared a post about Maddox making her walnut pie from scratch.

I knew how complicated the process was. Maddox despised anything troublesome as his hospital responsibilities barely left him with time to breathe.

Once, I foolishly asked if he could make some for me too. He merely shot me a cold glare.

"Do I look like I have that kind of free time? Do you even know what I do for a living? How valuable my hands are?"

Yet now, he agreed to Cecilia's request without hesitation. His hands were precious—but he would crack the hardest walnut shells for Cecilia.

Not to mention, he would slice into my body in an operating room and take my kidney for her without a second thought.

The difference between love and indifference were never clearer than before.

Maddox pushed Cecilia's wheelchair toward the VIP ward. Halfway there, a heart-wrenching wail echoed through the hospital halls.

"My daughter! Why did you leave so soon? How am I supposed to live without you?"

I recognized that voice. It was my mother's. Pain twisted through me, as if her cries were tearing at my very soul.

So, even the dead could feel heartbreak.

Maddox hesitated for a split second, as if trying to make out the voice.

"Maddox? What's wrong?" Cecilia held his hand, her voice full of concern.

Maddox let out a cold laugh. "Nothing. There's always some drama queen in the hospital, addicted to putting on a show."

I watched as he wheeled Cecilia into her room, and a helpless smile formed on my lips.

I knew he recognized my mother's voice. He just believed that she, like me, was putting on an act.

A drama queen. That was what he compared her to. How ironic.

Yet Maddox didn't know that, at that moment, my lifeless body was being wheeled past Cecilia's room.

My mother, who was overcome with grief, immediately collapsed at the doors of the operating room, unable to stand any longer.