Chapter 1 Her Blood

The distinct smell of disinfectant filled the hospital hallway. Sitting in a cold chair, Melanie Baxter had a slight frown on her face.

There was a tube connected to her arm which was drawing blood from a vein, which was bulging due to the tension.

With every drop of blood drawn from her body, it seemed like her life was being sapped out.

Wearily lifting her gaze, she blinked rapidly to clear her blurry vision to no avail.

Swallowing hard, Melanie did her best to see her husband, Ashton Willis, who stood just a few feet away.

At that moment, she tried to identify a trace of hesitation or guilt on his face, but her eyes refused to cooperate, out of focus and hard to keep open.

"Mr. Willis, this should be enough, right?" the doctor suddenly asked as he held up a bunch of filled blood bags. Glancing at Melanie, he added, "If we don't stop now, your wife's life could be in danger."

Hearing this, Melanie looked at Ashton and used every last ounce of strength in her to shake her head slightly.

The blood loss had taken its toll on her and she believed she was going to die if she kept on donating.

But then, Ashton gave a response that shocked her to the core and made her heart skip a beat.

With an icy expression and unfeeling voice, he said, "Olivia still needs blood. Don't stop!"

Short and simple, these words pierced Melanie's heart like a sharp knife.

A mixture of shock, confusion, and disappointment swept through her body, leaving her speechless.

Never in her life could she have imagined that her husband could have so little regard for her life. To make it even worse, he was like this just because of another woman.

The emotional pain from his response hurt more than the physical pain from the blood loss.

"Once you've gotten more, have all the blood bags delivered to Olivia's room," Ashton added coldly.

With that, he turned and left without sparing Melanie a glance.

Watching Ashton's back as he walked away, Melanie got not just more disappointed and sorrowful, but also incredibly angry.

The memory of when he had saved her from the brink of death by pulling her from the cold sea surfaced in her mind at that moment.

Back then, Olivia Hudson was supposed to be standing beside Ashton at his wedding, but Olivia ran away.

As a show of gratitude to Ashton for saving her life, Melanie volunteered to be his bride, marrying him and becoming a member of the Willis family.

They had been married for two years now, and she had done her best during this period trying to please both Ashton and his family. She had done all she could to fit in perfectly as Mrs. Willis, including tolerating the constant insults she faced from her mother-in-law and sister-in-law.

Ashton had informed Melanie that Olivia had been involved in a car accident which led her to lose quite a significant amount of blood. Due to Olivia's rare blood type being the same as Melanie's, she had agreed to donate some of her blood without hesitation.

But now...

As she watched the doctor connect another empty blood bag to the tube connected to her arm, Melanie concluded that she had to put a stop to this.

As the doctor turned away from her, she seized the moment and swiftly pulled the needle out of her arm with her free hand, causing blood to spurt everywhere.

Not caring for the blood running down her arm, she got up and dashed to Olivia's room.

Just as she was about to walk into the ward, she heard Olivia's voice, which sounded both pitiful and deeply apologetic.

"I'm so sorry, Ashton. If I hadn't gotten into that accident, Melanie wouldn't have to lose so much blood for my sake."

At that moment, Melanie's sister-in-law, Stacey Willis, who was standing next to Ashton, shook her head and said, "There's no need for you to feel sorry, Olivia. In fact, you should know that Melanie would be nothing short of delighted to donate blood for you."

Nodding, Ashton chimed in, "Your recovery is all that matters, Olivia. Just wait for a few more minutes, okay? The blood will be here soon. Trust me, I won't let anything bad happen to you."

Every single word uttered by the trio inside the ward was heard by Melanie as she stood outside the door.

So, in Ashton's eyes, her blood and life were nothing next to Olivia's!

"Bang!"

Melanie violently pushed the door open and staggered into the ward. Glaring at everyone in the room, she asked through gritted teeth, "You've all got everything figured out, right? Aren't you even afraid that Olivia's body wouldn't be able to handle the influx of so much of someone else's blood?"

Her voice was cold and hinted with sarcasm.

As Ashton and Olivia weren't expecting Melanie to suddenly show up, they were both quite stunned to see her.

Quickly putting on a pitiful expression, Olivia acted like a frightened little child as tears rapidly gathered in her eyes.

Trembling slightly, she said, "Melanie, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. You've suffered a lot due to my car accident and need for blood. I swear, I'm going to repay you someday. I'm going to be grateful to you forever..."

However, Melanie saw through Olivia's pretense with cold eyes and felt quite disgusted by her fake demeanor.

"You never cease to amaze me with your acting skills, Olivia," Melanie said sarcastically.

Looking demented, Stacey jabbed her finger at Melanie's face and barked, "Melanie! How can you be so cruel? What's wrong with you donating some blood when your body is fine with it? It's not like you are going to die! Stop making this hard on everyone and return to the doctor so Olivia can get the blood she needs!"

At that moment, Ashton noticed that there was no needle in Melanie's arm and realized something was wrong.

"Stop this theatrics of yours this instance, Melanie! Saving Olivia is our paramount goal for now! Head back to the doctor and continue donating blood," he ordered firmly, clearly indicating that there was no room for argument.

However, Melanie ignored him and walked straight to Olivia and ripped the blood transfusion needle from her hand without hesitation.

Not expecting this, Olivia was too shocked to resist and watched in shock as Melanie grabbed the blood bag hanging nearby and threw daggers at Ashton with her eyes.

"Olivia's life is important while mine isn't, right?" Melanie spat.

Not dropping her act, Olivia looked at Ashton with tearful eyes and called his name in a pleading tone. "Ashton..."

Determined that Olivia must be saved at all costs, Ashton rushed towards Melanie to snatch the blood bag from her hand.

However, Melanie anticipated his move and quickly threw the blood bag on the floor with as much force as she could muster before he could reach her.

"Smack-"

The blood bag instantly burst the moment it hit the floor, the sound of which was particularly jarring in the quiet room.

Blood began to pool on the floor, and the scene looked quite gruesome.

With her voice filled with venom and echoing through the entire room, Melanie said, "I'd rather have my blood wasted than donate another drop to Olivia!"