1 On the day I was set to give birth, terrified of the pain, my husband, Mark, and I had fully agreed I would get an epidural. To ensure everything went smoothly, I had paid out of pocket for an upgraded, private maternity suite and several pre-paid, elective medical options not fully covered by our insurance. I didn't expect that the moment I was three centimeters dilated and agony was setting in, my mother-in-law, Sharon, would practically block the delivery room door, physically stopping the nurse from bringing in the anesthesiologist. She marched over to my bedside and slapped a car title transfer document onto my over-bed table. "Sign over the title of your Porsche to your brother-in-law right now for his wedding! Otherwise, forget about the epidural!" The labor nurse stood nearby, tapping her foot in frustration and checking her watch. "Ma'am, we need to get the doctor in here now." But Sharon had dug her heels in. Until I signed that paper, no medication was getting through that door. Worried about triggering an emergency with the baby due to the intense stress and pain, I had no choice but to grab the pen and scrawl my signature. I thought that was the end of it and I could finally focus on delivering my child. But then, the fetal monitor began to beep sharply. The baby’s heart rate was plummeting. As the OB-GYN rushed in holding a consent form for an emergency C-section, needing an immediate signature to save two lives, Sharon spoke up again. "If you want a family member to sign that consent, you need to add my son’s name to the deed of your downtown penthouse." Pale from the blinding pain, I looked at Mark, desperately begging him for help. "Mark, the baby is losing oxygen! Are you really extorting a house from me right now?" Mark looked incredibly conflicted, shifting his weight from foot to foot while holding my hand. "Honey, you have to understand, Mom is just trying to look out for our family's future." "Just nod your head, please! Otherwise, Mom swears she won't let me sign these life-saving papers!" … Mark was actually crying harder than I was, as if he were the victim being coerced. "That penthouse is my separate premarital property!" I tried to yank my hand away from his, but I didn't have an ounce of strength left. Beside me, the fetal heart monitor's alarm became a piercing, continuous scream. "Her water is completely meconium-stained! The baby is severely oxygen-deprived!" The lead surgeon, sweat beading on his forehead under his cap, practically slammed the surgical consent form against Mark’s chest. "Any more delay and this will be a stillbirth! Sign it now!" Mark acted like a spineless coward, burying his hands deep in his pockets and letting the paper slide right off his chest and onto the floor. He turned to look at Sharon, pleading with her, "Mom, shouldn't we save them first?" "Save them, my ass! If that house deed doesn't have your name on it today, no one is cutting her open!" Sharon shoved Mark aside, acting like a brick wall blocking the surgeon. She pulled out a self-inking notary stamp and an "Amendment to Real Estate Deed" document, shoving it directly into my face. "Rylee, just press your thumb right here. The downtown place gets Mark's name on it, and I will instantly tell my son to sign the surgery consent!" "This is extortion! I'm calling the police!" the labor nurse yelled, her whole body shaking with rage as she reached for her phone. "Go ahead and call them!" Sharon snapped, swinging her hand and aggressively slapping the nurse's wrist. "Furthermore, this is a family matter! When the cops show up, they have no right to stop a mother from educating her daughter-in-law!" The pain was causing stars to explode in my vision. Tears mixed with cold sweat poured down my face in huge drops. "Mark, this is our baby! The one we fought through five rounds of IVF to get!" "How can you let our child suffer like this?" For this baby, I had endured over three hundred days of daily hormone injections, leaving my stomach a mass of black-and-blue bruising. During egg retrieval, I had screamed in agony. Mark had knelt by my bedside then, slapping his own face, swearing on his life he would spend forever cherishing the baby and me. Five years of supposedly unbreakable love—was it really worth less than a piece of real estate to him? "Honey, I'm hurting more than you are right now!" Mark sobbed, dropping to his knees by the bed. "But it wasn't easy for Mom to raise me all on her own. She just wants some security for us." "Just add the name, and I'll sign immediately! I swear to God, even with my name on the deed, it’s still your house. I will never take a dime of equity from you!" Even as he was speaking these supposedly profound words of love, he was physically forcing open my clenched fist. "Honey, just swallow your pride for once. The nurses are already making fun of us. Nothing is more important than our family being okay and together!" Listening to this incredibly spineless speech, my heart went completely cold. "Fetal heart rate is down to sixty! Prep for internal resuscitation!" the OB-GYN roared at the team. "My baby..." I closed my eyes in despair, my mental defenses completely collapsing. For this piece of my own flesh and blood that I had suffered so much for, I couldn't gamble. I couldn't afford to lose. "I'll sign..." The words had barely left my mouth when Sharon grabbed my thumb, practically grinding it into the stamp ink, and jammed it down hard onto the deed amendment document, leaving a clear, dark fingerprint. "See? If you'd just been this sensible from the start, we wouldn't have this problem!" Sharon tucked the document away with a look of immense satisfaction. Mark instantly stopped crying, scrambled up from the floor, grabbed a pen, and scrawled his signature on the surgical consent form. "Doctor, quick! Save my wife and child! Use the best medicine!" Mark yelled. Several nurses worked together to lift me onto a gurney, pushing me at a dead run down the hallway. Just as the gurney was about to burst through the doors of the operating room, a sharp voice rang out. "Wait! Stop! She can't go in!" The head surgical nurse came sprinting from the opposite end of the hallway like a track star, slamming her hand down on the gurney to halt it. "What is going on? We are out of time!" the lead surgeon bellowed. "The surgery is canceled!" The head nurse held up a printout of the billing statement, yelling, "The two hundred thousand dollar pre-payment in the patient's hospital account... a family member just applied for a full refund and took the cash!" 2 "What refund?" the lead surgeon demanded, his voice dangerously low. I followed the head nurse's pointing finger. Not far away, at the hospital's billing and discharge window, Sharon was busy stuffing stacks of hundred-dollar bills into a black plastic trash bag. Mark stood right beside her, hunched over, holding the bag open for her. "Mark!" I used every last ounce of strength I had to scream his name. Below the belt, another wave of agonizing, tearing pain ripped through me. Hearing my voice, Mark flinched, and the plastic bag almost slipped from his grasp. Sharon snatched the bag away, hugging it tightly to her chest, and turned around to roll her eyes at the doctor. "What are you screaming for? Charging two hundred thousand to deliver a baby, this hospital is practically committing highway robbery!" The doctor was shaking with rage, pointing his finger at her and yelling, "That was the pre-paid emergency fund for dynamic complications, major hemorrhaging, and life-saving intervention!" "Without money, the blood bank won't release units for transfusion! If the patient gets on the operating table and can't come off, who’s going to take responsibility?" "I had three kids, all natural, total cost was like fifty bucks back in the day!" Sharon retorted, sticking her finger aggressively toward the doctor’s nose. "I asked around! A standard delivery is a few grand, max! You people are just trying to scam us!" I could feel warm liquid continuously gushing from me, and the bedsheets beneath me were already soaked red in a massive bloom. That two hundred thousand was my own money that I had pre-paid into the hospital account to save my own life, specifically for a catastrophic moment like today! "Mark..." I grit my teeth, shaking violently. "Give the money back." Mark walked over with an expression of complete helplessness. "Honey, Mom says we need this money for an urgent emergency." "Your brother-in-law is getting married, and the bride's family suddenly demanded an extra two hundred thousand for the dowry, or she’s getting an abortion and calling off the wedding. Mom was completely frantic, that’s why she had to borrow your pre-payment fund for just a moment." "Don't worry, as soon as he's married, I'll sell my soul to pay you back." I was so angry I actually started laughing—laughing until tears streamed down my face. Taking my life-saving money to pay for my brother-in-law's wedding dowry? "That is my life!" I struggled, trying to grab his collar, but I didn't have the strength to even raise my hand. "Without money, she cannot enter the operating room! Family needs to go pay now!" The head surgical nurse blocked the operating room door, holding firm on hospital protocol. Mark turned to beg Sharon, his voice pathetic beyond belief: "Mom, can we maybe just pay fifty thousand of it? Rylee is bleeding a lot, it looks pretty scary." Sharon squeezed the plastic bag tighter against her chest and plopped down onto an open chair in the waiting hallway. "No money! Not a single dime!" "Her parents have money. A little bleeding isn't going to kill her!" The medical staff in the vicinity were completely stunned. "You are recklessly endangering a human life! I'm calling the police right now!" The head nurse pulled out her cell phone to dial 911. "Go ahead and call them!" Sharon dropped to the floor and began slapping the linoleum with her hands, throwing a full-blown toddler tantrum. "Help! The doctors are conspiring with patients' families to steal money! There’s no justice in the world!" Mark looked at me, his face a mask of total helplessness. "Honey, look at Mom. She's completely lost it. Just look at this two hundred thousand as helping your brother-in-law out, okay?" "We’re all family trying to live a good life, what's a little money between us?" Beside me, a nurse screamed, "Fetal heart rate is still dropping! Patient is in active hemorrhage!" I looked at the man standing over me and found him completely unrecognizable. For this baby that I had fought through five rounds of IVF to get, I couldn't waste another second. Trembling, I fumbled under my pillow for my phone. "I'll pay..." "I will use my own trust fund money to pay the advance!" Hearing this, Sharon, who had been throwing a fit on the floor, suddenly scrambled to her feet. "You little bitch, you finally admitted it!" 她 rushed over and aggressively grabbed my wrist. "Mark works day and night to earn money, and you have the nerve to hoard a secret stash behind our backs!" I screamed in pain. "Let go! That is my inheritance from my parents!" "Bullshit! You married into the Vance family, your money is Vance money!" Sharon ignored me completely, desperately trying to pry my fingers open. "Mark, quick! Come help! Get the phone! This bitch definitely has way more than a few hundred grand hidden away!" Mark stood there. He didn't try to stop her. Instead, he just rubbed his hands together, looking at me with an expression of utter betrayal. "Honey, since you had money all along, why didn't you just take it out earlier to help my brother?" "Why do you have to draw such a hard line between 'yours' and 'ours' within the same family?" 3 Sharon snatched my phone from my hand and violently slapped my face. "What's the passcode! Tell me!" A searing, burning pain exploded across my cheek, and my vision began to go black in patches. "That is my life-saving money... in your dreams!" "Won't talk, huh?" Sharon grabbed a handful of my hair, violently slamming my head against the cold metal railing of the gurney. "I’ll teach you to be stubborn! You don't pay today, you can just lie here and die!" "Stop it! Security! Get security down here now!" The head nurse and several other nurses desperately rushed forward, trying to pull her off me. Sharon fought like a rabid dog, biting and scratching, single-handedly forcing several nurses back. "Mark!" I screamed in pure despair. Mark finally moved. He stepped quickly over to the gurney and aggressively pulled the thrashing Sharon back. "Mom, stop beating her! Rylee is still pregnant with a Vance child!" I gasped for air weakly, thinking that he finally had a sliver of conscience. But in the next second, Mark grabbed my right thumb and violently pressed it against the phone's screen to use Touch ID. "Mark... what are you doing!" I tried desperately to shrink away, but I couldn't break free from his grip. "Honey, I'm sorry." Mark's eyes were red, and tears began to plop, plop down onto my face. "Mom is stubborn. We just have to go along with her this one time. As soon as you pay the money and the baby is born, I promise I will sell my soul to make it up to you!" There was a soft beep. The fingerprint ID worked. Mark expertly opened my mobile banking app and tapped on the account balance screen. Both of them leaned over the screen, and instantly, they let out a sharp, synchronised gasp. "Units, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, hundred thousands, millions..." Sharon's voice was trembling violently. "Three million dollars! You little bitch, you actually had three million hidden behind my son's back!" Mark's eyes went wide, and his tone actually carried a hint of self-pity and accusation. "Honey, your family gave you that much inheritance? You were hiding it so deep from me..." "Give me back my phone..." I was continuously gushing blood from below, and my consciousness was beginning to fade; only a sliver of primal instinct was keeping me holding on. "Give it back? You crossed into our Vance household; this is now marital assets!" Sharon immediately clicked on the transfer funds screen. "Enter the passcode! Transfer all three million to my son's account right now!" The lead surgeon, sweat beading on his forehead, was pushing the gurney, ready to burst through the operating room doors. "Patient is going into hypovolemic shock! Are you paying the surgical fee or not!" Sharon whirled around, spreading her arms wide, using her heavy-set body to completely block the operating room entrance. "No, we aren't paying! And she's not going in!" "If this three million isn't transferred to my son today, no one is doing any surgery!" The head nurse was shaking with rage. "Are you insane? That is a human life! This is literal murder!" "Bullshit!" Sharon spat on the linoleum. "She has three million and refused to help my youngest son in his emergency. She doesn't care about family, so why should I care if she lives or dies!" "Mark, hold her face! Use Face ID for the transfer!" Mark looked at me, covered in blood, and then looked at the numbers on the phone screen. He swallowed hard, bringing the phone up to my face. "Honey, just blink your eyes for me." "The second the transfer is confirmed, I will personally carry you into the operating room. The doctor said if we wait any longer, the baby's brain will be irreversibly damaged from oxygen deprivation." "Didn't you love this IVF baby more than anything? Trading three million for our child's life is a good deal." Listening to this casually evil speech, my heart completely died. Five years of marriage, the love I thought we had—it was all nothing but a joke. "In your dreams..." I clamped my eyes shut as tight as I could, violently biting down on the tip of my tongue, using the blinding pain to force myself to stay conscious. "You bitch! Daring to close your eyes?" Sharon rushed over, using both hands to violently pry my eyelids open. "Mark, quick! Scan! Scan!" I desperately rolled my eyes, fighting against the phone screen's facial scan. The pain in my lower abdomen hit me like a tidal wave. I finally couldn't hold on any longer, and my vision was plunged into complete darkness. "Patient has lost consciousness! Fetal heart rate is almost gone!" a nurse screamed in despair. In this moment of absolute, life-or-death crisis... The elevator doors at the end of the hallway opened with a soft ding. A furious roar exploded down the hallway like a thunderclap. "Let's see who dares to touch my daughter!" 4 "Rylee!" When my mom saw the horrific sight of me covered in blood and unconscious on the gurney, her vision blurred, and she almost collapsed. My dad rushed forward like an enraged lion. "What did you animals do to my daughter!" He swung his foot, violently kicking Mark square in the stomach. "Murder! The rich are getting away with murder!" Sharon saw this, but instead of being scared, she plopped down right at the operating room entrance, throwing a full-blown tantrum again. "If you beat my son to death, your daughter can forget about ever getting on that operating table today!" My dad ignored her completely, turning to roar at the doctor: "I am her biological father! I will sign! However much money you need, I will pay! Save my daughter!" The doctor, looking utterly panicked, shook his head frantically, tightly gripping that crumpled surgical consent form. "We can't! The patient already signed earlier, and this agreement is a co-signature form with her husband holding joint liability." "Hospital policy dictates that when the husband is present, his signature is required to override the previous consent and proceed with surgery!" "And the patient is actively hemorrhaging. The emergency pre-payment was refunded, and the blood bank won't release units without funds!" My dad whipped his head around, staring with murderous intent at Mark, who was cowering in the corner. "Sign! Get the money paid!" Mark clutched his stomach, scrambled up from the floor, and immediately hid behind Sharon. Sharon’s eyes darted around, and she stood up, brushing the dust off her clothes. "My, my, you have quite a temper." She pulled another document from her pocket and slapped it against my dad’s chest. "Want my son to sign? Want the money to save your daughter?" "Fine! Transfer thirty percent of the shares in your company over to my son’s name immediately!" "Otherwise, you can just stand here and watch your daughter and that little bastard die together!" "In your dreams!" My mom pointed a shaking finger at Sharon, screaming, "That is the business we’ve worked our whole lives for. Why the hell would we give it to you parasites!" "Don't give it, then. We can just wait." Sharon gave a cold laugh, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, looking entirely untroubled. "I’m not the one bleeding." Mark peeked out from behind her, looking pathetic and aggrieved. "Dad, Mom, Rylee’s life is hanging by a thread. If I had these shares, I would have the financial security to take care of them both for the rest of my life." "Just look at this as helping me out for the sake of the baby Rylee is carrying." Hearing this unbelievably shameless speech, my dad was shaking with rage, pointing at Mark, unable to form a word for a long minute. A nurse screamed, tears running down her face. "Family needs to decide now! Patient's blood pressure is down to fifty! If we don't transfuse now, she really won't make it!" My mom looked at my deathly pale face, and her mental defenses completely collapsed. "Honey, give it... give it to them! Rylee’s life is what matters most!" My dad had been a proud man his whole life, decisive in the business world, but now his eyes were red, and his hands were shaking violently. He looked at me covered in blood, his knees began to bend, and he was actually about to kneel down to this spineless coward, Mark! "Mark, I am begging you..." "Dad! Do not kneel!" I don't know where I found the strength, but I suddenly opened my eyes and ripped out a raw, agonizing scream. My dad froze. Mark and Sharon were also startled by my sudden burst of rage. I grit my teeth, fighting against the blinding pain in my lower abdomen that felt like I was being torn apart. I slowly pushed myself up. I looked at my parents' white hair, at the way they were humiliating themselves for my sake, and the pain in my heart far eclipsed the physical agony. Five years of compromising, five rounds of IVF torture—what it bought me was their escalated extortion and the humiliation of my parents. Enough! This bottomless, parasitic leeching ends today! I violently ripped off the fetal heart monitor leads attached to my belly! "Rylee, what are you doing!" Mark yelled, turning pale with terror. "I’m not giving birth." I stared dead at Mark, pronouncing every word. "I do not want this baby anymore."
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