"Kill you? That would be letting you off too easy."
"Annette's kidneys are failing. Your tissue was a perfect match."
"Next month, you're going into surgery."
My mind went blank. He was going to cut a kidney out of me while I was still breathing.
"I won't do it!"
"This is a crime!"
Stan's lip curled.
"In this house, I am the law."
The days that followed were a living prison.
Every day they forced needles into my arms, pumping me full of nutritional supplements to keep my organs in peak condition. I tried to escape, but the villa was surrounded by bodyguards. I couldn't even get past the front gate.
Despair swallowed me whole.
Then one day, a maid forgot to lock my door.
I slipped out and crept downstairs to the landline, dialing 911 with shaking hands.
"Hello, I need help. I'm being held against my will. They're planning to harvest my organs—"
The line went dead. Someone had ripped the cord from the wall.
Stan stood behind me, his face dark as a storm.
"Jade. You never learn."
He grabbed a fistful of my hair and dragged me all the way back to my room, hurling me onto the bed.
"Since you're so desperate to run, we'll do the surgery today."
He called in the bodyguards. They strapped me to a gurney.