Chapter 4

Just then, the sound of a car engine came from outside the crowd.

The car door opened, and Jennifer and Mia stepped out.

The reporters immediately turned their cameras toward them.

In front of the cameras, Jennifer instantly put on a worried expression, choking up:

"Robert, we were married once. As long as you're willing to donate a kidney to save Anthony, I'll give you a million dollars and a house!"

"Why make yourself so miserable?"

Mia chimed in from the side, tears falling on cue.

"Robert, please save Anthony! He's your brother! Can you really watch him die?"

My eyes turned bloodshot, each word dripping with blood and hatred.

"I'm going to request a retrial of that case! I'll make all of you pay!"

I stared at them, enunciating each word:

"Want my kidney? Dream on!"

The worry on Jennifer's face froze instantly, revealing a flash of anger.

She stepped forward, hissing through clenched teeth:

"Robert, you're forcing my hand."

She pulled out her phone and quickly sent a message.

Within minutes, chaotic footsteps and noise came from the distance.

A group of grief-stricken people pushed through the crowd and instantly surrounded me.

They were the parents, wives, and children of the comrades who died ten years ago. They were older now, haggard.

But the hatred in their eyes was even more bone-deep than in court all those years ago.

"Robert! You murderer! Executioner!"

"If Jennifer and Anthony hadn't been secretly helping us all these years, giving us money, finding us jobs, helping the kids with school—we would've waited at the prison gates and stabbed you the moment you got out!"

"You killed my son, my husband, my father! You should've paid with your life long ago! Donating a kidney to save someone now is giving you a chance to atone!"

"Right! Donate! You have to! Otherwise we'll drag you to the hospital today!"

Spit and curses wove into a net, trapping me in the center.

Jennifer had fed them with favors and hatred, turning them into the sharpest blades.

"I'm innocent!" I shouted with all my strength. "Jennifer planted a tracking device on me! She tipped them off to save Anthony—that's why the mission was exposed..."

"He's gone crazy!" Mia pointed at me, saying with feigned distress to the crowd:

"Ten years in prison drove him insane—he's talking nonsense! Don't you all know what kind of person Jennifer is?"

"Still trying to slander good people on death's door!"

"Trying to shirk responsibility! No way!"

Watching the deceived crowd, the sneering Jennifer, and Mia who didn't care if I lived or died, I trembled uncontrollably.

Jennifer pushed through the crowd and stood before me again, looking down at me like she was granting charity.

"Robert, I'll ask you one last time. Will you donate your kidney or not?"

I raised my tear-filled eyes to look at this woman who had destroyed everything I had, speaking one word at a time:

"The greatest regret of my life was falling in love with you."

Jennifer froze, standing still.

"Beat him! Beat this heartless bastard to death!"

Someone shouted, and the crowd erupted!

I curled up to protect my vital organs, but fists and feet rained down from all directions.

Ribs made dull thuds, knees buckled in pain, sticks lashed across my back.

Mia tried to step forward but was blocked by the enraged crowd and turned her face away.

In the chaos, I heard someone say quietly:

"Jennifer said not to hit the kidneys—we still need those..."

That sentence was colder than any fist, freezing my heart and lungs solid.

I spat blood, roaring as I shoved one person aside and crawled toward the road!

"Stop him!"

"Don't let him get away!"

I dragged my nearly broken body onto the traffic lane!

Ear-splitting brake sounds erupted all at once!

"Robert! What are you doing! Come back!" Jennifer's panicked scream came from behind.

I gave her a bleak but liberated smile and leaned backward.

"Jennifer, in every life..."

"I will never forgive you."

Jennifer shook her head, her voice carrying unprecedented panic:

"No! I don't need you to donate anymore! Come back..."

Bang!! A massive impact sounded.