The Man Who Donated a Kidney to Me Proposed a Month Later, Claiming He Was Terminally Ill and Didn't Want to Pass Alone – But Right After We Said 'I Do,' He Took My Hand and Whispered, 'Now I Can Finally Tell You the Truth'

"Nathan!" I screamed, relief and utter shock flooding through me as tears spilled over my cheeks.

Dr. Vance backed away from my gurney, his face pale as chalk, grabbing a scalpel from the tray and holding it awkwardly toward Nathan. "Nathaniel... nephew... lower the weapon. You don't know what you're doing. This research can save millions!"

"Shut your mouth, Julian," Nathan said, his voice terrifyingly quiet, dropping like a sledgehammer in the red-lit room. He racked the slide of his shotgun, the metallic click echoing through the alarm-filled facility. "I buried my past once. I spent ten years paying for the sins you helped me cover up. You don't get to touch my wife."

"I am your family!" Dr. Vance yelled, stepping back until his hips hit a control console. "I built the empire that gave you your life! I funded your cancer treatments!"

"You used me to test your sick experiments," Nathan spat, taking three deliberate steps forward, his boots stepping over the shattered glass on the floor. "And now you're going to pay the bill."

In a desperate, panicked move, Dr. Vance lunged sideways, slamming his hand onto a red button on the wall console.

"Automated containment lock activated," a computerized voice announced over the intercom. Heavy steel security grates began to slide down over the doors, sealing the lab off completely.

Simultaneously, two armed guards who had survived the blast in the outer hallway ducked through the closing grate, opening fire with submachine guns.

Nathan dove behind a heavy stainless steel workstation as bullets tore through the room, shattering monitors, bursting liquid containers, and sending clouds of white chemical steam pouring into the air.

"Nathan!" I screamed, pulling desperately against the leather restraints on my wrist, the edges cutting deep into my skin, drawing blood.

I couldn't just lie here and watch him die. I twisted my right hand with all my strength, ignoring the excruciating pain as my thumb dislocated, popping out of its socket with a sickening crunch. I shrieked in agony, but the added slack allowed me to slip my hand free from the leather cuff.

With my free hand, I quickly unbuckled the straps across my chest, my left wrist, and my legs.

I tumbled off the gurney onto the hard floor just as a stray bullet ricocheted off the steel frame right where my head had been seconds before.

On the other side of the room, Nathan popped out from behind the workstation, firing two precise shots from his shotgun that neutralized the first guard. But the second guard charged him, tackling Nathan into a row of glass incubators.

They crashed onto the floor in a flurry of punches and shattering glass. Nathan's shotgun was knocked out of his hand, skidding across the slippery floor toward me.

Nathan fought like a man possessed, but his body was still healing. The guard gained the upper hand, pinning Nathan down and pressing a heavy combat knife against Nathan's throat.

"Die, you bastard," the guard grunted, pressing the blade down, drawing a thin line of red on Nathan's neck.

I didn't think. I grabbed the heavy automatic shotgun from the floor, pulled it to my shoulder, and leveled the barrel at the guard's back.

"Get off my husband," I growled.

The guard started to turn his head in surprise, but I pulled the trigger.

The blast blew him off Nathan, slamming his body against the concrete wall. The recoil knocked me back onto my hips, my shoulder aching violently, but I held onto the weapon.

Nathan scrambled up from the floor, panting heavily, blood dripping from his neck and cheek. He ran over to me, kneeling down and pulling me into his arms, kissing my forehead, my hair, my cheeks.

"Maya... God, Maya, I thought I lost you," he breathed, his body trembling against mine.

"I'm here, I'm okay," I sobbed, wrapping my arms around his neck. "How did you find me? How did you know?"

"I never stopped tracking Vance's old offshore accounts," Nathan whispered, holding my face in his hands. "The moment you disappeared, I unlocked the private security network I built years ago. I'm not letting anyone hurt you ever again."

"A touching reunion," a voice sneered from the corner of the room.

We both turned.

Dr. Julian Vance was standing near the central control terminal, holding a thick glass canister filled with an amber liquid—the primary concentrate of the synthetic counter-serum. In his other hand, he held a small, wireless remote detonator.

"This facility is rigged with thermite charges to prevent corporate espionage," Dr. Vance said, a psychotic, unhinged grin spreading across his face. "If I press this button, the entire floor will burn at three thousand degrees. Everything burns—the research, the lab, and both of you."

"You won't do it, Julian," Nathan said calmly, standing up slowly and placing himself between me and the needle-filled table. "You're too selfish to die."

"I have the serum concentrate in my hand, Nathan!" Julian screamed, his knuckles turning white around the detonator. "I can rebuild! But if I can't have the source, no one will!"

He raised his thumb to press the button.

Before his finger could connect, a deafening gunshot echoed from the shattered blast doors behind us.

A bullet tore straight through Dr. Vance’s wrist. His hand exploded in blood, and the detonator fell from his useless fingers, bouncing across the floor.

Julian shrieked in agony, clutching his shattered arm as he collapsed to his knees.

Standing in the doorway, smoke rising from a heavy revolver in her hand, was my mother.

Behind her stood a squad of heavily armed FBI agents led by Special Agent Miller.

"Mom?" I gasped, my jaw dropping in absolute disbelief.