The Billionaire's Dangerous Redemption (by Claire Winters) novel Chapter 18

18 A Sister’s Ransom

The hospital corridor seemed to freeze in time. Tanya’s words hung in the air like a confession nobody was prepared to hear.

“What did you just say?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

Tanya’s eyes darted around the room, suddenly realizing her slip. Her mouth opened and closed several times before she managed to speak.

“I… I misspoke.” Her voice trembled.

Alistair looked between us, confusion etched on his face. “Biological sister? What is she talking

about, Hazel?”

The exhaustion from the sleeping pills seemed to evaporate as adrenaline coursed through my

veins. Years of secrets were unraveling before me.

“Go on, Tanya,” I said coldly. “Tell him. Tell everyone the truth you’ve been hiding for years.”

Tanya’s face contorted with anger and panic. “This isn’t the time! My daughter is dying!”

“Your daughter?” I laughed bitterly. “Or should we finally acknowledge whose daughter she really is?”

The doctor shifted uncomfortably. “Perhaps I should give you all some privacy—”

“No,” I cut him off. “Stay. You should hear this too, since it affects your patient’s medical history!”

Alistair gripped my arm. “What are you talking about?”

I yanked my arm away, disgusted by his touch. “Ivy isn’t just my stepsister. She’s my half–sister. My father’s blood runs through her veins, just like mine.”

The shock on Alistair’s face would have been satisfying under different circumstances. His eyes widened as the implications sank in.

“That’s… that’s not possible,” he stammered. “Your father married Tanya after your mother-”

“After my mother died of a broken heart?” I finished for him. “No. The affair started long before that. Ivy was conceived while my father was still married to my mother.”

Tanya lunged forward suddenly, her hand raised to strike me. “Shut up! You have no right!”

Before her hand could connect with my face, Alistair caught her wrist. “Stop it! Is this true?”

The doctor stepped forward. “I really must insist-”

“It’s true,” came a weak voice from behind us.

We all turned to see my father standing in the doorway, his face ashen. He looked older than his

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18 A Sister’s Ransom

years, shoulders slumped under the weight of his secrets.

“Harold,” Tanya hissed. “Don’t.”

My father ignored her. “Ivy is my biological daughter. She was born eight months before I divorced Hazel’s mother.”

The confession hung in the air like poison. I watched Alistair’s face, waiting for him to finally understand the depth of betrayal I had lived with my entire life. Instead, his expression shifted from shock to something else entirely.

“So you two are sisters,” he said slowly. “Real sisters.”

“Half–sisters,” I corrected sharply.

“Which explains why you have the same rare blood type,” the doctor interjected, his professional curiosity overriding his discomfort. “This is actually quite fortunate for the patient.”

I stared at them all in disbelief. “Fortunate? My father’s infidelity, my mother’s heartbreak, years of lies–all fortunate?”

“That’s not what I meant,” the doctor backpedaled.

Alistair stepped closer to me. “Hazel, don’t you see? This changes everything.”

“It changes nothing,” I spat.

“She’s your sister,” he insisted. “Your blood. How can you stand here and refuse to help her?”

The audacity of his statement hit me like a physical blow. “Do you think being related to me by blood magically erases all the pain she’s caused? All the cruelty?”

“She’s dying, Hazel!”

“And that’s supposed to erase everything? The bullying? The stealing? The way she took you from me?”

Alistair’s face hardened. “She didn’t take me. I chose her.”

“Because she manipulated you with her illness!”

“No.” His voice was firm, resolute. “Because she needed me more than

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