When I was eight months pregnant, my family forced me to donate umbilical cord blood to my sister

Chapter 1

Eight months pregnant, and my parents, who usually acted like I was invisible, suddenly invited me home for dinner. Yeah, right.

Then, bam, out of nowhere, a fire ripped through the place. I watched in horror as Mom and Dad shoved me aside to drag my sister, Lily, who had leukemia, out of the inferno.

I was choking on smoke, convinced I was about to die a horrible death, when my husband, Frank, burst through the flames like some damn hero. He hauled me out, ignoring the burns he got in the process, just staring at me with this worried look.

"You're pregnant! What if something happened to the baby?" He said his whole face a mask of concern.

For a minute, I actually thought I'd finally found someone who truly cared about me.

Then I saw the texts. The ones between him and my sister.

"Lily, just hang on. Once she has the baby and we get the cord blood, you'll be okay."

The blood turned to ice in my veins. Without a second thought, I yanked out my phone and called the clinic.

"Hi, I need to schedule an abortion."

…

I’d just gotten the appointment slip when I ran smack into Frank, practically carrying Lily into the doctor's office for some test.

Frank froze when he saw me. "Honey, what are you doing here? I thought you didn't have a prenatal appointment today." He sounded nervous, his eyes glued to my belly.

I used to think that was him being loving, being protective. Now I knew he just saw me as a walking incubator, a life-support system for Lily.

"Just a little something, wanted to get checked out."

Frank's brow furrowed. "What's wrong? What did the doctor say? How's the baby? Did you get the results back?" He rushed over, trying to touch my stomach, all fake concern.

Lily shot me a glare that could curdle milk. "You can't even manage to have a kid right. I don't know what good you even are. If anything happens to that baby because of you, you'll hear about it."

I pulled out the ultrasound picture I'd just had taken and handed it to Frank. "The tests were fine. The baby's healthy."

Frank let out a breath. "Thank God. Okay, you should go home and rest. Lily has a bunch of tests to get through. I'll stay here and make sure she gets them done, then I'll come home later." He kept his other hand glued to Lily's side, never letting go.

I always thought Frank was so attentive to Lily because he saw her as his sick family. I never thought he'd be the person doing it all.

Watching Frank and Lily walk away, I followed, a new feeling burning in my gut.

They disappeared into the office of Dr. Steiner, the head of Hematology - who also happened to be my father.

"Lily's condition is getting worse, we need to come up with something quick," Frank said, squeezing her hand.

"Just hang on for a month or two. We will get the blood when the baby is born, Lily."

My dad was a stone-faced. "We might not have a month. We need to look at a bone marrow transplant."

"Then let's just take the baby now. It's been eight months, it's done," an all too familiar voice said....