The Blood Bag's Billion-Dollar Revenge

The Blood Bag's Billion-Dollar Revenge

Tamarah Lupton

5.0
Comment(s)
374
View
10
Chapters

I was in the kitchen of the Vance mansion, slicing black truffles worth more than my car while my mother-in-law, Victoria, mocked my "backwoods" origins. My back throbbed from standing for six hours, and my head spun from the chronic anemia I'd developed since marrying into this family. Suddenly, my phone vibrated with a call from my husband, Julian. He didn't ask if I was okay or if I'd eaten; he simply ordered me to get to the hospital because his "fragile" friend Caroline needed another emergency blood transfusion. "Her hemoglobin is low, Seraphina. Get to St. Luke's now." I looked down at my left arm, which was a roadmap of bruises and needle marks hidden beneath my sweater. When I tried to tell him that the medical guidelines forbade donating again so soon, Julian's voice turned dangerous. "I don't care about guidelines. She's in crisis, and your anemia is manageable. Are you really going to be this selfish after the life we gave you?" Seconds later, a photo arrived from an unknown number. It showed Julian sitting on Caroline's hospital bed, tenderly feeding her apples. The text underneath was a visceral slap in the face: "He wouldn't even eat dinner with you, but he's feeding me. Thanks for the refill, blood bag." At that moment, something inside me finally snapped. I realized that to the Vances, I wasn't a wife or even a human being-I was a biological spare part, a servant they kept around only to be drained dry for a woman who was faking her illness. I untied my apron, dropped it into the trash, and walked past a screaming Victoria toward the front door. I picked up the phone and dialed the one number I had been forbidden to contact since my wedding day. "Mr. Henderson, it's Seraphina Sterling. Prepare the divorce papers. And if they contest it... burn their entire empire to the ground."

The Blood Bag's Billion-Dollar Revenge Chapter 1 1

The truffle in Seraphina's hand was worth more than the transmission in her battered Honda Civic. It was a black, knobby lump of fungus that smelled like damp earth and money. Her fingers trembled as she sliced it, the razor-sharp mandoline shaving off paper-thin discs that fell onto the marble counter like dark snow.

Her lower back throbbed. She had been standing in this kitchen for six hours.

"Thinner, Seraphina. God, do I have to teach you everything?"

Victoria Vance swept into the kitchen, a cloud of Chanel No. 5 warring with the scent of the truffles. She was dressed in a silver gown that shimmered like fish scales, her face pulled tight by a surgeon's skillful hand. She pinched a handkerchief to her nose, eyeing the stove with disdain.

"The gala starts in two hours," Victoria snapped, tapping a manicured nail against the granite. "If the appetizers aren't plated by the time the guests arrive, don't bother coming out of the kitchen. Not that anyone would notice. You look like a ghost."

Seraphina didn't look up. She focused on the rhythm. Slice. Slice. Slice. If she stopped, she might scream. If she screamed, she wouldn't stop screaming.

"I'm going as fast as I can, Victoria," Seraphina said, her voice raspy. She hadn't had water since noon.

"'Mother'," Victoria corrected sharply. "Or Mrs. Vance. Though how my son ended up with a gold-digging nobody from the backwoods is still the family tragedy of the decade."

Seraphina's hand slipped. The blade nicked her thumb. A bead of bright red blood welled up, stark against the black truffle.

She stared at it. It was just a drop. But in this house, blood was currency.

Her pocket buzzed against her hip. Once. Twice. A persistent, demanding vibration that made her stomach clench. She wiped her thumb on her apron and pulled out the phone.

Julian Vance.

Her heart did that stupid, treacherous stutter it always did when his name appeared. For a split second, she hoped. Maybe he was calling to ask if she was okay. Maybe he was coming home early to help her. Maybe, just once, he was calling as a husband.

She slid her thumb across the screen. "Julian?"

"Get to St. Luke's. Now."

His voice was a splash of ice water. No greeting. No warmth. Just the tone he used for his executive assistant when a merger was going south.

Seraphina gripped the phone tighter. "I... I'm making the appetizers for your mother's gala. I can't leave."

"Leave it," he barked. "Caroline fainted. Her hemoglobin is critically low. She needs a transfusion. The driver is already downstairs."

The air left the room. Seraphina looked down at her left arm, covered by the long sleeve of her cheap gray sweater. Underneath the fabric, the skin was a roadmap of bruises and needle marks. Scar tissue on top of scar tissue.

"Julian," she whispered, turning away from Victoria, who was watching with a shark-like grin. "It hasn't even been eight weeks. The Red Cross guidelines say-"

"I don't care about guidelines, Seraphina," Julian interrupted, his impatience vibrating through the speaker. "Dr. Smith says you're compatible and she's in crisis. Your anemia is manageable; her condition is fatal. Do the math."

Silence on the other end. A heavy, judgmental silence that weighed more than his shouting.

"She could die, Seraphina," Julian said, his voice dropping to a dangerous, quiet register. "Are you really going to hold a grudge over a pint of blood? After everything we've done for you? After the life we gave you?"

The life you gave me.

A life of being a servant. A biological spare part.

"I'm not holding a grudge," she said, her voice shaking. "I'm holding onto consciousness. I can't do it."

"This is what you owe her," Julian cut in, sharp and final. "You signed the agreement. Don't make me send security up there to drag you down. Be at the hospital in twenty minutes."

The line went dead. The beep echoed in her ear, loud and mocking.

She lowered the phone, feeling the blood drain from her face. She felt light, untethered, as if gravity had suddenly decided she wasn't worth holding onto.

Buzz.

The phone vibrated again. A picture message. Unknown number.

Seraphina looked. She shouldn't have, but she looked.

It was a photo taken in a hospital room. Julian was sitting on the edge of a bed, his suit jacket off, sleeves rolled up. He was holding a slice of apple to a woman's lips. Caroline. She looked pale, fragile, ethereal-like a tragic heroine in a Victorian novel. But her eyes, looking straight at the camera, were dancing.

The text below it read:

He wouldn't even eat dinner with you, but he's feeding me. Thanks for the refill, blood bag.

Something inside Seraphina snapped.

It wasn't a loud snap. It was the quiet, dry sound of a dead branch finally giving way under the weight of snow.

She looked at the truffles. She looked at the blood on her thumb. She looked at Victoria, who was checking her reflection in the back of a spoon.

"Well?" Victoria demanded, not looking around. "What did he want? Is that poor girl sick again? You better get going. We don't need you fainting in the soup."

Seraphina set the phone down on the marble. She reached behind her back and untied the apron strings.

The knot came loose. The fabric fell away from her body.

She picked up the apron, balled it up, and dropped it into the trash can. It landed with a soft thud on top of the potato peelings.

Victoria spun around. Her eyes went wide, the Botox straining against the shock. "What do you think you're doing?"

Seraphina walked to the foyer table. Her keys were there. Not keys to a Mercedes or a Bentley, but to a battered Honda Civic she'd bought with cash three years ago, before she became a Vance. Before she became a ghost.

"I asked you a question!" Victoria shrieked, her voice climbing an octave. "If you walk out that door, Seraphina, don't you dare think about coming back! You ungrateful little peasant!"

Seraphina paused at the heavy oak door. She turned. Her spine was straight, her chin lifted. For the first time in three years, she looked Victoria Vance in the eye.

"That's the plan," Seraphina said.

She pushed the door open. The cold November wind hit her face, biting and raw, and it felt like a baptism.

She walked to her car, got in, and locked the doors. Her hands were steady now. The trembling had stopped.

She pulled out her phone and dialed a number she hadn't called since her wedding day.

"Mr. Henderson," she said when the voice answered. "It's Seraphina. Prepare the papers. I want a divorce. And if they contest it... burn them to the ground."

She hung up. Her fingers hovered over Julian's contact. She typed one last message.

On my way to the hospital. Bringing you a surprise.

She threw the phone onto the passenger seat and started the engine. The Honda sputtered, then roared to life. As she peeled out of the driveway, leaving the gilded cage of the Vance estate in her rearview mirror, she didn't feel fear.

She felt dangerous.

Continue Reading

Other books by Tamarah Lupton

More
No Longer Broken: Loved By Him

No Longer Broken: Loved By Him

Romance

5.0

The last thing I remembered was the freezing water filling my lungs. My adoptive parents, the Millers, had sold me, a tool for their precious biological son. They took money from Olivia Hayes's family, the very girl who made my high school years a living hell, and used it to force me out of school, arranging a marriage to a man twice my age. Then, a sterile, mechanical voice echoed in the void, "Host soul detected. High levels of grievance and resentment. Revenge System activating." My eyes snapped open. I wasn't at the bottom of a lake. I was back in my classroom, the day it all started, the day Olivia Hayes framed me for cheating. The system's voice revealed a shocking truth: "You are Ava Hayes, the true heiress of the Hayes family. The woman you know as Olivia Hayes is actually Olivia Miller, the biological daughter of your adoptive parents. A deliberate swap was made at the hospital eighteen years ago." My tormentor was their real daughter, and I belonged to the wealthy family she pretended to be a part of. The sheer irony was suffocating. Olivia, my "sister" in this twisted reality, continued to mock me, ordering me to do her "brother" Liam's homework. Liam, the lazy, entitled leech, expected me to be his personal servant. In my past life, this refusal led to my destruction. But this time, I saw the resemblance between Olivia and "Mom" Miller, the woman who sold me. A cold smile touched my lips. "You're right. Family is so important. You know it's funny. Liam looks so much like his dad, but you… you look exactly like his mom. Almost like you're her real daughter." Planting the seed of doubt, I knew they would soon learn how to play my game. The old Ava was gone. This time, I was setting the board.

You'll also like

While I Was Bleeding Out, He Lit Lanterns For Her

While I Was Bleeding Out, He Lit Lanterns For Her

Katie Oettgen

As I lay on the floor of our manor, bleeding out from a ruptured ectopic pregnancy, I used my last ounce of strength to call my husband, Cole. I begged him for help, my vision blurring. But the only thing I heard was the clinking of champagne glasses and his mistress's giggle in the background. "Stop the drama, June," Cole snapped, his voice cold. "We're about to go on stage. Don't call again." He hung up, leaving me to die alone on the Persian rug while he accepted an award with another woman on his arm. I woke up in the hospital days later. My baby was gone. They had removed my fallopian tube. Cole finally arrived, smelling of expensive scotch and his mistress's perfume. He didn't hug me. He didn't cry. Instead, he leaned over my hospital bed, pressing his knee into the mattress until my fresh stitches tore open and bled. "You embarrassed me by calling an ambulance," he hissed. "My mistress, Alycia, says you're faking it. Clean yourself up." He left me bleeding again to go announce a $10 million donation to Alycia's "groundbreaking" medical research. I stared at the TV screen, numb. The research Alycia was taking credit for? It was mine. I wrote that patent years ago under a pseudonym. They thought I was just a poor, orphan housewife who needed Cole's money to survive. They had no idea I was actually a billionaire scientist hiding my identity. I pulled the IV needle out of my arm. A drop of blood fell onto the divorce papers I had been hiding. I didn't wipe it off. I signed my name right over it. Then I walked into the bank, reactivated my dormant account with $128 million, and bought the penthouse directly overlooking Cole's house. The mourning widow is dead. The avenger is born.

No Longer Mrs. Cooley: The Architect's Return

No Longer Mrs. Cooley: The Architect's Return

Xiao Xiaosu

I went to the City Clerk’s office for a routine copy of my marriage license to finalize a trust fund audit. I expected a simple piece of paper, but the clerk’s pitying look told me my entire life was a lie. "The license was never finalized, Ms. Oliver. In the eyes of the state, you are single." The three-hundred-guest wedding at the Plaza and the Vogue features meant nothing. My husband, Gray Cooley, had intentionally filed the documents with a "procedural defect" so he could discard me without a legal divorce. Moments later, an iCloud invite titled "Our Little Secret" popped up on my screen. It was a photo of my best friend, Brylee, holding a positive pregnancy test at our Hamptons estate. Gray’s text to her was the final blow: "Happy anniversary, babe. This baby is the best gift. Once the trust unlocks today, we’re done with the charade." I soon discovered they were even stealing my career, reassigning my architectural masterpiece to Brylee while preparing my eviction notice. Gray's mother called me a "barren mule" in a leaked recording, mocking the infertility I suffered after saving Gray’s life in a construction accident. I wasn't a wife; I was a three-year placeholder used to secure his inheritance. How could the man I bled for treat me like a disposable prop? How could my best friend carry his child while pretending to comfort me through my darkest moments? The betrayal burned until it turned into a cold, hard stone of fury. I didn't cry. Instead, I walked into the penthouse of the Barretts, the Cooleys' most powerful rivals. I signed a marriage contract with Kane Barrett, the man the tabloids called the "Beast of Wall Street." "I want a wedding," I told his father, my voice steady and lethal. "Bigger than the one I had with Gray." If they wanted me gone, they would have to watch me become the woman who owns their world.

Secret Triplets: The Billionaire's Second Chance

Secret Triplets: The Billionaire's Second Chance

Roderic Penn

I stood at my mother's open grave in the freezing rain, my heels sinking into the mud. The space beside me was empty. My husband, Hilliard Holloway, had promised to cherish me in bad times, but apparently, burying my mother didn't fit into his busy schedule. While the priest's voice droned on, a news alert lit up my phone. It was a livestream of the Metropolitan Charity Gala. There was Hilliard, looking impeccable in a custom tuxedo, with his ex-girlfriend Charla English draped over his arm. The headline read: "Holloway & English: A Power Couple Reunited?" When he finally returned to our penthouse at 2 AM, he didn't come alone-he brought Charla with him. He claimed she'd had a "medical emergency" at the gala and couldn't be left alone. I found a Tiffany diamond necklace on our coffee table meant for her birthday, and a smudge of her signature red lipstick on his collar. When I confronted him, he simply told me to stop being "hysterical" and "acting like a child." He had no idea I was seven months pregnant with his child. He thought so little of my grief that he didn't even bother to craft a convincing lie, laughing with his mistress in our home while I sat in the dark with a shattered heart and a secret life growing inside me. "He doesn't deserve us," I whispered to the darkness. I didn't scream or beg. I simply left a folder on his desk containing signed divorce papers and a forged medical report for a terminated pregnancy. I disappeared into the night, letting him believe he had successfully killed his own legacy through his neglect. Five years later, Hilliard walked into "The Vault," the city's most exclusive underground auction, looking for a broker to manage his estate. He didn't recognize me behind my Venetian mask, but he couldn't ignore the neon pink graffiti on his armored Maybach that read "DEADBEAT." He had no clue that the three brilliant triplets currently hacking his security system were the very children he thought had been erased years ago. This time, I wasn't just a wife in the way; I was the one holding all the cards.

Abandoned Ex-Wife: Now Untouchable

Abandoned Ex-Wife: Now Untouchable

Tao Yaoyao

My five-year-old daughter was dying in the ICU, her heartbeat replaced by the continuous, electronic scream of a flatline. I gripped her cold hand, my throat sealed shut by a terror so absolute I couldn't even cry out. I dialed my husband Grayson's private number, the one reserved only for me and his assistants. He declined the call instantly. A second later, a text buzzed against my palm: "In a meeting. Do not disturb. Stop calling." Five miles away, Grayson was at a luxury gala, adjusting his silk tie and laughing with Belle Escobar. He told her I was just being "dramatic" and using our daughter's "fever" as an excuse to avoid the event. He had no idea Effie's heart had already stopped. When I finally reached our penthouse, soaked from the rain and carrying Effie's small socks in a plastic bag, Grayson didn't even look at me. He snapped at me for ruining the hardwood floors and asked if I'd left Effie with the nanny just to "feel sorry for myself." Three days later, while I buried our daughter in a small, lonely ceremony, Grayson was at the Hamptons. Belle posted a photo of him golfing with the caption: "A mental health day with the boys." He didn't even attend the funeral, but he returned home demanding I clear out Effie's room to make a study for Belle's son. The injustice burned through me until there was nothing left. I swallowed a handful of sleeping pills, desperate to join my daughter. But instead of the darkness, I woke up to blinding lights and the scent of Grayson's expensive cologne. I was standing in a ballroom, wearing a blue silk dress I had already burned. Above me, a banner read: "Happy 5th Birthday Kaiden & Effie." I was back, exactly one year before the tragedy. This time, I wasn't going to be the grieving wife. I was going to be their worst nightmare.

The Ghost Wife's Billion Dollar Tech Comeback

The Ghost Wife's Billion Dollar Tech Comeback

Huo Wuer

Today is October 14th, my birthday. I returned to New York after months away, dragging my suitcase through the biting wind, but the VIP pickup zone where my husband's Maybach usually idled was empty. When I finally let myself into our Upper East Side penthouse, I didn't find a cake or a "welcome home" banner. Instead, I found my husband, Caden, kneeling on the floor, helping our five-year-old daughter wrap a massive gift for my half-sister, Adalynn. Caden didn't even look up when I walked in; he was too busy laughing with the girl who had already stolen my father's legacy and was now moving in on my family. "Auntie Addie is a million times better than Mommy," my daughter Elara chirped, clutching a plush toy Caden had once forbidden me from buying for her. "Mommy is mean," she whispered loudly, while Caden just smirked, calling me a "drill sergeant" before whisking her off to Adalynn's party without a second glance. Later that night, I saw a video Adalynn posted online where my husband and child laughed while mocking my "sensitive" nature, treating me like an inconvenient ghost in my own home. I had spent five years researching nutrition for Elara's health and managing every detail of Caden's empire, only to be discarded the moment I wasn't in the room. How could the man who set his safe combination to my birthday completely forget I even existed? The realization didn't break me; it turned me into ice. I didn't scream or beg for an explanation. I simply walked into the study, pulled out the divorce papers I'd drafted months ago, and took a black marker to the terms. I crossed out the alimony, the mansion, and even the custody clause-if they wanted a life without me, I would give them exactly what they asked for. I left my four-carat diamond ring on the console table and walked out into the rain with nothing but a heavily encrypted hard drive. The submissive Mrs. Holloway was gone, and "Ghost," the most lethal architect in the tech world, was finally back online to take back everything they thought I'd forgotten.

Chapters
Read Now
Download Book
The Blood Bag's Billion-Dollar Revenge The Blood Bag's Billion-Dollar Revenge Tamarah Lupton Modern
“I was in the kitchen of the Vance mansion, slicing black truffles worth more than my car while my mother-in-law, Victoria, mocked my "backwoods" origins. My back throbbed from standing for six hours, and my head spun from the chronic anemia I'd developed since marrying into this family. Suddenly, my phone vibrated with a call from my husband, Julian. He didn't ask if I was okay or if I'd eaten; he simply ordered me to get to the hospital because his "fragile" friend Caroline needed another emergency blood transfusion. "Her hemoglobin is low, Seraphina. Get to St. Luke's now." I looked down at my left arm, which was a roadmap of bruises and needle marks hidden beneath my sweater. When I tried to tell him that the medical guidelines forbade donating again so soon, Julian's voice turned dangerous. "I don't care about guidelines. She's in crisis, and your anemia is manageable. Are you really going to be this selfish after the life we gave you?" Seconds later, a photo arrived from an unknown number. It showed Julian sitting on Caroline's hospital bed, tenderly feeding her apples. The text underneath was a visceral slap in the face: "He wouldn't even eat dinner with you, but he's feeding me. Thanks for the refill, blood bag." At that moment, something inside me finally snapped. I realized that to the Vances, I wasn't a wife or even a human being-I was a biological spare part, a servant they kept around only to be drained dry for a woman who was faking her illness. I untied my apron, dropped it into the trash, and walked past a screaming Victoria toward the front door. I picked up the phone and dialed the one number I had been forbidden to contact since my wedding day. "Mr. Henderson, it's Seraphina Sterling. Prepare the divorce papers. And if they contest it... burn their entire empire to the ground."”
1

Chapter 1 1

07/01/2026

2

Chapter 2 2

07/01/2026

3

Chapter 3 3

07/01/2026

4

Chapter 4 4

07/01/2026

5

Chapter 5 5

07/01/2026

6

Chapter 6 6

07/01/2026

7

Chapter 7 7

07/01/2026

8

Chapter 8 8

07/01/2026

9

Chapter 9 9

07/01/2026

10

Chapter 10 10

07/01/2026