The Second Life of a Discarded Heiress novel Chapter 572

Citrine and the woman followed behind in silence.

Once upstairs, Citrine returned to her suite to change into surgical scrubs. Dr. Austin and Dr. Smith were already prepared, and together, they headed into the operating room.

Several hours passed before Citrine and the team of doctors and nurses finally emerged.

Outside, the woman’s eyes were swollen and red—she’d clearly been crying for a long time. The moment Citrine appeared, she jumped to her feet. “How did it go? Was the surgery a success?”

Her voice was tight with worry as she searched Citrine’s face for reassurance.

“It went well. You can relax now,” Citrine replied with a gentle smile.

The relief hit the woman all at once. She sank onto the bench and broke down in tears, the weight of days filled with fear and anguish pouring out of her. She couldn’t hold back anymore.

Citrine wasn’t sure how to comfort her, so she simply rested a hand on the woman’s shoulder.

“Hang in there. As long as you’re alive, there’s always hope.”

Maybe it was because Citrine was the only one who’d helped her at rock bottom, but in that moment, the woman finally felt the urge to open up.

With a bitter laugh, she confessed, “You probably won’t believe this, but since I got pregnant, I haven’t even been able to scrape together fifty dollars.”

“When I found out I was expecting, my husband’s family talked me into quitting my job to focus on the pregnancy. I agreed without thinking it through, but the moment I left work, they started blaming me for not making any money. Every day, I had to put up with their criticism and constant pressure. I thought things couldn’t get any worse. But then, just as I was nearing my due date, my husband cheated on me—and even had a child with the other woman. While I was distracted, he transferred all our assets to his parents’ name. After I gave birth, he served me divorce papers. It wasn’t until I signed them that I realized I was left with nothing.”

“And another thing: from now on, when the hospital takes in flu patients, priority goes to the elderly and children. Their immune systems are weak, and without prompt treatment, their lives are at risk.”

With that, Citrine turned off her phone.

What she didn’t realize was that not every hospital partnered with the Medical Research Center shared the same compassion. For some, human life was just another number on a balance sheet.

The new antiviral drugs and related treatments were cheap. But for flu patients whose organs had been damaged, a single surgery could cost tens of thousands of dollars. Some hospitals would deliberately delay treatment—either ignoring the illness in its early stages or prescribing weak medication that did nothing. As a result, the disease would worsen, leading to organ failure. By then, surgery was the only option.

At that point, surgery was no longer about saving lives—it had become just another way for big business to make a profit.