Chapter 3

Donna was all over Markus, checking his face, tutting and fussing.

Then she turned on me.

"Haven't you embarrassed yourself enough? Lily's condition is nobody's fault — quit taking it out on your husband! Sign the paper and everyone can move on. She's gone. What are you going to do, keep a body at home?"

Every word out of her mouth was a knife. And she didn't even know she was twisting it.

She was the one who lured me home last night. That one phone call gave Markus and Sarah the whole night to do what they did. Did she know the truth? Or was she just her son's useful idiot?

Didn't matter.

I walked up to Markus and slapped his other cheek.

Two for two. He just stood there, stunned.

Donna shrieked and grabbed at his face. I looked down at my own hand — red and stinging.

"Does that hurt? Good. Because that's what it feels like when your kid is in pain and nobody gives a damn. Now get out. One more word and I'll throw this at your head." I picked up the thermos from the windowsill.

Donna's lips trembled. She wanted to say something. She swallowed it.

The quiet lasted about ten seconds.

Markus came back to his senses. He grabbed my phone again, and the two of them clamped onto my arms. Again. Dragging. Again.

I screamed. Again.

This time the hallway was more crowded — families with water cups, nurses with carts, a young doctor stepping out of the elevator. They all stopped and stared.

Markus let go immediately and switched to his act. He lowered his eyes, let his voice crack.

"I'm sorry everyone. My daughter is brain-dead and my wife is struggling to accept it. We want to donate her organs, but she just… she can't handle it right now. I understand her pain."

He pressed a knuckle to his eye. The man could cry on command.

People started muttering.

"That poor woman's lost it…"

"The doctor already made the call, what's she fighting?"

"The husband seems decent about it, honestly."

I stood in the middle of all those staring eyes, feeling like I'd been stripped bare in public. Every single person in that hallway thought I was the crazy one.

Then a soft voice floated over from the other end of the corridor.

"Markus? Everyone's been waiting for you."

Sarah. White coat, glasses, hair pulled back tight. She walked up to Markus, glanced at his swollen face with a flash of concern, then smoothed it over in a heartbeat. In public, she was careful.

She turned to me and put on her doctor voice — calm, sympathetic, professional.

"Mrs. Cole, I completely understand how you feel. But all of Lily's indicators show irreversible decline. Keeping her on life support is only prolonging her pain. I know this is hard, but the sooner we move forward, the better it is for her. We've already prepared everything for the donation, and several families are counting on this. The press has been arranged as well. I know this is a huge step, but —"

"You're lying."

The hallway went quiet for a beat.

"Lily is not brain-dead. Your diagnosis is fake. I'm not signing anything. I'm transferring her out."

Sarah's expression didn't change, but her fingers tightened on her clipboard.

"Mrs. Cole, please don't make accusations without basis." She sighed, looking wounded. "I've been working for over ten hours straight. I have other patients waiting. I've done everything I can, and you're calling me a fraud…"

The whispers turned into open muttering.

"Dr. Jenkins is one of the best here. No way she'd get it wrong."

"This woman is clearly having a breakdown."

"She's harassing the doctor at this point."

I felt every single stare like a needle. But I couldn't back down. Not now.

Markus stepped closer. "Elena, why don't we go somewhere quiet and talk? Come on."

He reached for me. I jerked back.

"Don't touch me."

Sarah caught the eye of two orderlies standing nearby. A tiny nod.

A security guard appeared out of nowhere, grabbed my shoulders, and pinned me against the wall.

Sarah spoke to the nurse beside her, cool as anything. "She's a danger to herself and others. Prep a sedative."

Markus didn't miss a beat. "Do it. She's going to hurt herself like this."

A nurse walked over with a syringe. The needle caught the light.

If that needle went in, I'd be out cold. And by the time I woke up, Lily's heart would be gone. Just like last time.

I thrashed. I screamed. Nobody moved to help me. The onlookers either shook their heads or looked away.

To every single person in that hallway, I was just a woman who'd lost her mind.

I'd called my family. They said two hours. I looked at the clock — barely half the time had passed.

They wouldn't make it. Nobody was going to make it.

The needle was close now. Closer.

I could feel it almost touching the skin on my neck. Cold.

Lily, I'm sorry —

And then.

Ding.

At the far end of the hallway, the elevator doors slid open