The CEO's Accidental Bunny

VALERIE’S POV

"Please, just one more day!"

My voice cracked as I leaned forward against the administrator's desk, palms flat on the cold surface. 

The woman, Ms. Marie, according to her nameplate, didn't even look up from her computer screen.

"Ms. Snow, we've already extended the deadline twice." Her fingers clicked across the keyboard. "The transplant committee has been more than generous."

"I know, I know, but…"

"Your sister's surgery is scheduled for January 2nd. If the payment of eighty-nine thousand dollars isn't received by midnight tonight, Josette will be removed from the transplant list." 

Now she looked at me, and I wished she hadn't. Her eyes were flat and showed no emotion. How many desperate people had she looked at like this? "Those are the rules."

"It's New Year's Eve!" My hands were shaking. I pressed them harder against the desk to steady them. "The banks aren't even open. I'm trying; I'm doing everything I can, but I just need a little more time…"

I swallowed hard, her words blurring in the background as the bitterness of the last six years rising in my throat. I was only sixteen when the police knocked on our door to tell me an accident had taken our parents. In a single heartbeat, I went from a teenager with dreams to a mother, a father, and a provider. I had dropped out of college, working three dead-end jobs at once just so Josette could stay in school and have a shot at a real life. I’ve spent every waking hour since that accident fighting to keep us afloat, and I refuse to let it end like this.

“Ms Snow? Are you with me?” Ms Marie snapped her finger bringing me back to reality.

“Yes… yes of course.”

"Then I suggest you hurry." Ms. Marie turned back to her screen. "You have approximately five hours and seventeen minutes."

The fluorescent lights above buzzed, shining too brightly and making everything feel surreal. I could hear my heartbeat thumping in my ears, that awful sound that told me I was on the verge of falling apart.

"She's eighteen years old." My voice came out small and broken now. "She's my baby sister. She's the only family I have left. Please, there has to be something…"

"Ms. Snow." Ms. Marie's tone sharpened. "I understand this is difficult, but creating a scene won't change hospital policy. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have other patients to attend to."

I stumbled back from the desk, my vision getting blurry with tears. The lobby spun around me: the plastic chairs, the vending machines humming in the corner, and the sad little Christmas tree someone had left up past its expiration date. 

It felt like a symbol of how I was feeling… just like me, just like Josette.

My phone was already in my hand. I'd called Liam seven times in the last hour. Seven times, and every call had gone straight to voicemail. But he'd promised. He'd looked me in the eyes three days ago and promised he had this handled.

"Babe, stop stressing," he'd said, cupping my face. "I told you I'm taking care of it. I got a bonus at work. We're going to save Josette together."

I'd cried in his arms. I'd actually believed him.

My thumb hovered over his name. One more try.

It rang.

"Come on, come on, come on," I whispered, pressing the phone so hard against my ear it hurt.

"Valerie." His voice was cheerful and light, like he didn't have my entire world in his hands.

"Liam! Oh God, where are you? I'm at the hospital, they're saying midnight or she's off the list, I need…"

"I'm pulling into the parking lot right now."

The relief hit me so hard I had to grab the back of a chair to stay upright. "You're here? You have the money?"

"Babe, I told you I had this." I could hear his smile through the phone. "Just breathe. I got the money. Everything's going to be fine."

I did cry then. Right there in the middle of the hospital lobby, I broke down sobbing. "Thank you. Thank you so much. I love you. I'm so sorry I doubted you. I just…"

"Hey, hey. It's okay. Where are you?"

"Main lobby. By the elevators."

"Stay there. I'm coming in now."

I hung up and pressed my fist against my mouth, trying to muffle the sounds coming out of me. A few people glanced over, but most ignored me. This was a hospital, breakdowns were practically part of the decor.

Two minutes. 

That's how long it took for Liam to walk through those sliding glass doors. He was wearing the leather jacket I'd bought him for his birthday, his dark hair styled perfectly. He looked like he'd just stepped out of a cologne ad.

"Liam!" I ran to him, my boots squeaking on the linoleum.

He caught me, and for a second… for one beautiful, stupid second, I thought everything was going to be okay.

Then I felt how stiff his arms were. How quickly he pulled away.

"So." He stepped back, creating distance between us. His smile was still there, but it had changed. "We need to talk."

My stomach dropped. "You... you have the money, right?"

"I do." He patted his pocket. "Well, I did. But…”

My heart skipped a few beats at that hesitation. “B-But what, Liam?”

“I uhmm… had a better use for it."

The world slowed down. I could hear everything: the buzz of the lights, someone's phone ringing at the reception desk, and a gurney squeaking past. All of it sounded too loud, too close.

"W- What… What do you mean?"

"I mean, I'm not throwing my life away on a sick girl and her baggage." He said it casually, like he was commenting on the weather. "Come on, Valerie. Be realistic. Even if Josette survives the surgery, she'll need care for months. Probably years. And who's going to provide that care? You. Which means I'd be stuck providing for both of you."

"You just told me you had the money. You said you loved me." My voice didn't sound like mine. "You said we were in this together."

"Yeah, well." He shrugged and reached into his pocket, pulling out a set of shiny, new keys, with a BMW logo gleaming on them. "I said a lot of things. But then I realised, why the hell would I drop ninety grand on someone else's problem when I could finally get the car I deserve?"

I stared at the keys as they caught the fluorescent light.

"That's... that's my money." The words came out flat. "That's my half. From selling my mom's house. You said you'd add it to yours for the surgery."

"And I did add it to something." He jingled the keys. "The down payment on my new M4. She's parked right outside. Gorgeous, by the way. You should see her before you go."

My legs were shaking. I wanted to hit him… to scream… to collapse right there on the ugly hospital floor and never get up.

"Liam, please." I grabbed his arm. "Please. I'll pay you back. Every penny. I'll get another job; I'll do anything…"

"God, you're pathetic when you beg." He jerked his arm away. "You know what? I'm done. This whole thing… you, your dying sister, your constant fucking drama… I'm out.

"You can't do this."

"I just did." He checked his phone, bored already. "Oh, and Valerie? Just to be clear: we’re done. It's over. Think of this as your breakup gift." He gestured vaguely at the hospital around us. "Happy New Year."

He turned and walked away, just like that. I watched him push through the sliding doors… watched him climb into a silver BMW that gleamed under the parking lot lights.

My money. My mother's house. The only thing I had left to give Josette.

Gone.

I pulled out my phone with shaking hands. Banking app. Please, please, please.

$873.51.

That's what I had. Eight hundred seventy-three dollars and fifty-one cents.

I needed fifty thousand by midnight.

I had five hours.

I stood there in that hospital lobby, surrounded by people rushing to their own emergencies. The clock on the wall read 6:47 PM. In the distance, I could already hear fireworks starting. Some people were starting their celebrations early.

Somewhere upstairs, Josette was sleeping. She didn't know yet. She still thought her big sister had everything under control.

My phone screen blurred as I cried once more, but the tears didn't seem to matter anymore. I felt numb, only aware of the heavy realisation that I had let her down.

Five hours.

What the hell was I going to do?