Novels by Author_vanessa

The apartment is small. I'm grateful we managed to find an apartment at such short notice, but it's a little small for three people, too small for the life we're living, too small for the secrets pressing against the walls like they might burst through at any moment.However, it's clean, it's near the hospital, and Maya already has a seat she loves.This is our first morning here. She is curled up on that window seat, her thin legs tucked beneath her, watching the city wake up. "Mommy?" She doesn't look away from the window. "Are there children here? Like me?"I cross the room and sit beside her, pulling her gently into my side. "There are millions of children here, baby. And when you're feeling better, we'll go find some of them, okay?"She nods, but her eyes stay on the city. I wonder what she sees. Hope? Possibility? Or just another strange place where she's sick and tired and scared?The knock on the door makes us both jump.I freeze. No one knows we're here. No one except—"El

The morning sun streams through my office window, cutting across the mahogany desk where I've spent the last four hours buried in acquisition papers. Numbers blur before my eyes. Spreadsheets merge into meaningless columns. I've read the same paragraph three times and still couldn't tell you what it says.My mind hasn't been right for days. Weeks. Months, if I'm honest. Not since... not since when? Since she left? Since I woke up that morning and found her gone? Since I spent months calling a number that no longer worked, driving past places she used to frequent, making a fool of myself asking anyone who might know where she went?Seven years. Seven years, and still, she lives in my head like a tenant who refuses to pay rent.The knock on my door makes me jump. Rita, my secretary, pokes her head in, her expression unreadable. She's worked for me long enough that I can usually read her like a book, but today, something's different. Something's off."Mr. Watson?" She steps inside, clutc

The hospital room is dim and quiet.Maya has just returned to her hospital room after a series of tests to monitor her condition, and has fallen back to sleep. My little daughter, who used to be so full of energy and eager to hop around, has become extremely exhausted and weak over the last two days. I find myself watching her breathing rhythm with desperation, as if my attention might somehow help keep it steady.My mind refuses to rest.The doctor in me keeps replaying everything Dr. Chen said earlier, reviewing the bloodwork results and the treatment path ahead with a precision I cannot turn off. I understand the disease, the therapies, the survival rates, and the brutal uncertainty that comes with them.But none of that knowledge makes this easier… because this time the patient is not someone else's child.I brush my thumb gently across Maya’s knuckles, feeling the warmth of her skin beneath my fingers.“Mommy…” She murmurs faintly.“I’m right here, my bird,” I whisper softly.H

The night has settled over the hospital room like a heavy blanket. Maya is sleeping in deep sleep, completely oblivious of the death one hand still loosely clutching mine even in sleep.I should be thinking about donor registries, treatment protocols, and the endless battle that lies ahead. But my mind, traitor that it is… drifts elsewhere. It drifts to another hospital room, another time, another version of myself who didn't know yet that hearts could break in so many ways.Dominic.The name slips into my consciousness like an old wound reopening. I haven't let myself think about him in years, building walls around all of his memories. But sitting here in the dark, with my daughter fighting for her life, my walls start to crumble. I close my eyes, and the memories carry me back, straight to Los Angeles.The first memory that I find myself in, is the day of the car accident.I remember the screech of metal, the shattering glass, the sudden, violent jolt that threw my world off its

The beeping of the heart monitor echoes in the room while I'm bandaging a burn injury on a young boy's forearm. His mother is holding his hand, her eyes wide with a fear I've seen a thousand times. "You're being so brave…" I murmur to him, my voice calm and completely in control.My phone vibrates in my pocket, and I ignore it.I can't afford the distraction right now, and in any case, it's probably the babysitter with another question about dinner. The vibration from the call fades, but my phone rings with another call immediately after. Something is wrong. "Excuse me for one second," I say to the mother as I pull out my phone with my gloved hand. 'Westbrook Elementary'My heart gives a little stutter. I swipe to answer, my voice coming out tighter than I intended. "Dr. Janice speaking.""Dr. Janice, it's Mrs. Albright, Maya's class teacher." Her voice is shaking, and my heart lurches. "Maya was in gym class. She felt dizzy and then... she fainted. She is in and out of consc