London, December 7th, 4:56 a.m.
The private jet made an emergency landing amid the raging blizzard, its wings scraping against the thick blanket of snow with a shrill, ear-splitting shriek that cut through the howling wind.
Ava hadn’t closed her eyes for a single second during the flight. Her hands were clamped so tightly around the armrests that her knuckles blanched white, her palms slick with cold sweat.
Her mother, Nora, had suffered a sudden acute rejection reaction complicated by severe respiratory failure in New York. The hospital there had already issued three critical condition notices, each one chipping away at Ava’s fragile hope.
It was only by pulling every string in his military connections that Sebastian had secured this emergency night flight route, a last-ditch lifeline for their mother.
The moment the cabin door swung open, a gale of frigid air mixed with stinging snowflakes rushed inside, biting at their skin like tiny shards of ice.
Sebastian slipped his black cashmere overcoat off his shoulders and draped it over Ava’s trembling form, his voice low and steady, a pillar of strength amid the chaos. “I’ll carry you.”
Ava didn’t refuse—she didn’t have the strength to.
Her spirit felt utterly hollowed out, her body a mere shell of its former self. She let him scoop her up into his arms, her legs dangling limply as he held her close against his chest. She buried her face in the crook of his neck, her voice breaking into a thousand trembling pieces, barely coherent through her sobs. “Brother… I’m too late, aren’t I? I’m too late to save her.”
Sebastian tightened his grip around her, his voice rough yet unshakable, a vow etched into every word. “No. Mom’s waiting for you. She’s holding on for you.”
Royal Free Hospital, outside the ICU emergency room.
Nora lay inside a sealed isolation pod, her body crisscrossed by a tangled web of tubes and wires, the beep of the electrocardiogram machine a fragile, wavering line that seemed on the verge of flatlining at any second.
The attending physician was a leading specialist whom Sebastian had anonymously funded a decade earlier, a debt the doctor had never forgotten. He pulled off his surgical mask, his face etched with grim resignation, his voice heavy with the weight of impossible choices. “The rejection is far too aggressive—conventional immunosuppressants are completely ineffective. We have only one last option left: the experimental inhibitor batch from my lab, which hasn’t been approved for clinical use yet. The success rate is less than thirty percent…”
Ava pressed her forehead against the cold glass of the isolation pod, her eyes fixed on her mother’s parched lips, which were moving faintly, as if trying to speak.
She was calling her name.
Ava threw herself against the glass, her hands splayed wide as she pressed them against the transparent barrier, her tears streaming down her face so fiercely that they fogged up the doctor’s protective suit on the other side. “Mom! I’m here! I’m right here! Don’t leave me!”
She sobbed uncontrollably, her cries raw and gut-wrenching, as if she were trying to cry out all the tears she had held back for the past six months in one devastating flood.
Sebastian stood behind her, his hands clenched into fists so tight that his knuckles turned white, but he forced himself to stay strong, to not let her see the crack in his own composure.
He turned to the doctor, his voice low and urgent, a glimmer of hope in his eyes. “What if we combine it with the modified CAR-T therapy protocol I funded two years ago?”
The doctor froze, his eyes widening in shock. “That protocol is still in the animal testing phase—it’s not even close to being ready for human trials…”
Sebastian’s voice dropped to a frigid, unyielding tone, his resolve unshakable. “I’ll sign the consent form. I’ll take full responsibility for any and all consequences.”
Inside the emergency operating room, Nora was wheeled into the sterile procedure pod, the door sliding shut with a soft hiss that echoed like a death knell.
Ava sank to her knees on the cold linoleum floor, pressing her forehead against the hard surface, her body wracked with sobs so violent that she retched, her throat burning with the effort.
This was the one scene she had feared more than anything else in her entire life.
Every sacrifice she had made to climb to where she was now—every time she had gritted her teeth through humiliation, every dirty deal she had struck, every time she had knelt and begged—had been for one single purpose: to keep her mother alive.
But now, it seemed like even that was beyond her reach.
Sebastian knelt down beside her and pulled her into his arms, holding her as she shook with grief. She clung to the front of his sweater, her nails digging into his skin until she drew blood, her cries turning into wordless, agonized wails. “Brother… I’m useless… I can’t do anything right… I can’t even save the one person I love most.”
Sebastian pressed her tightly against his chest, his fingers threading through her disheveled hair, his voice breaking with emotion, raw and vulnerable. “It’s not your fault. None of this is your fault.”
“I failed to protect you both. I’m the one who’s useless.”
Ava cried until she lost consciousness, her body going limp in his arms.
In the last fleeting second before the darkness swallowed her whole, she heard the heart monitor’s beep stretch into a long, piercing alarm—a sound that felt like it was tearing her own heart to shreds, piece by piece.
New York, at the exact same moment.
Landon and Kai received the “anonymous video” from Ivy almost simultaneously.
The footage showed the rooftop of the London hospital, blanketed in snow, the blizzard swirling around them.
Ava was curled in Sebastian’s arms, her hands fisted tightly in the fabric of his trench coat, her face buried in his neck as she cried like a lost child.
Sebastian was leaning down, pressing a kiss to the top of her head, his movements so gentle that they bordered on reverence.
The cigarette in Landon’s fingers burned down to the filter, the hot ash searing his skin, but he didn’t even flinch. His eyes were fixed on the screen, his expression unreadable, the air around him thick with a cold, smoldering rage.
Kai stared at the video for a split second, then threw his phone against the wall with a violent snarl, the device shattering into a hundred pieces, the screen going black forever.
London, 11 hours after the surgery.
When Ava woke up, she found herself lying on a hard hospital bench, Sebastian’s overcoat wrapped around her like a warm, protective cocoon.
He was sitting beside her, his eyes bloodshot and heavy with exhaustion, a dark stubble shadowing his jawline—proof that he hadn’t slept a wink since they’d arrived in London.
The moment he saw her eyes flutter open, his voice cracked with relief, rough and hoarse from disuse. “Mom pulled through. She’s going to be okay.”
Ava shot up from the bench, her eyes flooding with tears once more—but this time, they were tears of joy, not grief. She stared at him, her voice trembling with hope, barely daring to believe it. “Really? Is it true? She’s alive?”
Sebastian nodded, a faint, tired smile tugging at the corners of his lips, the first genuine smile Ava had seen on his face since this nightmare began. “The experimental drug worked. The rejection is under control, and her heart has returned to a normal sinus rhythm.”
“But…” His smile faded, his voice dropping to a somber whisper, the harsh reality of their situation settling over them like a heavy cloud. “She’ll probably need to be on high-flow oxygen and immunosuppressants for the rest of her life. Her condition could deteriorate at any moment. Her lung function is less than twenty percent of what it should be.”
Ava threw herself into his arms, laughing through her tears, her heart swelling with a gratitude so fierce it felt like it might burst. She clung to him, her body shaking with a mix of joy and relief, her voice muffled against his chest. “It doesn’t matter… none of it matters. As long as she’s alive. I’d give up everything just to have her with me a little longer.”
Sebastian’s hand rested on her back, patting her gently, over and over again— a gesture that was as much for her comfort as it was for his own. He leaned down, pressing his lips to the top of her head once more, his voice so low that only she could hear it, a solemn promise whispered in the quiet of the hospital corridor.
“From now on, let me carry the burden. I won’t let you fight alone anymore.”
That night, inside the ICU ward.
Nora woke up, her body so weak that she could barely move her fingers. But her eyes were clear, her gaze locking onto Ava’s the moment she walked into the room.
Ava took her mother’s fragile hand in hers, her tears falling onto Nora’s pale skin, warm and wet.
Nora summoned every last ounce of strength she had, her lips moving silently, forming a message that only Ava could understand.
Ava buried her face in her mother’s palm, her voice thick with emotion, choked with sobs. “Mom… I almost lost you. I almost lost everything.”
“From now on, I’ll never let you be in any danger ever again. I’ll protect you with my life.”
Nora’s fingers trembled as they brushed through Ava’s hair, her eyes shining with a fierce, maternal pride. She fought to speak, forcing two words past her parched lips, her voice faint but unwavering, a final wish etched into every syllable.
“Live… for me… live… beautifully.”
Late at night, in the hospital’s underground parking garage.
Ava went down alone to get some fresh air, desperate for a moment of peace away from the sterile, suffocating atmosphere of the ICU. But she froze when she spotted a familiar figure huddled in the corner—Ivy.
She was wearing a black down jacket, a face mask pulled up over her nose, her eyes red and swollen from crying, a duffel bag of clean clothes and a thermos of soup clutched in her hands.
The second Ivy saw Ava, she froze, then stumbled forward, her voice breaking into a sob as she reached out for her. “Ava! I heard about your mom—about how critical she was. I flew here overnight as soon as I found out… I was so scared. I thought I’d never get to see you again.”
Ava stared at her, her expression a tangled mess of emotions—grief, anger, betrayal, and a faint, lingering flicker of the friendship they had once shared.
She thought back to their high school days: how Ivy had once stepped in to shield her from a drunk man’s advances at a party, how she had copied her notes for her when she was sick, how she had cursed Victoria right alongside her for the cruel things she’d said. She remembered the nights they’d stayed up late watching Korean dramas, the secret cigarettes they’d smoked behind the school gym, the promise they’d made to each other—to become the two most shining girls in New York, to take on the world together.
She had thought that was real friendship. That Ivy was her sister, her ride-or-die.
She had thought that her warning at Le Coucou would be enough to make Ivy stop—to make her realize that her petty jealousy wasn’t worth destroying both their lives.
But now, Ava knew the truth. She had already traced the anonymous video back to its source. It was Ivy who had sent it to Landon and Kai.
Ivy had known about her mother’s critical condition, and she hadn’t come to London out of concern. She had come to watch her suffer. To confirm that Ava was at her lowest, her most vulnerable.
Ava took a deep, shuddering breath, her voice calm—terrifyingly calm, devoid of any emotion, like a lake frozen solid in the depths of winter. “Ivy, what are you doing here?”
Ivy cried harder, reaching out to hug her, her shoulders shaking with sobs. “I’m sorry! I’m so, so sorry! I was just jealous—jealous that you had everything I ever wanted: Sebastian’s love, Landon’s attention, a company of your own. I saw you being torn apart by Landon and Kai, and I let my jealousy get the better of me… but I swear, I never meant to hurt your mom. I never wanted this to happen to her.”
Ava didn’t push her away. She just stood there, letting Ivy cling to her, her voice soft as a sigh, but laced with a finality that left no room for argument. “Ivy, I warned you at Le Coucou. I told you what would happen if you crossed me again.”
“This is the last time. The very last time.”
“From now on, don’t ever appear in front of me again. Don’t call me. Don’t text me. Don’t even think about me. If I see you again, I won’t be as merciful as I am now.”
Ivy froze, her sobs dying in her throat, her hands dropping away from Ava’s body like lead weights. She stared at her, her eyes wide with shock and disbelief, tears still streaming down her face, clinging to her eyelashes like dewdrops. “Ava… but we’re best friends. We’re sisters. Are you really going to throw away everything we had just because of a stupid video?”
Ava looked at her, her gaze cold and distant, her voice heavy with a weariness that went far beyond her years. She stood there in silence for a long, long time, the only sound the distant hum of the hospital’s generators and the soft patter of snow against the parking garage roof.
Finally, she spoke, her voice so quiet that Ivy could barely hear her, a faint note of sadness lingering in her words, a sadness for the friendship that had died long before this moment.
“I don’t want you dead, Ivy.”
“I just want you to change. To be the girl I once knew again.”
“This is your last chance. Take it.”
Ava turned and walked away, her high heels clicking against the concrete floor, each step a sharp, decisive crack that echoed through the empty garage, like nails being driven into the coffin of their friendship.
Ivy stood rooted to the spot, crying until she couldn’t breathe, but she didn’t dare chase after her.
She knew that this was the last chance Ava would ever give her.
But deep down, she also knew that she would never change.
London, a private manor, late at night.
Ava stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, staring out at the snow-covered garden, a vintage platinum ring clutched tightly in her hand—the ring her mother had given her on her 18th birthday, a symbol of the strength and courage she had always admired in her daughter.
Sebastian stood half a step behind her, holding a mug of warm milk, which he offered to her silently.
“Drink this. It’ll help you sleep.”
Ava didn’t take the mug. She just turned to look at him, her eyes red-rimmed and exhausted, the weight of the past few days etched into every line of her face. “Brother, I almost killed Ivy tonight. When I saw her standing there, lying to my face, I wanted to strangle her. I wanted to make her pay for what she did.”
“But I let her go. I let her walk away.”
“Am I too soft? Am I too weak to survive in this world?”
Sebastian set the mug of milk down on the windowsill, then stepped forward and pulled her into his arms, resting his chin on the top of her head, his voice rough and hoarse, a quiet understanding in his words.
“You’re just not pushed to the edge yet.”
“When the day comes that you have nothing left to lose… you’ll be fiercer than anyone. Crueler than anyone. You’ll be unstoppable.”
Ava closed her eyes, burying her face in his chest, her voice muffled against his shirt, barely audible, a prayer whispered into the cold night air.
“Then let that day come as late as possible. Please.”
Snowflakes drifted down from the sky, landing gently on his shoulders, like a long-overdue hug, a quiet promise of peace in the midst of the storm.
In her brother’s arms, Ava finally drifted off to sleep, her body relaxing for the first time in days.
In her dreams, her mother was smiling at her, healthy and happy, her eyes shining with pride. Ivy was crying, begging for forgiveness, her face streaked with tears.
And Ava stood in the middle of them both, a knife clutched in her hand, its blade glinting in the sunlight—but she couldn’t bring herself to strike. She just stood there, frozen, caught between the girl she once was and the woman she was destined to become.
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Last Updated:
2025-12-11 08:51:56
