Chapter 2

Garrett didn’t come home that night.

The messages I sent disappeared into silence, and after a while, I stopped trying.

Early the next morning, I went to the hospital to see my sister.

A bone marrow match had finally been found, and her surgery was scheduled for two days later.

She’d had leukemia since she was a child. Our parents walked out on us years ago, and all this time, she had been my last remaining family.

She lay in her hospital bed, surrounded by softly beeping machines.

The moment she saw me, her eyes lit up.

“Jade!”

Then she noticed the bandage wrapped around my forehead and froze.

“What happened to your head? Were you hurt?”

I set the fruit I’d brought on the side table and answered lightly, “It’s nothing. I took a bad fall, that’s all.”

She nodded, still a little uncertain, but her excitement quickly took over.

“Jade, the doctor said I can have surgery in two days. Does that mean I’m finally getting better?

“After I recover, will you take me to the capital? Please?”

I rubbed her hair gently, a dull ache rising in my chest.

She was seventeen this year.

She had spent more than seven years in a hospital bed.

Never mind the capital—she'd almost forgotten what this city even looked like.

If her surgery succeeded, I would take her anywhere she wanted to go.

“Garrett hasn’t come to see me in a while. Has he been really busy lately?

“I already finished that book he bought me last time.”

She clung to my arm and kept talking, one thought tumbling into the next.

She really liked Garrett.

She had always hoped I would marry him someday.

Watching her smile, my thoughts drifted far away.

If not for Sienna, Garrett and I probably would have been happy.

Back when we first got together, he treated my sister like she was his own.

Whenever he bought something good, he always thought of her too.

Her medical bills now, the private room, even finding the bone marrow match—

Garrett had helped make all of it happen.

I was grateful for that. Grateful enough to promise myself that if I ever got married, it would only be to him.

But little by little, he changed.

He started bringing Sienna everywhere, and what had once been a life for two became a life for three.

Garrett always told me, “Sienna’s autistic. You can’t hold it against someone who’s sick.”

Because of my sister, I kept yielding.

Again and again, I lowered the line I swore I’d never cross.

And all I got in return was humiliation that only got worse.

I used to think everything would be fine once Garrett and I made it official.

But every time we were on our way to sign the papers, Sienna would have an episode and everything would be called off.

After enough times, I stopped having the courage to try.

There were countless moments when I wanted to break up with him.

Garrett had always seemed sure of one thing—that I would never walk away while my sister still needed him.

But after ten years, I had had enough.

I was just about to tell my sister that I was planning to leave Garrett when my phone rang.

It was him.

I paused, then stepped into the hallway to answer.

His voice came fast and sharp.

“Where are you?”

“At the hospital.”

“What are you doing at the hospital?!”

Garrett’s voice shot up so suddenly it made my ears ring.

“Sienna’s in trouble. She’s having an episode, and no one can stop her…”

He didn’t need to finish.

I already knew what he wanted.

He wanted me to be the clown again, the punchline, the spectacle—anything to make Sienna smile.

I took a slow breath.

“Jasmine’s surgery is in two days. I don’t have time.”

The second the words left my mouth, his tone turned cold.

“What exactly do you mean by that? Think carefully.”

In ten years, this was the first time I had ever refused him.

I didn’t answer.

I just hung up.

When I returned to the room, my sister was still chatting with her nurse.

The sight of her smiling eased some of the tension locked in my body.

Then, just then, her attending physician asked me to come to the office.

He slid the completed surgical paperwork across the desk.

“Ms. Sterling, there’s something I’m not sure how to tell you.

“The donor family who agreed to the match has changed their mind.”

The smile on my face froze.

My mind went blank.

“How can they just back out now? The surgery is already scheduled.

“My sister’s body can’t hold on much longer. We worked so hard to find a match…”

I couldn’t force out another word.

The doctor looked at me with quiet regret.

“There’s nothing we can do.”