Chapter 4

Garrett and I fell into a full-blown cold war.

For the next two weeks, I never went home once.

I stayed at the hospital instead.

Because the surgery had been delayed, my sister’s condition spiraled further and further out of control.

She had grown so thin she was almost nothing but skin and bones, her cheekbones hollow and sharp.

“Jade… am I going to die?”

She lay in the hospital bed, speaking so softly her voice barely seemed to hold together.

My sister wasn’t stupid.

“The person who was supposed to donate… did they back out?

“Maybe we should just stop. I’m so tired.”

At her words, my eyes burned red with tears. I choked back a sob and gripped her hand tighter.

“Don’t say that. You’re going to be okay. Trust me.”

I stayed with her until she fell asleep, then turned and went straight to her attending physician’s office.

“Doctor, you said there was someone else who matched. Do you have a way to contact them? My sister can’t wait any longer.”

After hearing my plea, the doctor gave me the contact information.

Once they understood the situation, they agreed to proceed with the surgery as soon as possible.

All that was needed was full payment before the operation.

The knot in my chest finally loosened.

My hands shook as I thanked them over and over again.

“Ms. Sterling, I do need to remind you of one thing,” the doctor said. “There are many other patients waiting.

“If you can’t come up with the payment in time, we’ll have to give the slot to someone else.”

I nodded quickly and promised I would go pay it right away.

Every dollar I had managed to save over the years was in that bank account.

It was all for my sister’s surgery.

But when I went to make the payment, the card reader beeped several times.

“There isn’t enough money in this account.”

I was stunned.

“That’s impossible. There should be hundreds of thousands in there.”

Then I looked at the balance on the screen.

The room spun.

Only Garrett and I knew the PIN to that card.

With shaking fingers, I called him.

He picked up quickly, but the line was noisy. In the background, fireworks were bursting one after another.

“Garrett, where’s the money from my account?”

“I used it on fireworks for Sienna. It helps calm her down.

“I’m out of town right now. I’ll pay you back when I get back.”

He said it as casually as if he were talking about dinner plans.

Before I could say another word, he hung up.

I kept calling back.

By the end, his phone was turned off.

I had no money to pay for my sister’s surgery.

When the doctor found out, she could only shake her head.

She had rules to follow.

The match I had fought so hard to get—

was given to someone else.

Seven days.

That was all we had left.

I stayed by my sister’s side and watched the life drain out of her, little by little.

Until finally, she clutched my hand tightly, tears running down her face.

“Jade… I don’t want to die.”

The moment she said it, the machines beside her let out a sharp, piercing alarm.

Doctors and nurses rushed in.

But in the end, they still said the resuscitation had failed.

My sister was dead.

She died at seventeen, at the age when life should have been just beginning.

I could have saved her.

I had the chance.

And then I had nothing.

In a daze, I handled the paperwork for her death certificate.

I watched her body be cremated with my own eyes.

Only after all of that was done did I finally go home.

Dust had already begun to settle over everything.

I hadn’t come back.

And neither had Garrett.

His social feed was full of photos and videos of fireworks for Sienna, trips he’d taken her on to cheer her up.

To keep me from bothering him, he had turned off his phone and blocked every way I had to reach him.

Looking at the pictures of the two of them together, I suddenly laughed.

When I left, I didn’t hesitate.

Garrett Logan—

After ten years, this time, I was the one walking away first.