Mag-log in8:00 AM. Transplant day.Leo was already inside. They had shaved his little head last night for the chemo. He looked so small in those white sterile sheets, all those IV lines wrapped around him like vines. He was awake. He kept looking at the glass door, looking for his Daddy.Outside the glass, Ethan was in a wheelchair. His hip was still bandaged from yesterday - he still hadn't taken anything for the pain. He was pale, sweaty from blood loss, holding nothing now. The vial was empty. His marrow was already going into Leo. Drop by drop.Chloe stood next to him. Her hand wouldn't leave her belly. 4 weeks, 6 days. She had been cramping all night. When she went to the bathroom at 5 AM, there was light blood. She put on a pad. She didn't tell Ethan. She couldn't. The second baby already had a 50% chance of being sick like Leo. She was scared if she told him, he'd break completely.The doctor came out, checking his clipboard. "Mr. Knight, infusion started. About three hours. But finance
6:00 AM. Boston Children's Hospital, Transplant Wing. It smelled like disinfectant and cold coffee.Leo's transplant was in 48 hours. He needed Ethan's marrow. A perfect match - that rare RH-null blood that only Ethan had.For donors, it's routine. Local anesthesia, a little sedation. You don't feel much.But Leo wasn't routine.At two years old, he had three bone marrow aspirations. A long needle straight into the hip bone to suck the marrow out. No full anesthesia. He was too small, too anemic. It was too risky to put him under.Ethan only found out last night. In Chloe's old diary, tucked in the hospital bag._Day 410: Third aspiration today. He screamed "Mommy, it hurts!" I held him. I fainted after. Blood everywhere._No one had told him. He was in New York at the time. With Vanessa.So this morning, when the doctor came in with the tray, Ethan said, "No anesthesia."The doctor stopped. "Mr. Knight, I don't think you understand. This is drilling into bone. We strongly recommend-"
The pink envelope came at 8 AM. No name on it.Chloe opened it in the kitchen while Ethan was still asleep. His arm had a cotton ball taped on from last night's blood test for the transplant. He'd bled through it.Inside the envelope, thick pink card._VANESSA'S 27TH BIRTHDAY. Plaza Hotel Rooftop. 8 PM. Come alone._And under it, handwritten: _Don't come and I post the video of you pawning your wedding ring for $500. And Ryan's fake report — you know which one. Leo loses insurance tomorrow. His medicine stops before transplant._Her fingers went cold.That video — three years ago, after Madam Knight froze her cards, she had sold the ring in a pawn shop on 8th street. Vanessa's driver was behind her in line, filming.And Ryan's report — Ryan had faked a DNA test saying Leo wasn't a Knight, to keep the Knights away from him. If that leaked, the board would cut Leo off. No insurance. No medicine.She folded the card back up. Ethan had bone marrow aspiration tomorrow. Without anesthesia.
The red dress was still hanging on the closet door three days after the ER.Leo was home. That's what mattered. Platelets at 80k, which the nurse said was "good enough to sleep in his own bed." He was back in his dinosaur pajamas, watching cartoons too loud.Chloe wasn't supposed to be standing at all. Doctor's exact words: "Threatened miscarriage. Feet up. No stress." Which was funny, because everything in their house was stress right now. The second baby was four weeks and four days. Too early for a heartbeat. Just progesterone shots and praying.Ethan hadn't been CEO for three days. Alex was.At 9:03 AM, Alex called. Ethan put it on speaker so Chloe could hear. That was new."Board meeting tomorrow. You want your chair back, you need to look like a family man again," Alex said, easy, like he was doing them a favor. "Mr. Li is in town. Shanghai. $200M if he likes us. Bring your wife tonight. Tell her to wear red. He likes red."Chloe's hand went automatically to her stomach. She doe
8:47 PM. Plaza Hotel charity gala.Chloe held her stomach.Black velvet dress soaked with Vanessa's red wine. Cold wine seeping through fabric onto skin. Onto four-week bump that didn't even show yet.A cramp shot through her lower belly. Sharp. Then dull ache.Four weeks pregnant. RH-null. High-risk. Stress, push, wine spill, 300 eyes watching.Across the phone on loudspeaker, nanny screamed:"Mr. Knight! Leo's nose won't stop! Blood everywhere on floor! He fainted! Mr. Knight!"Two children bleeding.One inside Chloe's womb. Four weeks. No heartbeat on ultrasound yet. Just two lines on test.One outside. Three years old. In villa. Post bone marrow transplant. Aplastic anemia. Nosebleed that could kill him if platelets were low.And Richard Knight shouting from head table, wine glass in hand, loud enough for board members to hear:"Ethan! Stay! If you leave this gala now, you prove you are emotional, unstable babysitter! Board votes you out tomorrow! Be a CEO! Not a father!"300 peop
The next morning, the one-month contract was taped on the fridge.Next to Leo's medicine schedule.Rule #3, in Ethan's handwriting:_In public, we are husband and wife. In private, we are not. I will not touch you without permission._Chloe read it while making Leo's lunchbox.She had not slept. The second pregnancy test was still on the bathroom counter, wrapped in tissue. Four weeks. RH-null. High risk. She hadn't told Ryan. She hadn't told her own doctor.Ethan came downstairs in a suit, tie loose. He hadn't slept either.His father Richard had texted at 6 AM:_Tonight, charity gala, Plaza Hotel. Bring Chloe as your wife. If media believes you are stable family man, board will not fire you tomorrow. If media thinks you are still crazy man who punches parents and lives with mistress, you lose CEO tomorrow and sign 50% to Lee._"Gala tonight," Ethan said, pouring black coffee. CEO voice back. Last night's drunk confession was gone."7 PM. Plaza Hotel. 300 businessmen. My father, Alex







