Chapter 2

Sienna's POV

I hated the pale green walls of the hospital and the squeaking rubber soles of the nurses’ shoes and the constant  terrifying beep of the heart monitors but I had to be there.

I stopped right outside Room 412, taking a deep breath to compose myself and plastered on a bright smile, stretching my cheeks until they ached then I pushed the door open.

My mother looked terrifyingly small in the center of thel hospital bed. Her skin was the color of old parchment, drawn tight over her cheekbones and a web of clear plastic IV tubes snaked across the back of her fragile hands.

“Hey, Mama,” I said softly, stepping fully into the room.

She turned her head, her tired eyes lighting up instantly as a weak beautiful smile touched her pale lips. “Sienna, my sweet girl. You shouldn't be here so late. You need your rest.”

“I’m fine, Mama. I’ve just been studying,” I lied smoothly, pulling up a plastic chair and wrapping my hands gently around her cold fingers. “How are you feeling today?”

“Better,” she lied right back. Her voice was barely a raspy whisper. “The nurses are very sweet but the food here is terrible.”

I let out a soft laugh, squeezing her hand. “I’ll sneak you a cheeseburger as soon as they let you eat solid food again, I promise.”

We sat in a comfortable, quiet silence for a few minutes and I just watched her breathe, feeling a knot tightening in my throat. I was doing everything for her.. every degrading choice, every terrifying risk and it was all to keep her heart beating.

“Did your father call?” she asked suddenly, her eyes dropping to the thin blanket.

My fake smile vanished instantly. I clenched my jaw so hard my teeth ground together. “No, Mama. He didn't.”

She sighed. “Don't be too hard on him, Sienna. He has his struggles. He’s trying.”

“He’s not trying, Mama,” I snapped, unable to keep the bitter edge out of my voice. “He’s gambling, he’s drinking and he is doing exactly what he always does.”

Before she could defend the miserable excuse for a man she married, the door clicked open and Dr. Evans walked in, holding a metal clipboard. He looked exhausted, his white coat wrinkled and his shoulders slumped and right behind him like a bad smell following a breeze, walked Hector.

My father looked like walking garbage. His clothes were rumpled, his eyes were bloodshot and he carried a sickening reek of beer and cigars. I felt my blood pressure instantly skyrocket.

“Ah, Sienna, you’re here,” Dr. Evans said, giving me a polite nod before turning his attention to the chart. “I actually asked the nurses to contact your father this morning. We need to discuss Rosa’s test results.”

My stomach plummeted. “What’s wrong?”

Dr. Evans sighed, looking between me and my mother. “Rosa’s heart is failing faster than we anticipated. The medication is no longer holding the line. She needs a valve replacement surgery and she needs it within the month.”

The room started spinning. “Okay,” I breathed out, my mind racing. “Okay. When do we schedule it?”

“Sienna,” Dr. Evans said softly, his eyes filled with professional pity. “The surgery is highly specialized. It requires an out-of-network surgical team and the hospital administration requires a deposit before they will even book the operating room.”

“How much?” I demanded, my voice trembling.

“Sixty thousand dollars.”

Sixty grand.. I barely had enough money hidden in my bra to buy a week's worth of groceries let alone sixty thousand dollars.

“We’ll get it,” Hector spoke up suddenly, puffing out his chest as he walked over to the bed, patting my mother’s leg with fake affection. “Don't you worry about a thing, Rosie. Sienna and I will handle the money.”

Dr. Evans nodded grimly. “I’ll leave you three to discuss it. Let the front desk know your decision.” He turned and walked out of the room, shutting the door quietly behind him.

The second the latch clicked, father dropped the loving husband act and turned his bloodshot eyes on me, rubbing his thumb and forefinger together in a universal gesture.

“Alright, kid,” Hector grunted. “You heard the doc. The old lady needs cash. So, what you got?”

I stared at him, genuinely stunned by his audacity. “Excuse me?”

“Don't play dumb,” He sneered, stepping closer. “You're always working these weird hours, doing God knows what in the city. You always have a little stash hidden away. I need it. Shane is breathing down my neck again.”

I stood up so fast my plastic chair completely tipped over, crashing loudly onto the floor and my mother jumped, letting out a weak gasp.

“Are you insane?” I hissed, keeping my voice low so the nurses wouldn't come running but vibrating with fury. “Your wife needs a sixty-thousand-dollar surgery to literally stay alive and you are asking me for money to pay off your gambling debts?!”

“Keep your voice down, you ungrateful brat,” Father growled, pointing a dirty finger in my face. “I'm your father! I put a roof over your head!”

“You put a target on my back!” I screamed, finally losing total control as I stepped right into his space, glaring up into his bloodshot eyes. “I am out there doing things that make me sick to my stomach just to keep Shane from breaking your kneecaps! And you come in here and ask me for more? You are a pathetic and disgusting parasite!”

“Sienna, please!” my mother cried out weakly from the bed, tears streaming down her pale cheeks. “Stop fighting!”

“Don't you talk to me like that,” Father snarled, raising his hand as if to strike me.

I didn't even flinch. I tilted my chin up, daring him to try it. “Do it,” I whispered coldly. “Hit me in front of her. Show her exactly what kind of man she married.”

Father’s hand shook in the air for a long tense second then he cursed loudly, dropped his arm and turned away. “You're worthless. Just like your mother.”

He stormed out of the hospital room, the door slamming shut behind him with a violent bang.

I stood there trembling, my chest heaving as I tried to pull oxygen into my burning lungs. My mom was crying softly, her face buried in her thin pillow. I wanted to go to her, to comfort her but I felt too toxic and entirely filthy.

“I have to go, Mama,” I choked out, grabbing my bag. “I’ll come back tomorrow.”

I didn't wait for her to answer, fleeing the hospital as fast as my legs could carry me.

The bus ride back to my rundown apartment was a complete blur. I unlocked my door, stepped inside the tiny cramped space and locked the deadbolt behind me. I dropped my bag onto the floor and stared at the rickety kitchen table.

My economics textbook sat right where I left it, flipped open to a chapter on market equilibrium. I had a massive midterm exam tomorrow morning. If I failed this class, I lost my tiny community college scholarship. If I lost the scholarship, I lost my only ticket out of this miserable life.

I pulled out a chair, sat down and picked up my yellow highlighter staring at the bold black text. 'Supply and demand determine the price of a commodity.'

I read the sentence four times but nothing registered in my brain. All I could see was the dark room and all I could feel were the billionaire's strong demanding hands gripping my hips and Shane’s raspy laugh and the doctor calmly asking for sixty thousand dollars.

The highlighter slipped from my fingers, rolling across the textbook and clattering onto the floor. I didn't pick it up. I just folded my arms on the table, buried my face in them and broke down. 

I sobbed uncontrollably for my mother’s failing heart, I cried for my father’s complete lack of a soul and I cried for myself, mourning the girl I used to be before money became the only thing that mattered. I cried until my eyes swelled shut and my throat burned, eventually falling into a fitful exhausted sleep right there at the table.

The next morning was a disaster.. I woke up with a pounding headache and a stiff neck. I rushed to campus, sliding into my desk right as the professor began handing out the papers. I stared at the multiple-choice questions like they were written in ancient Greek. My brain was completely fried. 

I guessed on almost every single question, bubbling in random circles with a sense of numb resignation. I was the first one to hand in the paper and I knew I had completely flunked it.

The rest of the day dragged on in a miserable haze of waitressing shifts and fake smiles. By the time nightfall finally rolled around, I was operating purely on caffeine and sheer willpower.

I went back to the hospital, sitting quietly with my mother for an hour. She was asleep the entire time, the medication dragging her under qnd I just held her hand, watching the steady rise and fall of her chest, silently praying for a miracle.

Just before midnight, I left the hospital. The streets were dead, washed in the harsh glow of the streetlights. A cold wind whipped down the empty sidewalk, biting through my thin jacket as I walked toward the bus stop.

I checked my phone. The next bus wasn't coming for twenty minutes.

Suddenly, a black luxury sedan glided smoothly around the corner. It didn't have its headlights on as it moved with the silent terrifying grace of a shark gliding through dark water. It pulled up directly to the curb beside me, the engine completely silent.

My instincts instantly screamed at me to run but my feet felt glued to the concrete. The tinted rear passenger window slid down with a soft mechanical hum.

A man sat in the back seat wearing a black suit, a black tie and a pair of dark sunglasses despite it being the middle of the night. His face was entirely devoid of expression.

“Sienna Carter,” the man said. “Get in the car.”

I took a sharp step backward. “I don't know you. Screw off before I scream.”

The man simply tilted his right hand upward, bringing it out of the shadows of the car interior and the dull metal of a pistol caught the light of the streetlamp as he rested it casually on the edge of the window frame, pointing the barrel directly at my stomach.

I froze as a cold terror washed over me, instantly freezing the blood in my veins. I darted my eyes frantically up and down the street but it was completely deserted.

The rear door on my side suddenly swung open and another man, identical to the first right down to the black suit and sunglasses, stepped out of the front passenger seat. He moved with alarming speed, stepping behind me and placing a hand between my shoulder blades. He shoved me forward, hard.

“In,” the second man grunted.

I stumbled forward, my knees buckling slightly as I practically fell into the backseat. The second man instantly climbed in after me, pulling the door shut.