Chapter 4

"If you're about to give us some speech about how we shouldn't have gone through with the transplant, save it. It's already done. It's too late to say anything now," Nolan said as he picked up a glass of water.

Damian was silent for a moment, then slowly opened the report in his hands.

"Ms. Luna has almost no sense that she deserves anything. Ever since she was a child, whenever she got sick, she felt she didn't deserve to take medicine for it.

"Because of that, she developed severe glomerulonephritis, complete kidney failure, renal artery stenosis, renal tubular acidosis, stage four chronic kidney disease, and underdevelopment in both kidneys..."

The moment Damian spoke about my condition, the glass slipped out of Nolan's hand and shattered on the floor.

Bella shot upright in bed, her face draining of color. "What did you just say?!"

Her sharp, piercing sobs cut through the air.

Nolan crossed the room quickly and hauled me up off the pillow by my shoulders.

"Luna, you knew about your condition, and you didn't say anything. You gave Bella a kidney that's already failing, and you're telling me that wasn't on purpose?"

He shook me so hard my head spun. I looked into his bloodshot eyes and couldn't force out a single word.

Bella's crying only got louder.

"Mom, Dad, you have to do something for me. She's been scheming against me even while she's sick. She never had any intention of letting me live."

Nolan straightened up, his voice suddenly ice-cold.

"Mom, Dad, Luna has gone way too far this time. There's a confinement room in the back building. Let's lock her in there for now. We'll settle the score once Bella's stable."

Our parents exchanged a glance. This time, neither one objected.

They moved fast, so fast that by the time I was standing at the door of the confinement room, I still hadn't fully processed what was happening.

The second we stepped inside, Bella tugged at Nolan's sleeve.

"Nolan, I want to talk to her alone. Just for a minute."

He frowned and glanced at me, but eventually nodded and left.

His footsteps faded down the hall. Bella looked at me, and the corner of her mouth slowly curled upward.

She flicked a lighter, and a tongue of flame shot up, casting flickering light and shadow across half her face.

"Luna, you made me take a bad kidney. You can pay for that with your life. There are no security cameras here. If you burn to death, well, that's just an accident. It's nobody's fault but your own."

I instinctively reached up and touched the tiny camera that Damian had pinned to the collar of my shirt.

I was about to say something, but her sharp and loud voice drowned me out.

"Ask yourself. Do you deserve to be alive in this family? Do you deserve to be loved by Mom and Dad? Do you deserve to be my sister?"

The fire kept growing, and Bella's expression suddenly shifted. She started screaming toward the door with everything she had.

"Help! Fire! Luna accidentally set the curtains on fire! Someone help!"

The door burst open.

The instant Nolan charged in, a burning support beam overhead came crashing down, right toward me and Bella.

He didn't even hesitate. He threw himself sideways, shielding her with his own body.

That movement made something inside me go still for a second.

A long time ago, some cruel kids had thrown rocks at me. He'd thrown himself in front of me the exact same way, his voice steady and sure.

"Don't be scared, Luna. I'm here."

"Don't be scared, Bella. I'm here."

I couldn't tell which lifetime that memory belonged to anymore. It blurred together with the present until the line between them disappeared completely.

When I looked up again, he already had Bella in his arms. He was walking right past me as I lay on the ground.

He simply tossed out an impatient remark. "What are you standing there for? Hurry up and follow us!"

I watched their backs get smaller and smaller as they walked away.

I didn't move. I didn't run. I didn't call for help.

Instead, I turned around and crawled into the rusted cage in the corner. I curled up against the wall, knees hugged to my chest. I felt strangely at peace.

Of course. This was exactly where I belonged.

Fire and smoke rolled toward me like a wave, swallowing everything in sight.

This scene had played out so many times before, in so many memories, that it all blurred into one. My eyelids grew heavier and heavier.

I was finally going to be free.

-

Nolan carried Bella out of the burning house and ran a dozen or so yards before he finally stopped to catch his breath.

He looked back, and froze.

No one was behind him.

His face went white. "Where is Luna?"

At that exact moment, the front gate of the estate burst open.

Damian rushed in, phone in hand. Theodore and Lily were right behind him, their faces ashen.

The three of them looked at the house, fully engulfed in flames, and their eyes widened in unison.