Chapter 3

Sofia was still in surgery when we reached North Ridge Hospital.

The Moretti family physician came out with Sofia’s latest results.

“She has lost too much blood. We need more immediately.”

I stepped forward. “I’m B-negative. Test me.”

The doctor checked my blood pressure and hemoglobin..

“Miss Hale has been outside in severe cold, and both numbers are already low. Donating now could put you into shock.”

Celeste went pale. “Then she shouldn’t do it.”

Vincent looked toward the operating-room doors. Luca was already on the phone trying to locate compatible blood elsewhere.

An alarm sounded behind the emergency-room doors.

The doctor glanced back. “We may not have time to wait for another unit.”

I thought of the life I remembered and of Sofia dying before any of us understood how much that death would change the family.

“Use mine.”

Celeste caught my hand. “Elena, you heard what he said.”

“I did.”

Luca lowered his phone. “You don’t owe Sofia this.”

“I’m not doing it because I owe her.”

I looked at all three of them.

“I don’t want you to lose her again.”

No one tried to change my mind after that.

The doctor made me confirm that I understood the risk before taking me into the donation room.

I lay back on the bed and rolled up my sleeve.

The first bag was sent to surgery almost immediately. When the doctor checked me again, he ordered the nurse to stop.

“Her pressure is dropping too fast.”

Vincent looked toward the operating room. “How much more does Sofia need?”

“At least three hundred milliliters. Continuing would put Miss Hale at serious risk.”

“Then stop,” Luca said.

Celeste nodded immediately. “Find another way.”

There was no other way in time.

“Keep going.”

Luca stared at me. “Elena.”

“I know the risk.”

The doctor asked me again before reconnecting the line.

The second bag was only half full when my vision darkened.

The last thing I heard before losing consciousness was Luca calling my name.

“Elena!”

When I woke, I was in a hospital room.

Celeste sat beside the bed. Luca stood near the window. Vincent was speaking with a doctor.

“You’re awake,” my mother said quickly. “How do you feel?”

“Sofia?”

“She’s out of danger,” Luca said. “Your blood reached her in time.”

Vincent was silent for a moment.

“The Moretti family owes you for this. Once you’re stable, I’ll arrange a private flight to New York for treatment.”

Celeste adjusted my blanket.

“We can postpone the recognition banquet. When you recover, we’ll prepare it again.”

For the first time since they found me, I saw unmistakable guilt in their eyes.

In my first life, I might have mistaken it for the beginning of something I had wanted for years.

This time, I knew gratitude did not change where their hearts went first.

“The banquet doesn’t need to be postponed. I’m not attending.”

Vincent frowned.

“What are you still upset about?”

“I’m not upset. I told you already. In seven days, I’m leaving.”

The softness left Celeste’s face.

“You just saved Sofia. We’re grateful to you. Why do you have to say this now?”

Before I could answer, Luca’s phone rang.

“Sofia’s awake?”

Celeste stood immediately.

“How is she?”

Luca listened.

“She’s crying. She wants us.”

Vincent was already at the door.

My mother released my hand and followed him.

Luca hesitated, then moved the water closer to me.

“Rest. We’ll come back later.”

They did not.

Because of the blood loss, I stayed in the hospital for several days. Celeste sent clean clothes once. Luca’s assistant paid the bills. Vincent never called.

Sofia’s room was one floor above mine.

They spent every day there.

On the evening of the seventh day, the North Star Project sent its final notice.

IDENTITY TERMINATION WILL BE COMPLETED AT MIDNIGHT. REPORT TO THE DESIGNATED EXTRACTION POINT ON TIME. AFTER DEPARTURE, ALL CONTACT UNDER THE NAME ELENA HALE IS PROHIBITED.

I changed clothes, left everything Celeste had sent behind, and took only my suitcase and the last research documents I needed.

At the nurses’ station, someone asked whether I wanted my family notified.

“No. They’re busy.”

The snowstorm had ended by the time I stepped outside.

A car took me toward the coast. At a secure transfer point arranged by the North Star Project, I left the sedan with my suitcase and boarded a government SUV waiting to take me north.

Before the SUV pulled away, I looked back once toward the road leading to the hospital.

My parents and brother were still upstairs with the daughter they had chosen to keep beside them.

At ten that night, Luca finally returned to my room.

He found an empty bed.

My phone was off. My apartment was already cleared.

Near midnight, the black sedan that had carried me from the hospital continued south along the coastal road without me.

Minutes later, it broke through a guardrail and plunged down the cliff. The fuel tank ignited on impact, and the vehicle was consumed by fire.

At exactly midnight, the North Star Project completed the termination of Elena Hale’s civilian identity.

At the same time, breaking news spread across the city.

Police identified the passenger through ride records and documents recovered from the wreckage.

Dr. Elena Hale, age twenty-six.

The fire had destroyed most of the physical evidence. Formal identification would take time.

At the Moretti estate, Luca stared at my name on the television screen until his face went white.

Celeste dropped the glass in her hand.

Vincent stood so quickly that his chair hit the floor.

The headline kept scrolling beneath them.

DR. ELENA HALE PRESUMED DEAD AFTER NORTH RIDGE COASTAL HIGHWAY CRASH.