Chapter 4

I wasn't used to sharing a hospital room.

Someone as sick as I was needed rest, but the constant noise kept me from sleeping.

On my third day there, a nurse came in.

"Ms. Hale, your brother paid your hospital bill."

Before I could feel relieved, she continued, "I was asked to tell you that your sister is under a lot of stress before surgery and needs round-the-clock care. Your aide has been reassigned to help look after her."

I smiled bitterly. "That's fine."

My aide, Grace Miller, had been with me for years. We got along well, and she genuinely cared about me.

Now that Camilla needed her, Grace had to go care for my sister too.

I buried my face in the pillow and forced myself not to make a sound as I cried.

My sister already had two aides, as well as our parents and Henry. She was never short of care.

When Grace learned from Camilla's aides that no one was looking after me, she found ways to slip away.

She fed me, helped me to the bathroom, and accompanied me to treatment.

Grace's kindness only earned her a vicious reprimand from Mom.

While Grace was feeding me pea soup she'd brought from home, Mom snatched the bowl away and hurled it at her.

"I hired you to look after Camilla, not Livia. Livia can manage on her own. I won't pay you for any time you spend on her. Maybe that will teach you a lesson."

The soup splashed all over me, scalding my skin and turning it red.

Grace had barely reached for a tissue when Mom dragged her away.

"If you don't want this job, then leave! Camilla is alone in her room and falling apart while everyone else is overwhelmed. What are you doing in here?

"Will you take responsibility if something happens to my precious daughter?"

She shouted so loudly that onlookers crowded outside the room.

Some recognized me and began pointing.

"Isn't that the girl who fought her own sister for a donor liver?"

"How selfish. Her sister is gravely ill, and now she's stolen her aide too."

My chest tightened with humiliation until I could barely breathe.

Grace's expression changed when she heard them.

She tried to defend me, but Mom tore into her again. "You abandoned your post! You're irresponsible! Are you trying to bill me twice for the same hours? My brilliant older daughter would never let someone like you take advantage of her.

"And you, Livia! Why can't you be considerate?

"Didn't the nurse explain your sister's condition?"

My explanation was useless. "She did, but this isn't the aide's fault! She saw that no one was caring for me and came to help out of kindness..."

Mom glared at me. "Kindness? You call abandoning your sister kindness?"

I felt terrible for Grace. I told her not to worry about me and to take care of Camilla.

She looked painfully concerned. She apologized to me before she left.

From that day on, I never saw her again. Once again, someone close to me had been taken away, leaving me entirely alone.

When Mom left, the crowd outside dispersed too.

I lay in bed replaying her words. She hadn't treated me this way when I was little.

Back then, she always smiled as she coaxed me, wanting only to see me happy.

Even when I did something wrong, she would stroke my cheek and say, "Sweetheart, Mommy forgives you this time."

That night, I'd barely fallen asleep when Henry woke me.

He held my broken necklace. He said Camilla had yanked so hard on it during a fit that she'd snapped it, then blamed me for taking Grace away.

I looked at the broken necklace and said calmly, "It's not mine anymore. It's hers. Take it back!"

"Camilla can't wear something broken. She doesn't want it, so you can keep it!"

I was too exhausted to deal with him. I only wanted to rest.

He took out a voice recorder. "Camilla's surgery is tomorrow. She wants your blessing and the guardian angel charm Grandma left you."

I had worn that charm since childhood. It was the one thing I couldn't give her.

When I refused, Henry's face hardened.

"Stop sulking. This surgery is serious.

"She's going under the knife tomorrow, and you won't even give her the charm and say a few kind words? You survived all your surgeries, so she believes it works!"

Irritated, Henry reached for the box beside my bed that held the guardian angel charm.

They never stopped to consider that my previous surgeries had all been minor.

This time, without the transplant, I would die.

I refused to let go of the box, so Henry pried my fingers away one by one.

When he opened the box to make sure the charm was inside, I lunged for it.

He snapped the lid shut on my hand. My nail split, and the knuckle swelled and turned purple.

He saw what he'd done but simply switched on the recorder and told me to say the blessing.

I finally broke down, but I forced a smile anyway.

"I hope my sister's surgery goes smoothly, that she makes a full recovery, and that she lives a long, happy life!"