Chapter 4

When I came to, Callum had tied me tightly to a chair.

The rope had rubbed angry red marks into my wrists and ankles.

Callum and Helena stood in front of me, their faces blank.

"Callum! What are you doing? Let me go! Tying someone up is illegal!"

I fought with everything I had, twisting against the rope.

Across from me, Helena let out a scoff.

"Don't waste your energy, Rosalie. We're doing this for your own good."

The next second, Lucky, the Ragdoll cat I'd poured all my hope into, was set down hard on the coffee table in front of me.

"Callum and I looked into it carefully. The reason you've become so sensitive, paranoid, and moody is that you can't face loss.

"If you want to cure this for good, we have to start with the thing you treasure most."

As she spoke, she pulled out a syringe and drew up a full dose of anesthetic.

"Helena, what are you doing? Are you crazy?!"

My throat was raw from screaming.

My heart leaped into my throat for Lucky.

"Lucky's so timid. He's terrified of shots. Helena, don't do this! He just had surgery on his bones a few days ago. His body can't take it. You can't be this cruel!"

Lucky seemed to sense the danger too.

His little body curled into a ball, and he kept letting out faint, pitiful cries as he looked at me.

"Helena!"

"Stop yelling!"

Callum, who'd been sitting silently beside me the whole time, suddenly spoke.

"You've taken care of him for a long time. You've done your duty as his owner. Now it's his turn to repay you."

My pupils shrank.

"What do you mean?

"Callum, you know Lucky was Mom's gift to me. He's all I have left of her! You know better than anyone how much he means to me!"

"I know... I know all of that."

He gripped my shoulders so hard it felt like I was locked in place.

"But no pet, no matter how precious, matters more than you. Helena might be new to hands-on work, but she's observed and studied all kinds of surgeries. Lucky will be fine."

In an instant, I understood. Helena was going to use my Lucky for practice.

She was going to cut him open!

"No! Callum, you can't! Lucky's only nine months old. If you do this, he'll die!

"I'm begging you... please don't..."

I cried so hard I could barely breathe, but Callum held my shoulders and forced me to look straight at him.

"Everything I'm doing is for you.

"You have to face reality. Not everything in this world is going to go your way. The only way you'll get out of these negative emotions is to let go of what you're clinging to."

A bone-deep despair swept over me.

I'd already lost my mom. Lucky was the last thing I had to hold on to. I couldn't survive losing anything else.

But Callum ignored my pleading. He turned his head toward Helena and counted down with his fingers. Three, two, one.

The next moment, Lucky's tiny body was pinned down.

Blood ran across the table and dripped, drop by drop, onto the floor.

"No! Helena, stop!"

I was sobbing so hard my whole body convulsed. I nearly passed out.

But Helena only cut harder.

I'd never studied medicine, but I'd read a lot of medical books.

The anesthetic hadn't taken effect at all. Lucky was completely conscious. He was feeling every second of the pain.

I didn't know how much time passed before the blood stopped flowing.

Helena put down her instruments.

"His tolerance was too low. He couldn't even make it through the whole procedure.

"Rosalie, I'm sorry for your loss."

Five words. That was all it took for her to end Lucky's life.

Lucky's eyes stayed open, as if there were so many things he still hadn't gotten to do.

Callum patted my shoulder and spoke gently, just like he used to.

"Rosalie, it's okay. Even without this Lucky, you can have another one. I'll buy you lots and lots of them, okay?"

"Lots and lots..."

I stared into his eyes and repeated it. "So you can cut them all open too?"

Callum's face went stiff.

"Do you know what you've done? My mom is dead. Lucky was the last gift she ever gave me. He was what was going to get me through the rest of my life, and you wouldn't even let me keep that."

"What did you say?"

Callum's pupils contracted slightly.

Helena immediately stepped forward.

"You'd drag your own mother's life into this just to vent over a cat? How could you disrespect her like that?

"Rosalie, I'm so disappointed in you."

With a few careless words, she twisted my heartbreaking grief into a lie I'd made up to get sympathy.

The flicker of doubt Callum had shown a moment ago was easily wiped away.

"When I promise you something, I keep my word. So why would you joke about Diane's life?

"Rosalie, how could you do that to your own mother?"

Finally, he let out a deep sigh.

"Stay here and think about what you've done. When you've figured it out, come find me."

With that, he didn't look at me again. He left with Helena.

...

After he left, Callum couldn't settle. A vague unease he couldn't put into words kept circling in his chest.

He couldn't shake the feeling that Rosalie's pain hadn't been an act.

So to find out the truth, he turned the car around and drove to the hospital to check on Diane.

But when he got to the department, a nurse pushed the filed death certificate across to him.

Callum saw her time of death.

The blood in his veins ran cold.

"Rosalie..."