Chapter 3

“I had no idea it was real. Ryan called me this morning and said you were throwing another tantrum. He claimed you’d even gotten his parents involved and told me to ignore you.

“Mrs. Larson, I’m sorry. I had no idea.”

I had no patience for any more of his excuses.

“Don’t call me Mrs. Larson. Ryan and I won’t be married much longer.”

Derek froze, not knowing what to say.

“Can you call the employees in to donate blood now?”

He shook his head.

“Ryan called half an hour ago and fired me.”

A chill swept through me.

Ryan was ruthless.

Just to punish me for what he considered another unreasonable outburst, he was willing to destroy his family’s last chance of survival.

“Call Ryan. Now!”

Derek called him again and again, but Ryan didn’t answer.

The phone I was gripping suddenly rang.

It was Aunt Helen.

“Aunt Helen, when will the blood arrive?”

To my shock, her usual warmth was gone.

“Lily, I don’t like criticizing you, but you’ve always seemed so sensible. How could you lie about something like this?

“My sister and brother-in-law have treated you like their own daughter, yet you’re cursing them like this? And Sophie adores you. How could you claim she’s dying? What kind of person does that?”

My blood ran cold.

“Aunt Helen, I’m at the hospital right now. I’m not lying. We can video call if you don’t believe me.”

“Lily, I know you resent the fact that Ryan still loves someone else, even after marrying you. But it’s already happened. You either have to accept it or divorce him.

“Even if you get divorced, I’ll still think of you as family. You truly don’t need to lie to me.”

I tried to respond, but she’d already hung up.

Derek’s twentieth call finally went through.

Serena’s sweet voice came over the phone, dripping with mockery.

“Derek, what do you want? Ryan and I are setting up our tent.”

Then I clearly heard Ryan in the background.

“Hang up. Lily must’ve gotten to him. That woman is insane. Does she seriously think she’ll die without me?”

The line went dead.

It felt as though someone had struck me over the head with a hammer.

A doctor rushed out of the operating room.

“We’re running out of blood! The hospital is trying to bring in more, but more than a hundred people were injured in the pileup. There simply isn’t enough.

“You said donors were coming. Where are they?”

I grabbed the doctor’s hand and dropped to my knees.

“Please, you have to save them. I’m still trying to find more donors.”

Another half hour passed.

Every employee from my company had donated blood, including Derek and me.

“The patients are stable for now, but they’ll need to be closely monitored in the ICU. If they make it through tonight, they should be out of immediate danger. But I need to warn you that their condition is still critical. Tonight won’t be easy.”

Through the glass, I stared at the three of them lying side by side.

I could barely breathe.

That morning, they’d left home perfectly healthy to shop for my birthday present.

Now they lay motionless in the ICU.

“Are you a relative of Richard Larson and the other two patients?”

An officer approached me from the corner of the hallway.

I braced myself against the wall and stood.

“Yes. What happened?”

“Our investigation of the crash scene found that the brakes on their car had been tampered with.”

I froze.

“This wasn’t an accident. It was attempted murder.”

Before the officer could say anything more, alarms blared from the ICU.

Doctors and nurses rushed inside.

They tried everything, but nothing could stop the patients’ organs from failing.

The hospital director shook his head.

“You should go in and say goodbye.”

“No. They were stable just a moment ago. Please keep trying.

“I’m begging you.”

The hospital director caught me before I could sink to my knees again.

“We’ve done everything we can. Any further attempts would be pointless and only cause them more pain.”

His voice softened.

“Your father-in-law has already passed away.”