Chapter 4

Jonas waited at home for a few more days until word finally came that his travel documents were ready. He packed his bags right away and took his son by the hand, ready to leave.

Then Bastian showed up out of nowhere. "Where do you think you're going?"

"That's none of your business." Jonas opened the car door.

"Does Leona know?" Bastian's voice suddenly rose, and he rushed over and grabbed Jonas by the wrist. "You can't take Remy!"

"Let go!" Jonas shook him off, and the scars on his face pulled with a tearing pain.

"Daddy!" Remy shoved Bastian away.

Bastian fell to the ground, and the corner of his mouth curled into a venomous smile. "Remy, why did you push me..."

He scrambled to his feet, ran to his car, climbed in, started the engine, and shifted into reverse.

Jonas pulled his son back. "Remy, come here—"

The Porsche suddenly shot backward. The gas pedal was floored, and the car hurtled out of control as its rear end barreled straight toward them.

In that instant, time seemed to stretch and freeze.

Through the car window, Jonas saw Bastian's face, alight with fierce excitement.

On instinct, Jonas tried to push his son out of the way, but Remy was faster.

"Daddy, look out!"

Remy shoved him aside with all his strength, leaving his own small body in the car's path.

There was a dull, heavy thud.

Remy's little body arced through the air like a bird with a broken wing and landed on the asphalt 15 feet away, completely still.

"Re... Remy..." Jonas crawled over to him, scraping his knees bloody on the pavement.

Remy's eyes were still open, but his pupils were unfocused.

"Daddy..." His voice was faint, barely more than a breath. "I won't go looking for Mommy anymore..."

He reached out and touched the scar on Jonas's face with a small, bloody hand.

Jonas took his hand. It was ice-cold. "I'm right here, Remy. Don't be scared. I'm right here..."

He was barely making sense, and his hands were shaking so badly that he could not hold on to him.

The wail of an ambulance siren drew closer.

Bastian looked flustered. "I didn't mean to... The brakes failed..."

Jonas rode to the hospital with his son in his arms.

The attending physician's face was grim. "Dr. Kimball, he has a massive intracranial hemorrhage, and the hematoma is pressing on his brainstem. He needs surgery immediately, but—"

Jonas finally pulled himself together. "It's in the medulla, the most dangerous spot there is. I'm the only one who can do this surgery, but my hands are ruined. Let me in there. I'll guide you, and your team can operate."

"That's against protocol—"

"That's my son!" His eyes were bloodshot. "Let me in!"

The hematoma sat in a treacherous spot, pressed right up against the nerve bundles of the brainstem.

"Go in from here and keep the angle under 15 degrees. Avoid this vascular plexus."

The lead surgeon was drenched in sweat.

The instruments slid into the skull and began separating the hematoma bit by bit.

Jonas held his breath as they adjusted the angle. Everything went smoothly. The hematoma was cleared, and the bleeding stopped.

Jonas was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when his left hand suddenly seized up and began to tremble uncontrollably.

It was an aftereffect of his nerve damage, and it flared up whenever his emotions ran high.

He bit down hard on his lip to bring it under control, but it was no use. His left hand shook so violently that his whole body shook with it.

"Dr. Kimball?"

He forced the words out through gritted teeth. "Keep going! Don't worry about me!"

The surgery continued.

The surgeon had never sutured through such a narrow opening before, and in the final stage, his instrument slipped by 0.3 millimeters and nicked a tiny artery on the surface of the brainstem.

On the monitor, the bleeding spread out like a blooming flower.

"Stop the bleeding! Stop it now!" Jonas shouted.

It was too late.

A brainstem bleed moved fast, and by the time they got it under control, the damage was irreversible.

Remy was taken to the ICU and kept alive on a ventilator.

Jonas stood outside the ICU window, staring at the small body inside with tubes running everywhere. He raised his ruined left hand and stared at it for a long time, then he slammed his fist into the wall.

The bones in his fingers broke with a sharp crack, but he felt no pain.

Jonas kept watch for three days and three nights before his son finally woke up, if only briefly.

He was slumped over the side of the bed, holding Remy's hand.

Remy opened his eyes. They were clear, just like they used to be.

"Daddy..." He smiled. "There's a scar... on your face..."

Jonas nodded. "Yeah. I've gotten ugly, haven't I?"

"You're not ugly..." His voice was very small. "You're... the most handsome..."

He paused, struggling to breathe.

"Daddy... are we still... running away?"

Jonas squeezed his hand. "We are. Once you get better, I'll take you far, far away."

Remy blinked, tears clinging to his lashes. "What about... Mommy?"

Jonas could not answer.

Remy looked at him and understood. He gently squeezed Jonas's finger, as if to comfort him. "It's okay, Daddy. Having you is enough..."

Then he closed his eyes, and his breathing grew fainter and fainter.

The line on the monitor went flat.

A shrill alarm went off.

Doctors rushed in, and in the chaos, Jonas was pushed out of the ICU. He stared at his son's small figure, watching the doctors fight to bring him back, but Remy never opened his eyes again.

Just like that, his son was gone.