FACING REALITY

Blair

My mind wandered with many cruel and scary thoughts as paramedics rushed into the room. Their voices filled the space with sharp commands, but the words tangled in my mind like loose threads.

“Move the table!”

“Check his pulse!”

“Get the oxygen mask!”

One of them knelt beside my father and pressed two fingers to his neck. Another opened a medical kit and reached for wires and pads. The loud rip of the adhesive made my heart jump. They tried to speak to me, but my thoughts spun too fast to catch their questions.

“How long has he been in pain?”

“Does he have heart problems?”

“Did anything stressful happen today?”

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. My throat closed up. What was I supposed to say? That Pearl forced him to drag me into an old agreement? That he broke under the pressure of selling his daughter to pay off debts he didn’t create? I couldn’t even make a sound.

They lifted him onto a stretcher, their movements steady and practiced. His hand slipped from mine, and I reached for it, but they moved too fast. Panic shot up my spine.

“I’m coming,” I said, my voice shaking.

“Miss, we need space—”

“No. I’m coming!”

I followed them out the door and down the steps. I ignored Pearl calling my name behind me. I didn’t stop until the ambulance doors closed. They didn’t let me inside, so I ran after it with everything in me, as if running could drag him back from the edge.

By the time I reached the hospital, my lungs burned, and my legs shook. I didn’t even know how I made it there so fast. Everything after felt like a blur.

Now I stood in the hallway outside his room, staring through the glass. Machines blinked beside his bed. Wires and tubes ran across his chest and arms. His face looked pale against the white sheets. He didn’t look like the father who used to lift me onto his shoulders. He didn’t look like the man who tried to protect me when Pearl snapped. He looked fragile… breakable.

I wrapped my arms around myself. The air felt cold, too cold, as if the hospital drained warmth from everything it touched.

I had already lost my mother when I was young. I couldn’t lose him too.

The doctor’s voice still echoed in my head.

“A heart attack.”

“His condition is critical.”

“We need to operate.”

“There is no guarantee he will survive.”

And then the worst blow—

“There is no insurance to cover the cost.”

Of course there wasn’t. Pearl never cared about being prepared. She lived on flashy clothes, expensive meals, and endless parties. She never set anything aside for emergencies. I should have known. Dave should have known. But he trusted her too much.

I pressed my forehead against the glass. The cool surface fogged from my breath as my eyes blurred.

Behind me, Pearl let out an annoyed sigh. Her high heels clicked against the floor as she paced, sounding more impatient than worried.

“I don’t know what you expect me to do, Blair,” she said. “You want me to pull thousands of dollars from the air?”

I turned around slowly. A cold fury spread through me. My voice trembled, not from fear, but from anger I had swallowed for years.

“You knew he was stressed,” I said. “You saw him struggling. And you pushed him anyway. You didn’t even help when he collapsed. You just stood there.”

She snorted. “He was going to collapse one day. He brings stress on himself. He should have accepted reality long ago. You marrying Aedrick will solve everything.”

I stepped back, shocked. “You’re talking about my life like it’s a business deal.”

She rolled her eyes. “Because it is.”

I stared at her. My breath came uneven. “We could ask Leah and Eric for help. They have money. Leah wore jewelry today that could cover half the bill.”

Pearl’s mouth twisted. “Your sister just had her wedding. Do you really think she’d give you anything? She wouldn’t even give if she had extra.” She flicked her hand dismissively. “Besides, the wedding drained them. We’d just look desperate.”

I swallowed hard. She was right. Leah never gave anything unless she earned something back. I still wanted to believe she’d help Dad, but that hope felt foolish now.

Pearl pulled her phone from her bag and stepped aside. Her voice dropped into a tone I had heard many times—fake sweet, soft but sharp underneath.

“Stein… yes, it’s me… This is urgent. Dave is in the hospital. I need you to contact Mr. Aedrick. Tell him we need the money.”

My stomach clenched.

Aedrick.

Not just a man I didn’t know. Not just the stranger my father had promised me to… but the man whose family controlled our fate. The man Pearl wanted to use like a credit card.

I stepped toward her. “Give me the phone.”

She raised her brow. “What?”

I held out my hand, steady and firm. “Let me talk to him.”

She paused, then sighed like I was wasting her time and shoved the phone at me.

“Fine. Don’t ruin it.”

I brought the phone to my ear. My breath shook. “Hello?”

Silence. Then a deep voice filled the speaker.

“Aedrick Mcsilver.”

His name alone sent heat up my spine. I wasn’t prepared to speak to him. I expected some assistant, someone far removed from this mess. But he answered directly.

That meant he knew we were desperate. He knew I had no options left.

For a moment, I considered hanging up. But I looked at the glass behind me. At my father lying motionless under the hospital lights.

I couldn’t.

I gripped the phone tighter. “I’ll do it,” I whispered. “I’ll marry you. Just… help my father.”

There was another pause. A long one.

Then he spoke. His voice sounded calm, steady, unquestioning.

“Send me the hospital details. I will handle the bill. Be at the address I send you by noon tomorrow.”

The line clicked. He ended the call without waiting for my response.

I lowered the phone slowly. My hand shook.

Pearl stepped closer with a smug smile. “Well, that’s done,” she said. “You should be grateful. You’re marrying into power.”

But her voice faded behind the pounding in my ears. The hospital lights flickered in my vision. I looked at my reflection in the glass—wide eyes, trembling lips, a girl who had run out of choices.

My father was fighting for his life.

And I had just sold mine.