Chapter 4

Backed into a corner, I dialed Ethan's number over and over.

Once, twice, a dozen times...

Every single dial tone felt like a slow blade slicing across my skin.

Finally, he picked up.

His voice was thick with impatient irritation. "Make it quick. I'm waiting on Daisy's prenatal ultrasound."

My voice shook so hard I could barely form words as I sobbed into the receiver, "Ethan, please, I'm begging you... authorize an emergency sedative for the psych ward. My mom is crashing."

"Please. I was wrong, okay? I'm sorry... just please..."

He let out a cold, mocking scoff.

"Using your mother for sympathy points again? How many times are you going to pull this stunt?"

"She was perfectly fine five minutes ago. Isn't this act getting a little old?"

Over the line, Daisy's smug, sing-song voice chimed in:

"If she really knows she was wrong, tell her to get on her knees and apologize."

I gritted my teeth until they felt like cracking, my pride screaming at me not to bend.

Behind me, my mother's shrieks grew louder and more frantic.

A nurse burst out of the room, her face pale as a ghost. "We're losing control! If we don't get that sedative, she's going to kill herself!"

On one side was my shattered pride; on the other was my only family in this world.

My knees began to buckle against my will.

Daisy's mocking chuckle drifted through the phone again. "Weren't you acting so tough a minute ago?"

"Just kneeling isn't enough. Bow your head to the floor, or it doesn't count."

Ethan's voice came through, casual yet lethal: "Otherwise, Daisy won't let this go."

I closed my eyes in defeat, lowering my body, my knees inches from the cold floor...

Thud!

A heavy, sickening crash echoed from behind me.

My mother had broken free of the orderlies and tumbled off the high hospital bed.

The back of her head slammed violently against the sharp metal edge of the nightstand, and a dark pool of crimson bloomed instantly across the white tiles.

The medical team swarmed the room, frantically lifting her onto an emergency stretcher.

Drifting into unconsciousness, my mother began to mumble brokenly.

"I'm sorry... Mommy went crazy again..."

"It's all my fault... I'm so useless..."

Before the ambulance could even reach the trauma center, the cardiac monitor flatlined with a long, piercing tone.

Her faint heartbeat stopped entirely.

The very last thread tethering me to this world was cleanly severed.

At the funeral home, my mother's longtime friend, Mrs. Parker, handed me a sealed envelope.

She placed a gentle, trembling hand on my shoulder, her voice hoarse with grief.

"Your mother gave me this letter a long time ago."

"Her mind came and went, but on her clearest day, she made me swear I would give this to you."

"She said you should only open it when you've hit absolute rock bottom and have nowhere left to go."

"Sweetheart... take it, and live a good life."

With trembling hands, I took the thin envelope, though it felt heavy enough to crush me.

The airport terminal was packed with travelers, but none of the noise reached me.

With two minutes left until final boarding, I stared at the text thread filled with my desperate, unanswered pleas.

I typed out the message I had drafted hours ago and hit send:

[Ethan, we're done. Don't ever look for me again.]

Nobody knew that an hour before that text came through, Ethan had just finished lunch with Daisy.

Rubbing his throbbing temples, he noted that I hadn't contacted him for a full twenty-four hours.

Being that stubborn was bad for her, he thought. Once she cooled off, she would naturally fall back in line.

He coldly instructed his assistant, "Send two doses of the sedative over to the psychiatric ward. Make sure they use them."

Immediately after, he sat through a grueling three-hour international video conference.

The moment the meeting ended and he picked up his phone, he saw a string of frantic missed calls from his assistant.

He dialed back, exhaustion weighing down his voice.

The assistant picked up on the very first ring, his tone panicked to the point of tears.

"Mr. Miller, something terrible has happened!"

"The clinic reported that the patient passed away yesterday! And..."

Ethan's stomach dropped violently. "And what?! Spit it out!"

The assistant broke down, voice cracking: "The flight Ms. Vance was on... an emergency alert just went out. The plane went down!"