nsciousness, her cheek pressed against the cold marble, sticky with a mixture of wine and h

acked. She ignored it. With a monumental effort, she dragged her thumb across the screen, her vision swim

voice was calm, professional, a world away

each word a shard of glass in her throat. Then the pa

orms were standing over her. The sound of a door being forced open echoed somew

reets of New York City sent jolts of fire through her with every turn

tal on the Upper East Side. The harsh fluorescent lights and the ster

Dr. Evans, began pressing on her stomach. The pain was so excru

ltrasound, no

yst," Dr. Evans said, his voice grim, his eyes holding hers.

t a clipboard and a pen at her. "We need a signa

in the air. Her only next of

e the heaviest object in the world. Swallowing the thick lump of

. And rang. Final

hina's delicate, theatrical cough. She

a croak. "I'm... at the hospital. I need sur

this is a new low, even for you. Are you really so desp

desperation streaming down her face. "T

e sharp with impatience. "Seraphina needs me. She's ha

am, he hung up. The dial tone was a flat, f

sistent. Her eyes were filled with a deep, pi

itted her teeth, the pain in her jaw a dull echo of the ag

me the

ame. She carved it into the paper, the sharp tip of the ballpoint tea

he signed the death certificate for her four years of love and devotion.

rridor was a blur of white. The lights overhead streaked past, o

felt a cold prick in her arm as the drug entered her ve

to black, the last image that flashed in her min

er. If I survive this, she vowed to the encroac

, no

in the waiting area, there was no anxious husband, no concerned family. Just an em

urgeons had successfully removed the r

e only sound was the steady, monotonous beep of th

ore like being dragged back to consciousness by the searing pain from the in

her heavy e

was the dust motes dancing in the cold, gray light

was

he only comfort she had. She stared at the pale morning sky, and the soft, yielding woman who had ent