ng, dress plastered to her skin. She flagged down the first cab she saw, gasping out the addres

he rain-streaked window. Each mile loosened something in her chest. For the first ti

lked the familiar blocks to the hospital, air smelling o

face gaunt and pale against the white sheets. The experimental treatment Julian's money funded was the only thing kee

n with a congenital heart defect, he'd been fragile his whole life, but his condition was stable now, manag

ispered, touchi

wake. "Honey! Wha

" She forced a smile. "My project finis

passing nurse whispered at the doorway. "She had a ro

doctors said the next round of tests will tell us i

for everything. The reason she'd signed that contract-to save her mother's

my job

p. "Chloe, what? That j

here. In PR. I can he

tness-and her expression softened with a mother's intuition

tack of invoices to the billing office. The number at the bottom made her dizzy. Sh

rinted, her phon

to an empty al

at resignation email was a system glitch. HR jus

ran cold.

one you handle-they're threatening to pull their account

lway toward her mother's room. No money. No job. The threat of

her leash and was

back. Just for a few day

pale face. Ryan's exhausted eyes

the first tr

she was sitting on the floor. Silent so

ed. "Miss? Ar

forced a smile.

any was doubling her salary. The lies tasted like poison. She caught Ryan's e

nd. The train pulled in with a screech of brakes. She got on. Her reflecti