scrambled noise. I was floating in a thick, gray fog. Voices drifted

and new injuries. Significant contusion

clinical, det

that. She saved my life. M

n, raw with guilt and gratitude. It was a small point

t goes straight to voicemail. A girl is lying here, maybe crippled for lif

. Detective Rodriguez. He s

hem I was okay. But my body was a leaden wei

as a joke. I didn' t expect David or Ethan to be here. Why would they be? Their grand plan had been ruined, and I was the

ttle clearer. The gray fog was thinning. I could feel the stiff, starchy sheets of a hospi

ocus. Mr. Harrison was sitting in a chair beside my bed, his face etched with w

leaning forward. His voice w

nt sent a dizzying wave through my head. I

to you." He shook his head, his eyes glistening. "Y

," I wh

loud. Ethan and Lily trailed behind him. Lily had her arm linked through Ethan' s, her face

at me. His furious gaze

orning. They' re saying there was an attack. That Sarah caused some kind of scen

to cold fury. "Your sister is lying in a hospital bed. She may nev

years. That' s not the point. The point is, Lily' s debut is tonight! This is the most import

h my chest. Even after everything, after all this time

ersona firmly in place. He glanced at my chart a

yes, when they met mine, were cold. "Sarah, what were you thinking? Rushing into a

rah," she whispered, her voice trembling. "I was so worried. When we heard yo

responsible fiancé, the brother worried about the fami

bed, helpless and alone. David hadn' t been worried about drama t

u' re good, but Lily... she' s a phenom. This just speeds up the inevitable. With you out of the way,

yal most keenly. He was the one I

ages on a screen. "The surgery is risky. The best course of action is aggressi

at I got a second opinion from an outside doctor, who told me that immediate surgery would have given me an eighty percent chance of a full recovery. Ethan' s "safe" therapy had

ooked at their faces now-David' s selfish anger, Ethan' s false conc

tching the entire exchange with a lo

p away from the window. "Your sister, your flesh and blood, just saved this man' s

on him. "And

son," Rodriguez said flatly. "And the subsequent assault on your s

ace to my pale, still one. He saw the whole, ugly picture. The years

said, his voice

David

ury. "You are not welcome here. None of you. I' m going to handle this. I will call the b

ards them, a lion

s gaze locking onto David and Ethan. "You w

-