rking lot. I didn't bother to park corre

esk, her face etched with exhaustion.

down the ha

ar, and the steady, ominous beep-beep of t

doorframe, trying to brace myself for the sight. I had seen Leo sick a t

arms. A clear plastic mask covered his small face, fogging slightly with each shal

ped me, swallowed instantly by the relen

ess slap. I stumbled to his bedside, ignoring the stern-face

patch of his forehead, and rested my palm there. "Leo, m

Leo's primary oncologist, a man whose kind smile usually offer

ized him, but it was touch and go," Dr. Reed sa

ency unit temporarily." I barely registered the medical terminology. Al

ing to keep fighting?" I looked up at the

ples. He gestured to the corner, indicating we neede

t now, but we are out of time. The current chemotherapy is failing. We've kn

ne we talked about, it has a seventy percent success rate! We just need to... we need to get the funding. I just need a l

just the drug cost; it's the specialized nurses, the round-the-clock monitoring, the transport. It is a multi

this new regimen... they are incompatible, Elara. We cannot start the new protocol unless we have a definitive

ative

eath sentence pronounced ov

o a choked sound that was barely human. I g

t round! I promise I'll get the money. I had a way, I just... I ruined it. I'll fix it. Just give me one more

he talks about. But I can't start a resource-intensive treatment that we can't sustain. You have until tomorrow mo

o Leo's bedside, my tears now quiet, the silence more terrifying than the

o stupid. I had my chance, and I let my stupid, wounded pride get in the way.

" I reached under the blank

now, Leo, the kind of handsome that makes you catch your breath, but everything that was beautiful inside of him is gone. H

e for the nurse that I was just stepping out for a minute. I needed a

hit the ground floor. She answered instan

four times. Are you okay?" I tried to keep my

hospital. He's stable now, but the treatment, the expensive o

I'm coming down

met Alessandro. And it wasn't a friendly reunion. It was a

his grandfather's will. He offered me ten million dollars upfront to save Leo a

nly broken by the distant sound

ay some

ars, Elara? To marry him

heard in my life. The sheer arrogance of that man, using you l

d garbage, and I slapped him, Mia! Slapped the future CEO of Conti

burst out laughing, a short

t wait, you walked away f

right? The kind of dark, brooding look that makes you look twice. But now? The way he

about Leo. What is one year of swallowing your pride compared to a lifetime with your brother? The worst he can do is be aloof

my shame. She was right. T

lve settle in my gut. I had to call him back. I had to accept. I walked toward the hospital cafe

e quiet of a waiting area, pulled out my

atching the digits glow, the promise of ten

e cold pit in my stomach settling into a

ng for the sound of his cold, perfe