emergency room at New York-Presbyterian Hospita

ing white glare. She stared straight ahead, her eyes locked onto

on her chest. She pulled her phone from her pocket. Her

ight to a cold, au

She pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes and

rs clicked off. The heavy airtight do

, revealing a face lined with exhaustion. There were fresh bloo

nt drained the blood from her head. Her vision w

ght her by the a

ry. The delay in getting him here caused massive myocardial infar

kull like a sledgehammer. A high-pit

her throat felt like it was filled

side and stumbled blindly

body lay on a metal table,

ng like lead. She reached out with a tr

nken, his skin a ter

e Everly's ch

e agony. The sound tore from her lungs, echoing off the sterile tile walls. The edges of her

e ceiling. She was lying in a private hospital room. A sharp pinch

ead, the cell phone on the bedside table b

slowly. She reached out

gh the speaker. Her mother-in-law sounde

fer a single wor

al media accounts immediately. You will say the incident at the banquet was a mis

er audacity of the demand sent a shock

murder," Everly said, h

out a dry,

r I will freeze every single cent of the medical trus

ide Everly snapped. The soft, accommodating woman she had been for four ye

ord. She pulled the phone a

he plastic IV tube taped to her left hand, and

ely ran down her knuckles, dri

st the bleeding hole in her hand, and threw the blanke

m, her eyes widening at the

s were so dead, so filled with raw intent, that

tared at her reflection in the metal doors. Her

eezing, early morning wind of New York hit her face, b

he ripped the back door open and

mirror, his eyes wide with shock at her b

the window at the

d glass. She gave him the exact address of th