York real estate tycoon, the kind of man you only read about in magazines. He gave me a life of unbelievable luxury,
ia," he'd say, his voice deep and sinc
on a rain-slicked r
t a dinosaur who ate too many tacos. The next, there was a deafenal room. The first thing I saw was Andrew' s face,
?" I tried to sit up, but a sea
is grip tight, his ey
here was an accide
everything they could. Caleb... he didn't m
p of the machines, Andrew' s face-it all blurred. The last thing I remembered was a scream, a ra
hing in a hospital bed. Time had no meaning. Ther
ices outside my door. They were hushed, urg
ow, stripped of the grief I' d seen
"The liver was a perfect match, as we knew it would be. The t
Who wa
er matter?"
d. We'll list it in the report as a necessary pr
cold. Hyste
urned into my memory forever, the words tha
er when she wakes. My wi
when he arrived. Andrew had let him die. He had forbidden the doctors from saving my son. He had murdered Caleb to harve
streaming silently down my face, not from grief anymore, but from a cold, bottomless rage. I felt the
n that haunted my sleep. I' d wake up in a cold sweat, dreaming of cold steel instruments inside me, of an empt
of the grieving husband. He sat by my bed, holding my hand
feeling?" he asked, his voi
But I forced myself to look at him, to pla
Andrew? I ne
ouldn't put you through that. I had him... I had him cremate
the gaping wound where he had carved out our son' s life. I
words tasting like poison. "
s he did, my eyes fell on the braided leather bracelet on his wrist. Caleb
Caleb had chirped, showing of
it now. The symbol of our son's pure, unconditional lov
ns of my heart. I would endure this. I would play his game. And then I would destr
that bracelet burned behind my eyelids. The grieving wife was gone