“Let him say goodbye,” she said. “The notary will be here soon.”
“The doctor’s already said it,” Ryan replied coldly. “I’m not paying to keep an empty body alive.”
An empty body.
Rage surged through me.
“My mom is coming back!” Ethan cried.
Ryan laughed softly. “No, she’s not.”
Claire leaned close to me, adjusting my hair.
“Even unconscious, she loves playing the victim,” she whispered.
Then her voice dropped even lower.
“When she dies, we take the boy out of the country. Everything’s already arranged.”
Ethan stepped back.
“You’re taking me?”
“Somewhere you won’t ask questions,” Ryan said.
“I want my mom!”
“She doesn’t decide anything anymore.”
“Yes, she does! She told me if anything happened, I should call Ms. Parker!”
Silence.
Ms. Parker.
My lawyer.
The only person who knew I had changed my will two weeks ago.
Ryan locked the door.
“What lawyer?”
Claire stiffened. “That kid knows too much.”
And then—
it happened.
One finger.
It moved.
Ethan saw it—but said nothing.
He leaned close and whispered,
“Mom, don’t move. I already called for help.”
“What did you say?” Ryan snapped.
“I said I love her.”
Claire reached into her purse.
“The notary is downstairs.”
Ryan grabbed my hand tightly.
“You’re signing those papers, Emily. One way or another.”
But I wasn’t dying anymore.
I was waiting.
Five minutes later, there was a knock.
“That must be the notary,” Claire said.
The door opened.
But the voice that followed wasn’t a notary’s.
“Good evening, Ryan. Before you touch her again, explain why her brakes were cut.”
Everything stopped.
And I realized—
this was only the beginning.
The silence pressed down so heavily even the heart monitor sounded louder.
Ryan slowly released my hand—not out of fear, but calculation.
“Who let you in?” he asked.
“The same staff who already spoke to the police,” Ms. Parker replied calmly.
My only ally.
My only protection.
