I let out a cold laugh. “Nathan, how many times do I have to say it? I’m dying. I don’t have time to wait for another donor!”
Nathan snapped. He shoved me hard onto the bed. “All this over a kidney? Are you serious? If you keep saying you’re dying, then just go ahead and die!”
With those words, he stormed out of the room without a second glance.
A few moments later, I heard the sound of an engine revving outside. Nathan had left the house.
I couldn’t hold it in anymore. Blood surged up my throat, and I coughed it out. The sheets were stained dark red before I passed out.
…
I had no idea how much time had passed when the ringing of a phone jolted me awake.
Groggily, I opened my eyes. I wanted to ignore it, but the landline by my bed kept ringing, relentless and sharp.
The moment I picked up, Trinity’s mocking voice came through the receiver. “Tegan, how does it feel being locked up all alone in that fancy little house?”
I stayed silent. She continued, her tone dripping with smugness, “Nate told me he had this phone specially set up. You can only receive calls, not make them. So, don’t even think about calling for help.”
A sharp pain spread through my heart, like needles piercing straight into it.
Nathan had locked me up just to stop me from interfering with Trinity’s surgery. He had cut me off from the outside world entirely.
I must have been blind to have loved that man for eight years.
“Tegan, I bet you didn’t know, huh? When you were in the ICU, Nate wasn’t by your side. He was with me. If I cry, he would give me the world, including your life—”
I hung up abruptly, my nose stinging as tears welled up in my eyes.
I quickly lowered my head, but the tears still fell, soaking into the sheets, leaving behind a dark stain.
That ICU stay had been the closest I had ever come to death.
I had only found out through a nurse’s casual conversation that Mom had rushed over to sign my critical condition paperwork and then left just as quickly.
