Chapter 2

"Stay here and don't cause any trouble."

The orderly threw those words at me before slamming the heavy iron door shut. The sound was as depressing as a coffin lid closing.

The isolation room had only a single bed, a toilet, a flickering fluorescent light, and no windows.

My surgical wound was throbbing. I looked down; the gauze was already soaked in blood.

But no one came to change my dressings. To them, I was an HIV-positive patient. No one wanted to touch me.

I lay on my stomach, losing track of time, until the lock finally clicked.

Julian stood at the door, but he didn't step inside.

He held a manila folder in his hand.

"Sign it."

He tossed the folder onto the foot of my bed like he was discarding a piece of trash.

I pushed myself up and opened the envelope. Inside were divorce papers.

*Clean break. No assets, no alimony, no visitation rights to any member of the Sterling family.*

The date on the signature page was from three days ago.

Three days ago, I was in the pre-op room, signing the consent form to donate my bone marrow to his sister.

They had printed this agreement before I even went under the knife. I stared at the date, my fingernails digging into the paper.

"You waited for me to donate my bone marrow just so you could force me to sign this?"

He leaned against the doorframe, hands in his pockets, his eyes completely void of emotion.

"Nora, this marriage was always just a transaction. Chloe needed a bone marrow match, and you were the only compatible donor in the national registry."

"My father's dying wish was for me to save Chloe, no matter what it took."

"So your father told you to marry me."

My voice sounded hollow, like a ghost's.

"It was Dr. Hayes who found your profile in the database and told us you were the match," Julian said flatly, as if reading a corporate quarterly report. "I set up that charity gala. Do you remember? You wore a blue dress. I told you that you looked beautiful."

Of course I remembered.

He had handed me a glass of champagne that night, his fingers brushing against mine with just the right amount of pressure.

I thought it was love.

"Three years," my teeth chattered. "Three years of marriage, and it was all just an act?"

"Chloe's condition couldn't wait. I had no choice."

He pulled a pen from his pocket and tossed it onto the bed from two yards away.

"Sign it. Once you do, I'll have the hospital run a comprehensive HIV re-test on you. If it's negative, you can leave with your dignity."

"And if I don't sign?"

"Then you’ll stay in this isolation ward indefinitely. A re-test requires the primary physician's approval. And your primary physician... is Ryan Hayes."

I clutched the pen. The Sterling Group logo was engraved on it.

"Don't you find Eleanor's reaction suspicious? The report had her name on it, and Ryan rushed to her rescue like they had rehearsed it—"

"I will handle my mother's business. You just sign the papers."

As he turned to leave, another figure appeared at the door.

It was Chloe.

She was pushing herself in a wheelchair, her face pale, an IV line still taped to her hand. Only twelve hours post-bone marrow transplant, she should have been in the ICU, yet she was here in the isolation wing.

She stared at me for three seconds, grabbed the water pitcher from my bedside table, and threw the water and the glass straight at my face.

The freezing water shocked my system. The glass struck my chin, and I tasted copper in my mouth.

"Nora, do you think you’re a hero just because you gave me your bone marrow?"

Her voice was weak, but every word was laced with poison.

"Your blood is filthy, and so is your marrow. I’d rather die than have something from a woman like you inside my body."

"Chloe—" Julian tried to pull her back.

"Don't stop me, Julian!" She pushed his hand away, gasping for air. "Dr. Hayes said that if the donor has an infectious disease, there’s a high risk the recipient will be infected too!"

"He said that?" I wiped the water from my face and looked up. "So, her dirty marrow might have already ruined me," Chloe cried, turning to Julian, her eyes red. "Julian, I'm so scared."

Julian clenched his fists. The look he gave me was filled with raw disgust, as if I were a murderer.

"You better pray your re-test is negative, Nora. Otherwise, I will make your life a living hell."

The door slammed shut and locked again.

I sat on the wet sheets, shivering uncontrollably.

From the hallway, the hushed voices of two passing nurses drifted through the gap under the door.

"...Dr. Hayes went to the VIP wing to see that wealthy socialite again."

"Which one?"

"The one who comes every Wednesday night wearing Cartier. He always meets her personally at the private entrance. He's more attentive to her than to his own wife."

"Shh, keep your voice down! Do you want to get fired? No one questions Dr. Hayes's patients."