Chapter 2

2: 2

The next day, a rare downpour hit the city.

I swallowed two of the pills meant to hold the pregnancy, took an umbrella, and went to the hospital to close out my mother's account for the last time.

I had barely stepped into the lobby when a post from Zara popped up on my phone.

In the photo she was sitting in a warmly decorated VIP recovery room, an expensive tray of nutritious meals on the table beside her.

The caption read: 【He says rules are dead but people are alive. Thank you, someone, for breaking every last line for me.】

I stared at the screen until my eyes stung.

That room was the one Burton had promised to keep for my mother's post-op recovery.

He'd said the waitlist ran a full year and no one was allowed to cut ahead.

Yet less than a day after my mother died, Zara had moved right in.

So it wasn't that the rules couldn't be broken. It was just that my mother wasn't worth breaking them for.

I went to the window and handed over the death certificate and the insurance card.

After checking them, the clerk told me there was still a batch of imported post-op medication under my mother's name that needed my signature to be returned.

I had just taken the confirmation form when Burton's voice came from behind me.

"It can't be returned."

He walked up with Zara at his side and pulled the form straight out of my hand.

"Zara's levels are abnormal, and this medication is exactly what she needs. Since Mom has already given up on treatment, the resources should go to someone who needs them more."

He held the pen out to me.

"Sign. I'll handle the rest for you."

Looking at how entitled he seemed, I suddenly laughed.

"Burton, this is my mother's life-saving medication."

"She missed her slot on her own. Naturally the medication gets reassigned."

Burton frowned, his tone impatient.

"Don't turn public resources into a tool for your tantrum."

"She didn't miss her slot. She didn't live long enough to reach it."

Burton's face went cold in an instant.

"How long are you going to keep telling lies like this?"

Zara glanced at the insurance card in my hand and said softly,

"Burton, let it go. It was Auntie's, after all. It's normal that Iris can't bear to part with it. I can hold out a little longer."

Burton immediately clamped his hand around my wrist and forced the pen into my grip.

"Zara can't wait. Sign, now."

A sharp, dragging pain tore through my lower belly.

My face went white, my hand went instinctively to my stomach, and the pen slipped and fell to the floor.

Burton glanced down but didn't let go.

"Faking sick again to stall for time?"

He snatched up the confirmation form and said coldly to the clerk at the window,

"I'm the patient's son-in-law, and I was her attending physician. If she won't sign, I will."

The clerk looked uneasy.

"Dr. James, this isn't allowed."

"Special circumstances, special handling. If there's a problem, I'll take responsibility."

Hearing that, I was struck by how absurd it all was.

When my mother's life hung by a thread, he'd said one minute early would break the process.

Now, for Zara's sake, he was ready to skip right over the signature of the dead woman's own family.

I yanked the insurance card back.

"This card is already filed for cancellation. No one gets to touch a cent inside it."

Burton's face darkened at once.

"You're so bent on spiting me that you'd cancel Mom's insurance account too?"

He stared at me, his voice growing more impatient.

"Which hospital did you move her to?"

I didn't answer. I turned and walked out into the downpour.

Burton chased me to the door and ordered, his voice low,

"Iris, come back. I'll take you to get checked."

But then Zara suddenly clutched her chest and crumpled softly into his arms.

His steps stopped at once.

Behind me his voice quickly rose, frantic, calling for a nurse.

I didn't look back.

Cold rain ran down the hem of my skirt, and the pain in my belly grew heavier and heavier.

Alone, I took a cab to the nearest maternity hospital.