Chapter 4

When the surgeon came out, the boy's mother's legs nearly gave way.

"His cornea is badly damaged. We need to operate immediately."

She caught herself against the wall.

The father's face went white.

"Will he be able to see?"

"We can't promise anything yet."

His fear turned instantly to rage. He charged toward me, but hospital security stopped him. He cursed me until a nurse led him away.

I did not answer once.

Ethan, meanwhile, kept edging farther out of reach.

Only after the father was gone did he come near me.

"This is bad."

"Yes."

"It could cost a fortune."

"Yes."

"You may have to sell the condo you owned before we married."

I looked up.

He was completely serious.

"The child's eye matters more than a piece of real estate."

My parents had left me that condo before they died. It was nearly nine hundred square feet in a desirable neighborhood, and its value had climbed sharply over the years.

He had made the same pitch before. We were a team, he said. Selling my condo was the decent thing to do. He had even lined up a real estate agent before I agreed.

After I died, part of the property passed to him. Six months later, he sold it and used the proceeds to set Lily up in a luxury pet boutique.

I held his gaze.

"Maybe you're right."

His face brightened.

"I'm glad you see that. It may take time to sell, though. Let's find out what the family wants first."

"Fine."

He pulled me into a corner, lowered his voice, and stared hard into my eyes.

"Make it clear you're cooperating. Sign a statement accepting responsibility before lawyers turn this into a war."

Even in the dim hallway, his eyes shone with the thrill of his own scheme.

"What kind of statement?"

He was prepared. From his briefcase, he produced a printed page.

It stated that I, as the animal's owner, had negligently allowed her to escape my control, resulting in injury to a minor, and that I voluntarily accepted the resulting financial liability.

The date was already printed. Only the signature line remained blank.

"When did you have time to draft this?" I asked.

Ethan hesitated. "A lawyer at work sent me a template."

"That was fast."

He scowled. "This isn't the time to fixate on details."

Lily chimed in. "He's only trying to protect you, Emma."

I slowly took the paper.

"You think this will end everything?"

"At least it will keep other people from getting dragged in," Lily said at once.

Her expression changed the instant the words left her mouth. Ethan shot her a warning look.

I pretended not to understand.

"That makes sense."

I folded the statement but did not sign it.

"I'll hold on to it."

Ethan extended his hand. "Sign it now."

I shook my head. "The child is still in surgery. I'll wait for the result."

His face darkened.

"Don't get stubborn on me now."

I looked at him.

"If I sign this, you're saying none of this is your problem?"

"Of course."

He answered too quickly.

I turned to Lily.

"And you?"

She pressed her lips together.

"Why would it be? I was just passing by."

"All right," I said. "I'll remember that."

Neither of them heard the warning.

By then, they had begun to believe I really would carry everything for them.

When people lie, what they fear most is doubt. But if someone keeps validating their story, adding details, and removing every apparent risk, they soon forget they are lying.

Eventually, the lie starts to feel like the truth.

The operation ended at ten that night. The surgeons saved the boy's eye, but no one could say how much vision would return.

His mother sat on a bench and wept in silence. She held his bloodstained jacket, folding and unfolding it whenever the edges failed to line up.

I sat across from her.

"I'll keep covering the immediate medical bills."

She did not look up.

"Money won't give me my son back."

"I know."

"You don't know. You don't have a child."

I had Mochi. She was my family.

Watching Mochi die on that pavement had shut down my body. Cold sweat, useless legs, an empty mind. I still remembered every second.

I had never forgotten the feeling.

I did not argue.

I had hated this woman for hitting me and her husband for killing me. A second chance did not require me to forgive either of them.

But the people who should have been answering her were standing safely behind me.

I took out my phone.

"I've asked the property manager to lock down yesterday's security footage before the system overwrites it."

At last, she looked at me.

"Why would you need that?"

I put the phone away.

"Because memory gets unreliable once lawyers and insurance companies get involved. Video doesn't."

She studied me.

Beside us, Ethan suddenly went rigid.

"What footage?"

I turned. "The complex security cameras. A child was injured. Of course the recordings should be saved."

His color changed, then returned just as quickly. He seemed to remember something and smiled.

"Of course. That's the right thing to do."

I smiled too.

"I thought so."

I knew he would pay a building employee to delete the footage of him and Lily with Mochi.

What he did not know was that I had gotten there first. I already had a copy and had asked the manager to act ignorant when Ethan offered the bribe.