The first rays of dawn were painting the sky when Mrs. Davies found me.
I was collapsed by the edge of the pool.
Soaked.
Freezing.
There was blood. A lot of it.
Hypothermia, she’ d later say.
Ethan appeared, drawn by her cry of alarm.
He saw me, a crumpled heap.
For a split second, something flickered in his eyes.
Unease? Shock?
Then Olivia, from the doorway, let out a small, pained gasp.
“Ethan … my heart … it’s fluttering … “
She clutched her chest dramatically.
Ethan’ s attention snapped to her.
He rushed to her side, all concern. “Olivia! What is it?”
He swept her into his arms. “I’m taking you to the hospital. Now.”
He didn’t look back at me.
Mrs. Davies and another staff member helped me to my small staff
quarters.
Warm blankets. Hot tea.
“Mr. Hayes is … devoted to Ms. Vance,” Mrs. Davies said gently, her face
etched with pity. “Sometimes, he doesn’t see what’s right in front of him.”
I knew.
Olivia.
Always Olivia.
My suffering was just collateral damage in Ethan’s world.
My body ached. My head throbbed.
But the physical pain was nothing compared to the cold dread in my
heart.
My phone rang.
The hospital.
Lily.
“Mrs. Miller? It’s Dr. Ramirez. Lily … her condition has worsened. She’s in
the ICU. You need to come immediately.”
Panic, sharp and fierce, clawed at my throat.
I had to get to her.
I stumbled out of my room.
Ethan had just returned, his face grim. Olivia was apparently fine, a
minor scare.
“Ethan,” I gasped, my voice hoarse. “Lily. She’s in the ICU. I need to go.
Please. An advance on my salary … time off … “
To my surprise, he agreed without argument.
“Go,” he said, his voice flat.
There was a flicker of something in his eyes. Concern? Or just
annoyance at another problem?
I didn’t care. I ran.
Ethan watched me go.
He felt … disturbed.
By his own reaction to seeing me by the pool.
By my raw desperation.
He told his driver to follow me. Discreetly.
At the hospital, Lily was tiny in the large ICU bed, wires and tubes
connecting her to beeping machines.
But she was stabilized. For now.
“She needs a special treat, Mommy,” she whispered, her voice weak.
“The red Jell-O. The one that tastes like strawberries.”
“Of course, sweetie. I’ll go get it right now.”
I kissed her forehead and hurried out.
As I left, Ethan entered Lily’s room.
He had dismissed his driver, walked in alone.
Lily looked up.
She recognized him from the gala. She’ d seen him from a distance,
proposing to Olivia.
“Mr. Hayes?” she said, her voice small.
Ethan felt a strange pull towards this child.
He sat by her bed.
“Hello, Lily,” he said gently. “How are you feeling?”
“A little sleepy.”
“Your mom takes good care of you, doesn’t she?”
Lily nodded.
“What about your dad, Lily? Does he visit you too?” Ethan asked, an
uncharacteristic softness in his voice.
Lily’ s face fell for a moment.
I had coached her, of course.
The stigma of an absent father was cruel.
She recited the story we had practiced.
“My daddy went to heaven,” she said, her voice clear but sad. “Before I
was born. But Mommy says he was wonderful. He loved Mommy very,
very much. They were the bestest couple. He watches over us from the
stars.”
Ethan’ s face darkened.
The idea of me … Sarah … happily married to another man.
Having another man’s child.
A child I clearly adored.
A surge of something hot and unfamiliar, something like jealousy,
coursed through him.
He stood up abruptly.
“Get some rest, Lily,” he said, his voice suddenly harsh.
He stormed out of the room, brushing past me in the hallway without a
word.
His face was a thundercloud.
I was confused, but my priority was Lily. I went back in with her Jell-O.
Later that day, a hospital administrator approached me.
“Mrs. Miller, I’m afraid we have a problem with Lily’s bill.”
My heart sank.
“Mr. Hayes, a major benefactor to this hospital, has instructed us to
discharge Lily immediately unless all outstanding bills are paid in full.”
“What? But … “
“Furthermore,” the administrator continued, his voice apologetic but
firm, “your insurance, the one from the temp agency, it won’t cover the
new experimental treatments Dr. Ramirez has proposed. Mr. Hayes was
very specific about that too.”
Discharge Lily? Now? She was still so fragile.
And no experimental treatment? That was her only hope.
I found Ethan back at the penthouse.
He was in his study, staring out the window.
“Ethan! What have you done?” I cried, bursting into the room. “You
can’t do this! You can’t kick Lily out of the hospital!”
He turned, his face cold, impassive.
“I don’t like looking at your kid,” he said, his voice flat. “Get her out of
my sight. And out of my hospital.”
Despair washed over me.
He was going to let Lily die.
Because of some twisted jealousy over a dead man he imagined.
I had to tell him.
I had to make him understand.
“Ethan,” I choked out, tears streaming down my face. “Lily … she … “