He gestured at the slums. "You might not have any shame, but we do! If my colleagues find out my daughter is a street hawker, how are we supposed to hold our heads up?"
There it was. They didn't care about my heart. They cared about their reputation.
I yanked free. "I make money with my own two hands. What's there to be ashamed of?"
I straightened my spine, staring him down. "There's no distinction between high and low work. Or do you think wearing a white coat makes you a superior species?"
I stepped toward him, forcing him back. "Actually, you're right. Doctors are supposed to have benevolent hearts. You're so noble you can sacrifice your own biological daughter to save a stranger. Truly saintly."
Mom grabbed my hand, panic rising. "Sam, please! We came to take you to treatment. Stop fighting us. I've already found a potential donor match—"
"Is that necessary?" Ice coated my voice. "If I take it, won't I just become another person using connections to cut the line?"
"Samantha—"
"Save it." I turned my back on them. "I don't want your charity."
"Rest assured. I'll stay out of your way until the day I die, just to keep your reputations clean."
I spun to leave, just as the upstairs neighbor squeezed past me in the narrow hallway, wrestling a massive dog on a leash.
"Filthy beast! Keep it away from me!" Mom shrieked, recoiling like the animal was radioactive. "Do you know how much bacteria those things carry?"
Her high-pitched scream set the dog off. It snarled, snapped its leash taut, and lunged straight at me.
"Watch out!"
Too late. I stumbled backward, lost my footing on the slick concrete, and tumbled down the stairs. I hit the landing hard. Teeth sank into my calf—white-hot, searing.
My heart slammed against my ribs, skipping beats in a terrifying, erratic rhythm. The hallway lights blurred into gray as oxygen failed to reach my brain.
Not now. Please, not now.
My trembling fingers clawed into my bag for the pill bottle. I popped the cap and dry-swallowed, choking it down.
Mom snatched the bottle, reading the label with widening eyes. "Are you insane? This garbage? Do you have any idea what it does to your liver?"
I slumped against the peeling wall, gasping as the chemicals forced my heart rate down. "I take it because it's cheap. And because it works fast."