The live feed showed the operating room in frozen detail. The monitor’s beeps slowed, then paused. The screen went empty.
My mother’s heart stopped. I heard a sound then the flatline. It felt like a punch to the ribs. My legs gave out.
I sank to the floor and could only stare at the lifeless body of my mother on the live feed and the unconscious bruised battered body of my sister before me.
My face went numb. It felt like someone rewired me to nothing. I could not move. I could not breathe. The world had narrowed to one point: my dead mother and my bloody sister.
My phone buzzed. A simple message lit the screen. It was the lawyer. Divorce papers sent. Found a loophole.
Amber’s Pov
It had been three days since my mother died. Three days since I watched her heart stop on that screen.
I hadn’t left the hospital since then. I couldn’t. Not while Jane lay motionless, her face swollen, tubes running from her nose, machines keeping her alive.
The doctors had told me the truth in quiet voices. They didn’t know if she would ever recover. The beating had caused internal bleeding in her brain. She might never wake up.
I sat by her bed, my fingers wrapped around her cold hand. I whispered to her every night. I told her I was sorry. I told her to fight. But she never moved.
My phone buzzed. I wiped my eyes and picked it up.
“Princess,” a voice said. It was Roy.
His tone was firm, “Are you ready to leave? Do you have the divorce papers? I gave you seven days. Your time will be up tomorrow.”
I pressed my lips together, staring at Jane’s pale face. “I’ll be ready,” I whispered. “By tomorrow. I’m almost done gathering all the evidence I need.”
“Good. I’ll be waiting, Princess, I hope you keep your words,” Roy said and the line went dead.
I sighed and dropped the phone onto the bed. I kissed Jane’s forehead. “I’ll fix this, I promise.”
The door creaked open. My heart leapt, thinking it was a doctor. But instead, Jason walked in.
I stood, my hands balling into fists. “What do you want? Haven’t you done enough?”
He stopped in the middle of the ward. His face softened, as he let out a sigh, “Amber,” he said, “I didn’t mean for things to go this far.”
I laughed bitterly. “You killed my mother. You almost killed my sister. That’s your idea of not going too far?”