Chapter 2

Day ninety-nine.

The "trial period" was almost over.

Ethan had been... different. Attentive. He brought flowers, read Leo bedtime stories, even cooked dinner a few times.

A fragile hope had begun to bloom in my chest. Maybe this tragedy had changed him.

Leo was still quiet, his new prosthetic eye a constant, painful reminder. But he smiled a little more when Ethan was around.

That evening, Ethan said he had a late meeting at his office.

Leo and I were watching a cartoon when I heard voices from Ethan' s study.

He was supposed to be out.

Curiosity, a nagging unease, pulled me towards the door. Leo followed, his small hand slipping into mine.

The door was slightly ajar.

Ethan' s voice, smooth and confident. "...yes, Dr. Peterson, the boy is adapting well. Leo' s eye is working perfectly for Liam."

Liam? Who was Liam?

Dr. Peterson. The surgeon who had operated on Leo. And on me.

My heart began to pound.

"Chloe is ecstatic," Ethan continued, a note of satisfaction in his tone. "She says Liam can finally see the world properly."

Chloe. The name echoed in my mind. A colleague Ethan had mentioned a few times. Young, ambitious.

Dr. Peterson' s voice was lower, laced with something I couldn't quite place. "Ethan, are you sure about this? Deliberately causing the accident... harvesting organs from your own wife and son... it' s..."

"It's done, Peterson," Ethan cut him off, his voice like ice. "They' ll never know. Sarah is too grateful I' m back, and Leo is just a child. I' ll compensate them. A happy home, a loving father. What more could they want?"

The floor seemed to drop away beneath me.

Leo squeezed my hand, his small face pale. He' d heard it too.

My son' s eye. My kidney.

Not an accident. Harvested.

For Chloe. For her son, Liam.

The air left my lungs. I felt Leo tremble beside me.

"It was just an eye, Peterson," Ethan' s voice drifted out again, casual, chilling. "A small price for Chloe's happiness. And Sarah's kidney? She has another. She' ll be fine."

A flashback hit me, sharp and brutal.

Ethan, after the "accident," standing by Leo's bedside. Leo, his face swollen, one eye bandaged.

"Daddy," Leo had whispered, "where's my eye?"

Ethan had stroked his hair. "It was hurt very badly in the accident, son. The doctors couldn't save it. But you're brave. You'll be okay."

His gentle, comforting lies.

The immense guilt I' d carried, thinking my decision to leave had caused this, it all curdled into a cold, black fury.

"Make sure Chloe and Liam are ready to return," Ethan was saying. "The 100 days are up tomorrow. It' s time for our happy family reunion."

A floorboard creaked under my foot.

Ethan' s voice stopped. "Who's there?"

My blood turned to ice. We were caught.