Chapter 4

The next morning, Ethan acted as if nothing had happened.

He complained about a headache from "Chloe' s ridiculous party."

"You really embarrassed me last night, Sarah," he said, sipping his coffee. "Showing up like that. What were you thinking?"

Sarah stared at him, her voice dangerously quiet. "Chloe called me. She said you were having chest pains. That you might be rejecting your transplant."

Ethan scoffed. "Oh, please. Chloe' s dramatic. You should know that. You overreacted."

"She lied, Ethan. She set me up."

"Why would she do that?" he asked, but it was a rhetorical question. He didn't want an answer that painted Chloe in a bad light. "You' re just being paranoid. Probably jealous."

Sarah felt a surge of helpless frustration. He wouldn't see it. He didn't want to see it.

Was this how it was going to be? Her word against Chloe' s? A battle she couldn' t win because Ethan was already on the other side?

She thought of Michael. What would he think of this? Of the man who carried his brave heart acting with such casual cruelty?

"I'm going to be late," Ethan said, grabbing his briefcase. He paused at the door. "Look, just... try to get along with Chloe, okay? She' s important to me."

He left. The words hung in the air. "She' s important to me."

More important than his wife? More important than the vows he' d made?

The weight of his broken promises pressed down on Sarah, a physical ache in her chest.

She felt trapped in a nightmare, unable to wake up, unable to escape the suffocating sadness.

Her life, once dedicated to preserving a precious gift, now felt like a cruel joke.