Chapter 4

I was woken up by the sound of my apartment door creaking open. My eyes snapped open. It was just before dawn, the gray light barely filtering through the grimy window.

Nicole and Caleb were standing in my small living room.

My blood ran cold.

"What the hell are you doing in my apartment?" I demanded, sitting up on the pull-out couch.

Nicole held up a piece of paper. It was a marriage license. "Sign it, Ethan," she said, her voice eerily calm. "Let's just end this. For Martha's sake."

"Get out," I said, my voice low and dangerous. I stood up, my fists clenched. "Both of you. Get out now."

Caleb, ever the actor, stumbled forward, clutching his chest. "Nicole, maybe we should go. He... he threatened me yesterday. Told me to stay away from you or else."

It was a lie, but it was the perfect trigger.

Nicole's face contorted with rage. "You threatened him?" she shrieked. She lunged at me, shoving me hard in the chest.

I was off-balance. I stumbled backward, my head connecting with the sharp corner of my vintage guitar amplifier.

A flash of white-hot pain, and then warmth spreading down the side of my face. Blood. A lot of it. The room started to spin.

Through the haze, I heard Caleb's voice, no longer weak, but sharp and calculating.

"What a shame," he remarked, looking at me on the floor. "He's a universal donor, isn't he, Nicole? O-negative. If he died from his injuries... his liver could be harvested. Legally."

I looked up at Nicole. The initial shock on her face was fading, replaced by a cold, appraising look. The look of a doctor weighing options. The look of a predator.

She was considering it. She was actually considering letting me die right here on my filthy floor so she could give my liver to him.

The last ounce of hope I had for the girl I once knew died in that moment. My vision blurred, the world turning to black.

Just as I lost consciousness, the apartment door burst open with a splintering crash.

Two large men in sharp suits filled the doorway. My grandfather's security team had arrived.