Chapter 4

The house was quiet, but I couldn't sleep. The pain in my back was a fiery protest against the soft mattress, and the image of Alex handing my father that belt was burned into my mind. I needed water. Pushing myself up, I bit back a cry as my muscles seized. I moved slowly, silently, down the darkened hallway.

As I neared the living room, I heard voices, low and intimate. Alex and Chloe. I froze, pressing myself into the shadows of the hallway.

"She's just so difficult, Alex," Chloe was saying, her voice thick with fake tears. "I try so hard to be a good sister to her, but she hates me. She ruined my welcome home party on purpose."

I leaned against the cool wall, my heart a heavy stone in my chest.

"Shh, it's okay," Alex murmured, his voice a gentle caress I hadn't heard since before the surgery. "Don't cry. It's not your fault. She's just jealous of you. She always has been."

"But what if she tells everyone? About us? About why you were with her?" Chloe sniffled. "It could ruin everything."

"She won't," Alex said with complete confidence. "No one would believe her. And even if they did, it doesn't matter. I have you. That's all I ever wanted. These past three years... being with her, pretending... it was torture. But it was worth it, knowing I was doing it for you. I love you, Chloe."

"I love you too, Alex," she whispered.

I heard the soft sound of a kiss, a sound that confirmed every one of my worst fears. I pushed myself away from the wall and stumbled back to my room, my hand clamped over my mouth to stifle a sob. Hearing the words was one thing, but hearing the tenderness, the genuine love in his voice for her... that was a new kind of agony. It erased any lingering doubt, any shred of hope that this was all a terrible mistake. It was the truth. He loved her. He had always loved her.

The next few days were a living nightmare. I was a prisoner in the house, healing from a surgery I'd had for a lie, and from a beating I'd received for telling the truth. Chloe would come into my room, her face a mask of sweet concern, and taunt me in low whispers when no one else was around.

"He's never going to love you, you know," she said one afternoon, sitting on the edge of my bed. "He was with you for three years, and he told me he felt sick every time he had to touch you."

I stared at the wall, refusing to give her the satisfaction of a reaction.

Her sweetness curdled into rage. "Look at me when I'm talking to you!" she hissed. She grabbed a handful of my hair and yanked my head back. Pain exploded in my scalp. "You think you're so noble, don't you? Giving him your kidney. He doesn't want it. He doesn't want anything from you. He's mine. Everything is mine."

She shoved me, hard. I cried out as my back connected with the headboard, the fresh welts from the belt screaming in protest.

The door flew open. Alex stood there, his eyes wide. He saw Chloe standing over me, her hand still raised, and me cowering against the headboard, tears streaming down my face.

"Chloe, what's going on?" he asked, rushing to her side.

"She attacked me!" Chloe sobbed, collapsing into his arms. "I just came in to see how she was, and she started screaming at me, calling me names! She grabbed my arm!" She held up her arm, which was perfectly unmarked.

Alex held her, glaring at me over her shoulder. His face was cold, dismissive. "Sarah, what the hell is wrong with you? Chloe is just trying to be nice."

"She's lying," I whispered, my voice hoarse. "She hurt me."

"I saw you," Alex said, his voice hard as stone. "I saw you about to hit her. Just leave her alone. She's been through enough."

He led a "sobbing" Chloe out of the room, shutting the door behind them. The injustice of it was suffocating. He had sided with her, instantly and without question. My pain was invisible to him.

A few days later, my parents announced that they were throwing a welcome-back party for Chloe, a proper one this time. I was forced to attend. They wanted to present a united family front, especially since the Coles would be there to finalize the details of my marriage to Ethan.

I was driving to the venue with Chloe. My father insisted. It was his way of forcing us to make peace. The silence in the car was thick with tension.

As we neared a sharp turn on a quiet, wooded road, Chloe turned to me, a strange, chilling smile on her face.

"You know, Sarah," she said, her voice eerily calm. "I was the one who told Alex you two had the same rare blood type. I was the one who suggested he get close to you. It was my idea."

My hands tightened on the steering wheel. "What?"

"I wanted you to suffer," she continued, her smile widening. "I wanted you to fall in love with him and then have your heart broken. And this... this is the grand finale."

Before I could process her words, she lunged across the console and yanked the steering wheel hard to the right. The car swerved violently, heading straight for a massive oak tree at the side of the road.

Everything happened in a flash. The screech of tires, the horrifying crunch of metal, the shattering of glass. My head slammed against the side window, and the world exploded into a universe of pain before fading to black.