Chapter 4

For the next few days, Case didn't come back. The villa was a silent, luxurious prison. Maids brought me food I couldn't eat. The news was a constant stream of Case and Blair, celebrating their business victories, attending galas, looking every bit the happy couple.

I didn't care. There was only one person I needed to see.

I slipped out of the villa and took a cab to the hospital. My father' s room was quiet, filled with the rhythmic beeping of machines. He lay still in the bed, a shadow of the vibrant man he once was. The coma had stolen his strength, leaving him frail and pale.

I took his hand. It was cold.

"Dad," I whispered, my voice breaking. "I'm so sorry. It's all my fault."

Tears I thought had run dry started to fall again. I pressed my forehead against his hand, my shoulders shaking with silent sobs.

"Please wake up, Dad. Please."

Suddenly, the heart monitor beside his bed let out a long, piercing shriek. A flat line.

His hand twitched in mine. A flicker of life.

"Doctor!" I screamed, bolting out of the room. "Nurse! Help! Somebody, help!"

A nurse rushed toward me, her face pale.

"It's my father! He needs a doctor!" I yelled, grabbing her arm.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Wolfe," she said, her eyes filled with pity. "All the senior specialists... they've been reassigned."

"Reassigned? Where?"

She hesitated, looking down the hall. "Mr. Stevens has them on standby for another patient. In the VIP wing."

My blood ran cold. "Who? Who is the other patient?"

The nurse looked uncomfortable. "It's... Ms. Blair Kelley. She was admitted this morning for... for a migraine."

A migraine. They were letting my father die for a migraine.

A primal rage I didn't know I possessed surged through me. I ran. I ran down the pristine white corridors, past startled orderlies and concerned visitors, following the signs for the VIP wing.

I burst through the doors of Blair's private suite. The scene inside stopped me dead.

Case was there, sitting by Blair's bed, peeling an apple for her with painstaking care. The room was filled with the country's top neurosurgeons and cardiologists, all standing around looking bored and useless.

Blair, looking perfectly healthy, was whining. "Case, my head still hurts a little. Are you sure these are the best doctors?"

"I'm here, Dad!" I screamed, ignoring them, my voice raw with desperation. "Please, Dr. Chen, my father is dying! His heart stopped!"

Case looked up, his expression hardening into one of pure annoyance. "Aaliyah, what are you doing here? You're making a scene."

"Your father can wait," Blair said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Case is taking care of me."

I turned to one of the specialists, a man who had been my father's doctor for years. "Dr. Li, please! You have to help him!"

The doctor looked at Case, who gave a slight, almost imperceptible shake of his head.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Wolfe," Dr. Li said, avoiding my eyes. "My patient right now is Ms. Kelley."

"She has a headache!" I shrieked, my control finally snapping. "My father is dying!"

Just then, a young resident, his face grim, appeared at the door. He looked at me, then at the floor.

"Ms. Wolfe," he said softly. "I'm so sorry. We did everything we could. Your father... he's gone."

The world tilted. The sounds of the room faded into a dull roar. Gone. The word echoed in the sudden, cavernous emptiness inside me.

I stumbled back, my legs refusing to hold me. I stared at Case, at his calm, unbothered face as he continued to peel Blair's apple. He had known. He had planned this. He had murdered my father.

A friend of Case's, who had been waiting outside, chose that moment to walk in. "Case, man, congrats! The final Wolfe Innovations shares just transferred. You own it all now!" He clapped Case on the back, oblivious to the tragedy that had just unfolded.

He then noticed me, crumpled on the floor. "What's with her? Doesn't she know how lucky she is? You're a hero, Case, taking care of your crazy ex and her dying dad."

A laugh, bitter and broken, escaped my lips. I looked up at them, my vision blurred. "Get out of my way," I said, my voice dangerously quiet. "I need to go see my father."

Case finally looked at me, a flicker of surprise in his eyes. "He's... dead?"

"Is that what you wanted?" I shot back, the words like acid on my tongue.

He had the decency to look away. "Aaliyah, I'll take care of you. I promise."

"I don't need you to take care of me," I said, pushing myself up. I walked out of the room, leaving him with his prize and his victim.

As the door closed, I heard his friend mutter, "Damn, Case. You think you'll ever tame that one? Or is it Blair you're really after?"

From the shadows at the end of the hall, I saw a flicker of movement. Blair's personal assistant, watching the entire scene with a cold, calculating expression. She knew everything.