Chapter 2

Jamiya POV:

A piercing shriek tore through the predawn stillness, rattling the windows of my hospital room. My heart leaped into my throat. The noise was raw, desperate, and unmistakably Adaline's.

"Adaline!" Hudson's voice, strained with panic, followed immediately. I heard frantic footsteps in the hallway outside my door, then the heavy thud of his body against her door, followed by the clatter of a key turning.

Her worried assistant, a young woman named Elara, came tearing down the corridor moments later, her face pale, her hair disheveled. She spotted Hudson just as he burst into Adaline's room. Elara immediately turned her panicked gaze towards me, still standing by my own doorway.

"Mr. Holland! She's... she's delirious! She's burning up, and she's trying to tear out her own IVs! It's because of her!" Elara's finger pointed accusingly at me. "She must have done something, Mr. Holland! This never happened before the... the donation!"

Hudson, half-inside Adaline's room, froze. He looked over his shoulder, his eyes locking onto mine, cold and accusing. He didn't say a word, didn't need to. The message was clear: This is your fault.

Without another glance, he disappeared back into Adaline's room, slamming the door behind him. But not before his voice, low and clipped, drifted out. "Don't move, Jamiya. Not one step."

A bitter laugh escaped my lips. Always the same. Always Adaline first. Always me, the convenient scapegoat. The "don't move" was a twisted echo of all the times he'd ordered me to stay, to endure, to suffer in silence while he chased his true desires.

But not this time. My decision was made.

I turned back into my room. Underneath the bed, hidden in plain sight beneath a stack of old magazines, was the small, worn satchel. I pulled it out. Inside, tucked amongst a few changes of clothes and a small wad of cash, was a folded note. Dr. Gates had slipped it to me hours ago. A single word, scrawled in his precise handwriting: "Confirmed."

He had secured a spot for me on the late-night bus to the coast. He had even confirmed the "emergency" passenger who would be taking my place. My heart pounded, but it was not from fear. It was from the fierce, exhilarating beat of freedom.

I took a deep breath, the sterile hospital air filling my lungs. This was it. The hardest part. The final act of defiance.

Later that morning, dressed in a simple, anonymous dress, I walked into the Holland family's private sitting room in the hospital wing. Hudson's parents were there, his mother, Eleanor, looking regal and formidable even in her distress, his father, Robert, a shadow of his usual imposing self. Dr. Gates sat quietly in a corner, observing.

"Jamiya," Eleanor greeted, her voice edged with ice. "What is the meaning of this? You should be resting."

"I came to tell you I'm leaving," I said, my voice steady, though my hands trembled slightly behind my back. "For good."

Eleanor scoffed. "Leaving? Don't be ridiculous. The divorce proceedings haven't even begun in earnest. You think you can just walk away from your responsibilities?"

"I'm not here about the divorce papers, Eleanor," I corrected, my gaze unwavering. "I'm here to give you a warning. About Hudson. About Adaline. About the future."

Robert Holland, who had been staring blankly ahead, suddenly lifted his head, his eyes wary. "A warning? What warning?"

"I had a dream," I began, my voice dropping, imbued with a gravity I didn't know I possessed. It wasn't a dream, not in the traditional sense. It was the cold, hard facts of the corporate plot, the machinations I'd uncovered that would directly lead to Hudson's ruin, even his death, if Adaline's illness wasn't cured, and if I remained in his life as a target. I painted the picture with vivid, stolen details, weaving in the sense of impending doom. "I saw Hudson... ruined. His career shattered, his health failing. And Adaline, her illness worsening, dragging him down with her, becoming a burden rather than a partner. It was a vicious cycle, fueled by a hidden enemy from within his own company who sought to exploit their vulnerabilities."

The room grew chillingly quiet. Robert's face paled. Eleanor's composure cracked, a flicker of genuine fear in her eyes. The corporate world was a battlefield, and they knew the stakes.

"This is not some idle premonition," I continued, pressing my advantage. "I know the risks involved in their current trajectory. My presence, my connection to the Morrow name, makes him a larger target. As long as I am tied to him, he is vulnerable. And Adaline, without intervention, will not survive." I looked directly at Robert. "If they remain entangled, if her condition isn't stabilized, the very foundation of Holland Enterprises will crumble, and Hudson will pay the ultimate price."

Robert rose slowly from his seat, his eyes wide. "Are you saying... are you saying this is real?"

"I wouldn't be here otherwise," I said, my voice barely a whisper. "I wouldn't risk everything to tell you this if I didn't believe it with every fiber of my being. My leaving, my complete severance, and ensuring Adaline's recovery, is the only way to break the cycle."

Eleanor, her face now etched with worry, turned to her husband. "Robert, we cannot ignore this. Jamiya... she has always been insightful, even if we rarely listened."

Robert looked at me, his eyes filled with a new, unsettling respect. "Where will you go, Jamiya?"

A bitter smile touched my lips. "Somewhere far away. Somewhere no one will find me. A place where the past cannot reach."

Relief washed over me as I left the room. The weight of that secret, the burden of his impending doom, finally lifted. I had done what I could. I had given my warning, and soon, I would give my life force. The second regret, the warning I should have given years ago, was finally addressed.

Night fell, cloaking the hospital in a false sense of peace. I walked through the deserted corridors, my steps light, my heart a complex mix of dread and anticipation. Tonight was my last night as Jamiya Holland.

I made my way to the hospital's rooftop garden, a secluded spot only Dr. Gates knew about. We had agreed to meet here, just in case. I knew Hudson wouldn't come. He was with Adaline, as always. He had dismissed my request about the stray dog this morning, his priorities firmly set.

The moon hung high, a pale, indifferent orb. The air was cool against my skin. I stood by the railing, looking out at the city lights twinkling below, each one a tiny world I was leaving behind. It was beautiful, in a lonely sort of way. A quiet goodbye to a life I never truly lived.

"You think you can just walk away?" a voice, cold and sharp, sliced through the silence.

I whirled around. Hudson stood there, a dark silhouette against the moonlit sky. His eyes were blazing. I hadn't heard him approach.

"Hudson," I breathed, my heart leaping. "What are you doing here?"

"Adaline," he snarled, taking a step closer. "She's worse. Much worse. The doctors say it's some kind of extreme backlash. Her body is rejecting the transplant. It's like... like the life force is draining from her, leaving her hollow." He stopped a few feet from me, his fists clenched. "This is your fault, isn't it? You cursed her. You poisoned her."

My stomach dropped. The anonymous kidney donation was failing? Her body was rejecting it? This was worse than I thought. The "dark magic backlash" from my memory, now a medical reality.

"I didn't... I didn't curse her," I stammered, genuinely shocked. "I saved her. I gave her my kidney."

"You gave her your kidney?" he repeated, his voice laced with disbelief and derision. "Don't lie to me, Jamiya. You're incapable of such selflessness. You wanted to trap me, to bind me to you, even in death!"

"No! I did it so you wouldn't be tied to me anymore, so you could be with her without guilt, without obligation!" I cried, the desperation in my voice raw. "I did it because I knew the corporate plot, the danger you were in if Adaline's health declined, if my very presence kept you entwined with a family that wants to see yours fall! I thought it would save you both!"

"Save me?" He took another step, his eyes burning into mine. "You've only ever brought chaos and misery! Adaline is dying, Jamiya! And it's because of you! I swear, if anything happens to her, I will make you pay. You will regret the day you were ever born."

His words were a bitter punch to the gut. All my sacrifice, all my carefully laid plans, now turned against me. He blamed me. Of course, he blamed me.

He advanced, his shadow falling over me. "Tell me," he demanded, his voice a low growl. "Tell me how to fix this. You spoke of a warning. You spoke of a way out. Fix her, Jamiya. Now!" His hand clamped around my arm, his grip bruising. "You will tell me what you know, and you will fix this, or I swear to God, you will wish you had died ten years ago!"

The weight of his anger, his blame, threatened to crush me. But amidst the fear, a desperate resolve ignited. I had come to be free, not to be blamed for a future I was trying to prevent.