Chapter 1 1

Ephram stood in the shadows, ten feet away. He felt his blood turn into slush in his veins. He watched his wife kiss another man while his grandmother lay dying upstairs.

How had it come to this? Just an hour ago, the world had been compressed into the four sterile walls of the ICU.

Rain hammered against the double-pane glass of the ICU window. It was a heavy, relentless sound, a dull thudding that seemed to match the rhythm of the heart monitor next to the bed. Beep. Beep. Beep. The sound was cutting through Ephram's nerves like a serrated knife. He sat on the edge of the uncomfortable plastic chair, his elbows on his knees, his hands clasped so tight his knuckles were white.

Dr. Miller walked in. He didn't look at Ephram immediately. He checked the IV drip, adjusted a valve, and then finally turned. He took the stethoscope from around his neck and placed a hand on Ephram's shoulder. The weight of it felt heavy.

"Her organs are failing, Ephram," Dr. Miller said. His voice was low, professional, but final. "I'm afraid it's going to be tonight."

Ephram's body went rigid. The air in the room suddenly felt too thin to breathe. His fingers dug into the metal guardrail of the hospital bed, the cold steel biting into his skin. He looked at the woman in the bed. She looked so small. The grandmother who had raised him, who had been the only shield against a world that wanted to eat him alive, was disappearing under the sterile white sheets.

Her eyes fluttered open. They were cloudy, struggling to focus. Her breath fogged up the plastic oxygen mask covering her face. Her hand, thin as a bird's claw, trembled as she tried to lift it.

Ephram moved instantly. He wrapped his hand around hers. Her skin was ice cold. He leaned in close, his ear hovering inches from the mask.

"Erlene..." she whispered. The sound was a rattle in her chest. "I want to see... Erlene..."

Ephram's chest tightened. A sharp, physical pain radiated from his sternum. He swallowed the bile rising in his throat. He forced the muscles in his face to relax, forcing a smile he didn't feel.

"Don't worry, Grandma," he said, his voice cracking. "I'm calling her right now."

He pulled his phone from the pocket of his worn-out jeans. The screen was shattered, a spiderweb of cracks over the glass. His thumb shook as he unlocked it. He tapped Erlene's name.

The line rang. And rang. And rang.

It went to voicemail. Ephram stared at the dark screen. His jaw clenched. He dialed again.

One ring. Two. Three. Four. Five.

"Ephram," Erlene's voice snapped through the speaker. "I told you I'm working late. Stop calling me like a needy child."

Ephram turned his back to the bed, lowering his voice to a desperate whisper. "Erlene, please. You have to come to the hospital. Grandma... she's not going to make it. She wants to see you one last time."

There was a silence on the other end. Then, the sound of background noise-clinking glass, low chatter.

"I'm meeting a client on the other side of the city," Erlene said. Her tone shifted, becoming smooth, practiced. "The rain is insane out here. I'm already in a cab they paid for; I can't just leave. It's impossible."

"Honey, we need more champagne," a man's voice drifted through the line. It was low, amused.

There was a fumble, a muffled sound like a hand covering the microphone. Then Erlene's voice came back, sharper, higher pitched. "Look, I can't make it! She's your grandmother, Ephram. You deal with it!"

The line went dead. The silence that followed was louder than the storm outside.

Ephram stared at the phone until the screen went black. He felt a burning sensation behind his eyes, but he pushed it down. He turned back to the bed.

"She's on her way, Grandma," he lied. "The rain is just bad. Traffic is stopped."

His grandmother seemed to settle. Her eyes closed again.

Ephram felt like he was suffocating. "I'm going to get coffee," he murmured. "I'll be right back."

He walked out of the room. He moved like a ghost through the fluorescent-lit hallway. He hit the button for the elevator and rode it down to the ground floor. The automatic doors of the main entrance slid open, and the wet, cold wind slapped him in the face.

He just wanted to breathe. He wanted to see if the rain was really that bad. He stepped out, staying in the shadows of the overhang.

A bright red Porsche 911 was parked illegally in the emergency lane. It was gleaming under the streetlights. Ephram knew that car. Erlene had bought it last month, taking out a loan that had made Ephram's stomach churn.

The passenger door opened.

Erlene stepped out. She wasn't wearing office clothes. She was wearing a black evening dress that clung to her hips, the kind she said was too expensive to wear to dinner with him.

The driver's side door opened. A tall man stepped out. Andrew Hanson. The man who was supposed to be in Europe receiving treatment for a terminal illness. He looked healthy. He looked vibrant.

Andrew popped open a large black umbrella. He walked around the car and pulled Erlene close to him. He wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her flush against his expensive suit.

They kissed. It wasn't a quick peck. It was deep, hungry, right there in the rain, under the flashing red sign of the Emergency Room.