Chapter 2

A nightmare. Liv's face, pale, accusing. Gunshots.

Amy woke with a gasp, tears streaming down her face.

A figure sat by her bedside. David.

Dr. David Miller. Oncologist. Old college friend. Liv's friend too.

He'd found her. She'd missed a check-in call he'd insisted on after a chance meeting weeks ago, when she'd looked like a ghost.

His eyes were red-rimmed. He held a medical report in his trembling hand. Her report. He must have used his hospital access.

"Amy," his voice was thick with unshed tears. "How long have you known?"

She didn't answer.

"This... this is aggressive. We need to start treatment. Immediately." He grabbed her hand, his grip surprisingly strong. "Chemo, surgery, there are options, Amy. You have to fight."

Amy managed a small, tired smile. "It's okay, David."

"No, it's not okay!" His voice rose. "You're letting this happen. And him... Ethan. I saw him outside your building last night. What is he doing to you?"

She pulled her hand away gently. "I have to do this, David. It's... an obligation."

He understood. He knew about Liv. About the guilt that consumed her.

"This isn't atonement, Amy. This is self-destruction."

She just looked at him, her eyes filled with a deep, weary resignation.

He stayed, his presence a small comfort in the bleak landscape of her life.

Another summons. Another event.

Ethan's company was launching a new product. An outdoor winter gala.

Amy was assigned to the registration desk. Outdoors. In the biting New York wind.

Ethan had specified her attire: a thin, stylish dress, "for aesthetics." No coat.

He and Jessica would be warm inside, of course.

Jessica, wrapped in fur, paused by Amy's table as guests arrived.

"Still hanging around, Amy? You're like a bad penny." Her voice was sweet, her eyes cold.

Amy didn't respond. She focused on checking names, her fingers numb.

Ethan walked by, escorting a city official. He glanced at Amy, shivering in the cold, and said nothing.

His dismissal was a public statement. She was nothing.

Later, Jessica made a show of approaching the decorative ice pond.

"Oh, dear!" she cried, clutching her ear. "My earring! It's a Carter heirloom!"

A large diamond stud lay on the ice, near the edge of the semi-frozen water.

She looked directly at Amy. "Someone needs to get that."

Ethan appeared instantly. He didn't ask what happened.

He just looked at Amy. "Retrieve it. Now."

In front of everyone.