Chapter 2

At the private hospital, a place that felt more like a five-star hotel, the air was thick with a terrifying sterility. I held my boys' hands, their small fingers gripping mine tightly. Leo looked up at me, his big brown eyes full of fear.

"Mommy, does it hurt?"

"It will be a little pinch, sweetie," I lied, my heart breaking. "Like a mosquito bite. And then you' ll have a long nap."

Julian stood by the door, impatient, checking his watch. Scarlett was already in a waiting room down the hall, being comforted by a team of nurses.

"Let' s get this over with," Julian said, his voice sharp.

I knelt down, hugging my sons. "I love you both so much. Be brave for Mommy, okay?"

They were wheeled away, two small figures on oversized gurneys, and a piece of my soul went with them.

I begged Julian one last time. "Please, Julian, the doctor said the standard donation for a child their size is 200cc. They' re planning to take much more. It' s dangerous."

"Penelope needs it," he said, his voice like ice. "The doctors know what they' re doing. Scarlett is waiting. Don' t make a scene."

He turned his back on me and walked toward Scarlett' s waiting room, leaving me alone in the cold, white hallway.

Hours later, a nurse finally came to get me. The procedure was over. Penelope was stabilized and had been moved to a luxury recovery suite on the top floor. A team of the city' s top doctors was attending to her exclusively.

"And my sons?" I asked, my voice hoarse.

"They' re in the standard post-op room. Down the hall," she said, pointing vaguely before rushing off.

I found them in a small, dim room. They were pale, their faces ashen. The bandages on their lower backs were already seeping with blood. There was no dedicated nurse, just a shared monitor beeping slowly. Julian had commandeered the entire senior medical staff for Penelope. My sons, his sons, were left with the bare minimum.