Chapter 6

I don't know how I got home that night. He left me there. He took Ginger and drove away, leaving me alone in the dark cemetery, miles from the city.

I walked. Each step was a fresh wave of agony from my torn feet and mangled knees. By the time I stumbled through the doors of the mansion, a trail of blood followed me across the marble floor.

I collapsed onto my bed, not even bothering to clean myself up. The tears I thought had run dry started again, soaking the silk pillowcase.

It was done. I was done. There was nothing left of the woman who had loved Hudson Scott. He had carved her out of me, piece by painful piece.

A memory surfaced. My mother, weak and frail in her hospital bed after the warehouse incident. He had put her there. Her already fragile health had shattered.

The phone on my nightstand rang, shrill and demanding. It was the hospital.

"Ms. Anthony? It's about your mother. Her condition has taken a turn. She needs an emergency skin transplant. The donor organ is available, but we need your consent to proceed immediately."

"Yes," I said without hesitation, my own pain forgotten. "Do it. Whatever it costs, just save her."

I threw on some clothes and rushed to the hospital, my heart pounding with a familiar terror. I sat outside the operating room, the sterile white walls closing in on me.

Suddenly, the doors to the OR waiting area burst open. A group of men in black suits stormed in, led by one of Hudson's lieutenants.

"What are you doing?" I demanded, jumping to my feet. "You can't go in there!"

"We're not here for you," the man said, shoving me aside so hard I fell. "We need the donor skin. Ms. Nash has had a terrible accident. She needs it more."

I stared in disbelief. "Are you insane? My mother will die without it!"

Just then, I saw her. Ginger. She was standing at the end of the hall, leaning on crutches, a smug smile on her face.

"That's the point, darling," she mouthed silently.

I looked through the window of the operating room door. They were in there, arguing with the surgeons, trying to physically take the cooler containing the donor organ. I saw my mother on the table, her body being jostled in the chaos.

A primal rage exploded in my chest.

I flew into the operating room, a feral scream tearing from my lungs. I shoved the men away from the table, planting myself in front of my mother's body like a shield.

"DON'T YOU TOUCH HER!" I roared, my eyes blazing.

The commotion brought him. Hudson appeared in the doorway, his face a mask of cold annoyance.

"What is the meaning of this?" he asked.

His men pointed at me. "Sir, she won't give up the donor skin for Ms. Nash."

Ginger hobbled forward, putting on a masterful performance of pained fragility. "It's okay, Hudson. I can wait. I don't want Aleen to be upset. I'll just... I'll just have to live with the scars."

Hudson' s eyes hardened. He gave his men a curt nod. "Get her out of the way."

They grabbed my arms, their grips like iron bands.

"NO!" I shrieked, struggling with all my might. "Hudson, please! She's dying! The doctor said she needs it now! Please!"

He wouldn't even look at me. He turned to Ginger, his expression softening. "Let's go. I'll handle this."

He started to walk away, pausing at the door. "Keep her here," he told the guards holding me. "But make sure the old woman doesn't die. It would be... inconvenient."

He left.

They held me fast, my frantic struggles useless. Through the glass, I watched in horror as they took the cooler. I saw the surgeon throw his hands up in defeat.

And then I heard it.

The long, steady, soul-shattering beep of the heart monitor.

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.

It echoed in the sudden, deafening silence.

The guards let me go. I stumbled forward, my legs numb.

She was gone.

The last piece of my heart, the only person who had ever loved me unconditionally, was gone.

And he had killed her.