Cornelius still had my arm in a death grip. Behind us, the staircase dropped away, steep and unforgiving.

I thought about it. Actually, wouldn't a hospital be better? Rhys was on shift tonight. He would never let anything happen to me.

So I nodded. "Fine. Let's go to the hospital. As long as you won't regret it."

The moment I gave in, my mother's tone softened. A smile even spread across her face. "See? I told you Sylvia wouldn't be that heartless. I raised her all these years. This is exactly how she should be."

I looked at her, and whatever shred of mother-daughter bond I'd been clinging to evaporated on the spot.

I was going to keep this baby.

But the cord blood donation consent form? I would never sign it.

Cornelius released my arm and hurried toward the door. "Then let's go. Stop wasting time."

I got in the car. I was about to give the address of Rhys's hospital when Cornelius let out a cold laugh, his eyes finding mine in the rearview mirror.

"Don't think I don't know what you're planning, Sis."

"We're going to the small-town clinic."

"Relax. They do clean work there too."

My heart plummeted.

My mother sat in the passenger seat and glanced back at me. "Your brother's right. Why bother with some big hospital? A small clinic is cheaper and more convenient."

Less than half an hour later, the car pulled up in front of a clinic.

My mother couldn't wait. She checked me in herself. "Doctor, she's here for an abortion. The sooner the better."

My head spun. I stumbled back two steps. "No! I'm not doing this!"

The doctor paused, then turned to my mother. "What's your relationship to her? If she doesn't consent, we can't proceed."

My mother's face went dark. Then she burst into tears in front of the doctor. "Doctor, I'll be honest with you. My daughter has some mental problems."

"She was assaulted and didn't even know to tell anyone. If I hadn't noticed she was pregnant, she might have just..."

"Doctor, please. She's my only daughter. I can't bear to let her give birth to a rapist's child."

What...

Just then, I spotted Rhys's car parked outside the clinic entrance.

I didn't think. I just screamed toward the door. "Rhys! I'm in here!"

The car door opened. It wasn't Rhys. It was his medical assistant, Marlene Matthews.

My mother whipped around to face the doctor. "See? I told you she has problems. She calls every man she sees her husband."

"Doctor, please just do it. The further along she gets, the harder it'll be."

Hesitation flickered across the doctor's face. I seized the moment and bolted for the door. "Marlene!"

"Sylvia!" Cornelius lunged and grabbed my sleeve.

I wrenched free and kept running.

I was almost at the entrance when my foot caught on something. My balance vanished. I hit the floor hard, stomach first.

A searing pain ripped upward from my abdomen.

My mind went blank. Nothing but white noise.

Then warmth. A slow, spreading warmth soaking through my pants.

I panicked.

Marlene was already at my side, crouching down. "Mrs. Henson?!"

"Get me to Asclepius." I clenched my teeth. My voice shook. "Find Rhys. Now."

My mother snapped out of it and rushed over. "Don't listen to her! She doesn't know what she's saying..."

Marlene didn't even look at her. She was already lifting me up. "You're losing a lot of blood. I'm taking you to Asclepius right now."

My mother gritted her teeth and followed us out the clinic door. "I'm her mother! I'm going with her!"

Cornelius and Daisy trailed behind. All four of them crammed into Marlene's car.

I leaned against the back seat, one hand pressed to my abdomen, cold sweat beading across my forehead from the pain. Mom sat beside me. She burst into tears, wailing like her heart was being ripped out. "I told you not to follow me to the clinic! You insisted you were worried and had to come along!" "Now look, the baby's gone..." I closed my eyes and cut her off. "My baby's gone. Isn't that exactly what you wanted?" Cornelius's expression shifted instantly. "What the hell kind of thing is that to say?" "Mom's sick herself, and now she has to turn around and take care of you on top of it. You think that's fair?" Then he leaned down, his mouth close to my ear, voice barely above a whisper. "When we get to the hospital, don't even think about running your mouth." "There aren't any cameras outside the clinic anyway. You went crazy, ran out on your own, and fell. That's what happened." Mom scooted closer too, dabbing my face with a tissue while murmuring, "Sylvia, look, even God is on my side now. Stop being so stubborn." "I'm the only mother you've got. You can't just stand by and watch me go through surgery with nobody to take care of me. Right?" I said nothing. I couldn't be bothered. She had no idea that if the baby was truly gone, her surgery couldn't happen at all.

Soon the car pulled up to the emergency entrance at Asclepius Hospital. The moment Rhys saw me, the color drained from his face. "The baby... what happened to the baby?"

Marlene stood beside him, shaking her head. "I was there. It's a miscarriage. With that much bleeding, the baby's almost certainly gone."

Rhys's head snapped up. He looked at my mother.

There was no accusation in his eyes. Only a deep, crushing guilt.

He knew what this child meant for her.

If this had been me before tonight, if I'd lost the baby by accident, I probably would have drowned in the same guilt he was feeling.

But now, I just reached over and lightly touched his arm. "It's okay. The baby's gone."

He panicked. "How can you say... what about Mom..."

He stopped himself, drew a long breath. "Once you've recovered, we can try again. At most, your mom's surgery gets pushed back a few months."

Cornelius had been listening from the side, and his brow furrowed so hard it looked carved in stone. "You're seriously going to delay my mother's surgery just because my sister had a miscarriage?"

His voice climbed. "You deliberately made sure the timing of my sister's pregnancy overlapped with my mother's surgery, didn't you!"

Daisy planted her hands on her hips and shrieked, "I bet you planned the whole thing from the start, got her pregnant on purpose so she'd never be free to take care of Mom!"

"I'm warning you, if you refuse to do Mom's surgery because of this, I'll file a complaint against you. Try me!"

Rhys turned and looked at me again.

One look. That was all it took.

He was silent for a moment, then slowly nodded.

He turned around, bent over a document, wrote something, and handed it to them. "In that case, there's no need to wait for Mom's surgery."

Mom's face lit up immediately. "See? I knew it. You two are sharp. Saw right through what he was trying to pull!"

"And now we don't even have to wait for a slot on the schedule!"

She reached out to take the document, flipped it open, and the smile froze on her face.

Rhys's voice was flat. No rise, no fall. "The cord blood from the newborn who was your match no longer exists. This surgery cannot proceed."