Chapter Forty Five
Inside the ICU, Chloe hadn’t moved. The hours after the doctor’s words blurred into sludge. Nurses moved around them like ghosts. Chloe didn’t remember sitting back down, but somehow she was there — still breathing. She sat at Leia’s bedside, fingers woven through the hospital blanket like she could anchor her mother to the earth by sheer force of will. The vents whispered cold drafts across her skin, sterile and indifferent. Her voice was a whisper — ragged, wet around the edges: “You’re not allowed to go yet. You hear me? I don’t care how tired you are. I don’t care if it hurts. You don’t get to leave me.” Leia didn’t stir. The ventilator hissed beside her — steady, oblivious. Ryan paused in the doorway, food bag dangling from one hand. For a second, he just watched. Watched
- Writer
