The Last Donation

Julian kissed Mia’s pale forehead, then pushed the bone marrow donation form into my hands. He never even asked whether I had read it. “It’s a simple procedure, Chloe.” He tapped the signature line. “Stop being selfish.” Mia coughed into her fist and blinked until tears gathered in her eyes. “Chloe, please. I don’t want to die.” For ten years, my blood had been kept on standby for her. Every call from the hospital meant another needle, another bag, another week of dizziness. My body had become a resource the Fosters could claim whenever Mia asked. I had called the donations a sacrifice made for love because the truth was harder to face. My adoptive mother, Eleanor Foster, set her manicured hand on my shoulder and dug in her fingers. “After everything we’ve given you? A roof, an education, a place in this family. This is the least you can do to repay us.” Repay. I looked at Mia in the bed, Julian frowning beside her, and Eleanor’s hand on my shoulder. Ten years of meals, tuition, and blood had all been entries in the same account. They had never treated me as a daughter. They had been waiting to collect. “You’re right.” My voice came out calm enough to surprise me. Julian’s shoulders dropped. He took the pen from the bedside table. “Good. I knew you’d see sense.” He held it out to me. I took it. I turned to the last page and found the small section at the bottom. On the line beneath *I, the undersigned, hereby refuse to donate*, I signed my full name: Chloe Reed. No one spoke. “What is this?” Julian snatched the form from me. He read the line twice. “Is this a joke?” “No.” I opened my banking app. I had already calculated ten years of room, board, tuition, and expenses, plus twenty percent interest. “It’s a transaction.” I tapped send. A moment later, Julian’s phone buzzed. He checked the screen, and the color left his face. “You sent me money?” “One million, two hundred thousand dollars. That covers the debt.” I put my phone away. “We’re even. The engagement is over too.” “You ungrateful b***h!” he roared, lunging for me. “You are nothing without us!” His hand never reached me. Dr. Alexander Vance stepped in from the doorway and caught Julian’s arm. He was Mia’s attending physician, and I had noticed him watching us from a distance more than once. Now he stood between Julian and me without raising his voice or shifting his feet. Julian strained once against his grip and got nowhere. His gray eyes moved to the faded needle marks on my arm, the traces of what felt like a hundred needles. His jaw tightened. “That’s enough, Mr. Foster.” He looked at me. “Ms. Reed is leaving.” He had used my real name. Chloe Reed. I had almost forgotten how it sounded in someone else’s mouth. Julian trembled with rage. “You can’t just stop me. She’s my fiancée!” “Not anymore,” I said, walking past him without a second glance. Julian shouted after me. “You’ll come crawling back! You’re nothing without the Foster name! You’ll have nothing!” I kept walking. In the hallway, Alexander caught up and settled a heavy wool coat over my shoulders. It smelled faintly of antiseptic and cedar. His hand rested against my back when my knees threatened to give way. “Don’t look back,” he said. “I’ll see you out.”