My awareness started slipping. The monitor numbers flickered erratically. In the ward, the surgical lights suddenly blinked once, and then cut out entirely.
A faint emergency glow spread across the corners of the room, followed by a soft beep from the access panel. The sterile door slid open.
Chloe walked in at an unhurried pace, wearing an expensive silk nightgown and slippers. She casually flipped off the main surveillance switch on the wall. Then she approached my bedside and looked down at me.
That usually pitiful, delicate face of hers now wore a smile twisted with outright malice. "Olivia, you really are stubborn. Your lungs are practically falling apart, and you still refuse to die."
She reached out and slowly pulled the blood oxygen clip from my finger. "You have no idea how ob
