Chapter 1
"Miss Carter, we need your decision now."
The doctor's voice sounded far away, like he was talking from the other side of a wall. I stared at him. My mind would not take in his words.
"What decision?"
His face tightened. "Your fiancé needs emergency surgery."
I turned to the glass window behind him, and my heart nearly stopped.
Adrian lay very still on the hospital bed. His face was covered in bruises. A white bandage was wrapped around his head, and machines crowded around him. This morning he had kissed my forehead before leaving for work. Now he looked like a stranger.
The doctor pushed a paper toward me. "If we don't operate soon, we could lose him."
My fingers were shaking. "Then save him."
"We need your signature. And payment."
I opened my mouth to answer, and my phone rang.
I looked at the screen. Ethan, my little brother. He never called me at work. Never. A cold feeling dropped into my stomach, and I picked up at once.
"Ethan?"
"Sister!" His voice was breaking. "It's Mom."
Every part of my body went stiff. "What about Mom?"
"She's vomiting blood. The doctors say she's getting worse."
The world went quiet around me. I looked down at the hospital floor. *No. Not today. Please, not today.*
"Which hospital?"
He told me. It was across the city, so far from where I was standing that my chest hurt.
"Let me talk to her."
I heard him moving, and then a weak voice. "Baby?"
Tears filled my eyes. "Mom."
Her breath sounded thin, like every breath cost her something. "Where are you?"
"At the hospital."
"Hospital?"
I looked through the glass at Adrian. "Yes."
She coughed, a hard, painful cough. I heard Ethan telling her to rest, but she kept going. "Are you coming?"
"Yes."
Another cough, worse than the first. Then her voice dropped to a whisper. "Please come quickly."
"I will."
"Baby..."
I squeezed my eyes shut. "Yes, Mom?"
She was quiet for a long time. Then she said, very softly, "Please don't let me die without seeing you."
Tears ran down my face. "Mom..."
The line went silent. A moment later Ethan came back. "Sister?"
I couldn't speak.
"Sister?"
"I'm here," I whispered.
"The doctors want payment. They won't continue the treatment until we pay."
"How much?"
When he said the number, my knees almost gave way. It was much more than I had. More than I could ever get in one day.
"Please come," he said, and the call ended.
I lowered the phone slowly. For a few seconds I could not move, or think, or even breathe.
Then the doctor cleared his throat. "Miss Carter?"
I looked up. He was still there, still holding the paper, still waiting for me.
"How much?" I asked quietly.
He told me. I felt the blood leave my face. It was almost the same amount.
Two hospitals. Two payments. Two lives. One impossible choice.
A laugh came out of me, weak and broken. The doctor frowned. I shook my head. "This isn't real."
"I'm sorry."
"No." I looked at Adrian again. "This can't be happening."
He said nothing, because there was nothing to say.
I walked out. I passed nurses, patients, and families with worried faces, and I don't remember how my legs carried me to the bench. I sat down hard and put my face in my hands.
My mother was dying. Adrian was dying. And somehow I was standing right in the middle, between them.
My phone buzzed. It was Ethan again.
*The doctors are waiting.*
Then another message came.
*Please hurry.*
My eyes blurred. I looked up at the operating room, where a red light glowed above the door. It made my chest ache. A nurse rushed out, and I jumped to my feet.
"How is he?"
Her face was serious. "His condition is unstable. We need to operate quickly."
My heart was pounding. I looked at Adrian one more time. The man I loved. The man I was going to marry. The man who had promised me forever.
Then I looked at my phone, at Ethan's words, and I thought of my mother. She raised me alone. She gave up everything for me. She had just begged me not to let her die without seeing me.
A sob broke out of my throat, and I pressed my hand over my mouth. The nurse touched my shoulder.
"Are you okay?"
No. I was not okay. I felt like I was being pulled in two directions, and something inside me was starting to tear.
She walked away, and I stayed there, alone and shaking. One hospital was waiting for me to save my mother. The other was waiting for me to save the man I loved. And I had no idea how to save them both.
The doctor came back and stood in front of me. "Miss Carter, we can't wait any longer."
I wiped my face with my sleeve. "How long do I have?"
He looked at his watch. "Ten minutes."
My phone buzzed again.
*Sister, please hurry. Mom is dying.*
I looked at the operating room. Then at the message. Tears fell onto the screen.
For the first time in my life, I wished I could split myself into two people.
Because in ten minutes, I would have to choose.
And whoever I chose, I might lose the other one forever.
