The Do Not Resuscitate Order

Chapter 3 The Broken Glass

Day three. The System had erased all pain. My hands and feet obeyed me, though they hardly felt attached.

Arthur ordered me to attend the family dinner. I put on a black dress that hung loose after months of weight loss and went downstairs.

Food covered the long mahogany table beneath the crystal chandelier. A maid set unsalted broth and warm water at my place from habit. Arthur glanced at the bowl, then looked away.

Beside him, Lily gasped and dropped her crystal water goblet. It shattered on the marble.

She clutched her chest. “My heart seized. Evelyn was staring at me. She looked so cold.”

Everyone turned toward me. I had been watching candle wax run down the holder.

Arthur's chair scraped back. He bent beside Lily and covered her hand with his.

“Are you all right?” He waited for her nod, then faced me. “Apologize. Now.”

The Morettis and their guests watched from both sides of the table. A few lowered their eyes. The rest wore the same impatience I saw whenever Lily accused me of making a scene.

No one reached for the broken glass.

I stood. The goblet had scattered between my chair and Lily's.

Arthur pointed toward her. “Now, Evelyn.”

I stepped forward.

Crystal cracked under my bare foot. A large shard sank into the sole. I felt pressure, but no pain, and took another step through the wreckage.

Blood spread under each footprint and followed me across the white marble.

A fork struck a plate. Someone at the far end gasped.

Arthur looked from the footprints to my face. The color left his.

“Evelyn, stop! What the hell are you doing?”

I stopped among the shards and lifted one foot. Blood dripped from the open sole onto the stone.

“I can't feel it,” I said. “Why should I stop?”

Felix hurried over but stopped short of touching me.

“She's using a powerful nerve-blocker,” he told Arthur. “The cuts are superficial. She chose the placement for shock value.” His eyes stayed fixed on the amount of blood gathering under my heel.

Arthur kept staring at my feet. Felix repeated “nerve-blocker.”

His grip on Lily loosened at the word.

Then he straightened and signaled the security detail at the doors.

Two men crossed the dining room.

“Take her upstairs. Lock her in the penthouse. She stays there until she admits what she did.”