A Daughter Nobody Wanted

Chapter 4

Melissa sat beside her father’s hospital bed the room smelled like antiseptic and old coffee. Machines hummed.

Beep, Beep, Beep. Each sound meant he was still here for now

She pressed her palms into her eyes until she saw stars. Her stomach was empty, her eyes burned, and the wallet in her bag had $3.17 left She’d spent the rest on the pharmacy and transportation. Her stomach twisted she ignored it. A soft sound came from the bed "Melissa looked up her dad was awake.

"Hey, my Princess "

She forced a smile. "Hey."

He looked pale under the fluorescent lights. The bruises under his eyes were darker today. Seeing him like that made her chest ache his hand shifted on the blanket she was already holding" His skin was cold.

"You haven’t eaten," he said. Melissa let out a dry laugh "You always know."

"I’m your dad, It’s my job." He tried to smile. It turned into a cough It racked through him, violent.

"Dad—"

She was on her feet grabbed the water cup from the side table "Her hands shook, and water spilled down her wrist She tipped it to his lips. He drank slowly.

When the coughing stopped, she sank back into the chair, Her heart was still pounding.

For a second.

Then the fear came back "Because the coughs were worse, Everything was worse.

"Dad."

"Yeah?"

She stared at the floor. "What if... what if the treatment doesn’t work?"

Silence.

He watched her then he gave her that small smile. The one he’d used her whole life when she was scared of thunderstorms.

"Then we let fate decide. "No" She shook her head. "No."

"Melissa."

No" Tears blurred her vision "Don’t say that. His smile faded.

Hey" Don’t her voice broke "I can’t hear that" He looked at her, and his eyes were wet too.

"I know." Neither of them spoke.

Then he lifted his hand and brushed her cheek with his thumb, Gentle as if she were still 10 years old. And it shattered her because even now, hooked to machines and struggling to breathe, he was still comforting her.

---

In the hallway, her mother was sitting in a waiting room chair, scrolling through her phone. Melissa stopped in front of her anger was burning under her skin.

"Mom." Grace looked up "What?"

"Did you talk to billing?"

"Why?"

The doctor said the payment is due tomorrow, or they stop treatment." Grace shrugged "And?"

"And?" Melissa’s voice rose. "Mom, he needs that treatment."

"I’ve heard you."

Melissa’s hands clenched "People were looking "Then why aren’t you doing anything?" Grace stood up fast. Melissa took a step back.

Doing anything? Grace’s voice went sharp "I’ve been working double shifts for months, I’ve drained my savings. And now you want to lecture me?" Tears stung Melissa’s eyes That’s not what I meant."

That’s what it sounded like.

For half a second, Melissa saw it; exhaustion, not anger, just bone-deep exhaustion. Then it was gone "Grace’s voice dropped So you tell me, if I don’t have the money, how am I supposed to save him?"

Melissa had no answer. Grace reached into her purse and pulled out a business card. Heavy cardstock, black letters.....

VICTOR WILLIAMS

Melissa’s stomach dropped "No." Grace held it out "Yes."

"No."

"If you love him, Grace said quietly, then stop pretending there’s another option. The card sat between them, and Melissa knew there wasn’t "That night she sat on a bench outside the hospital the sky was dark, traffic moved on the road nobody looked at her "She stared at the card."

VICTOR WILLIAMS?

A billionaire, stranger, A name that showed up in business news and lawsuits. She lowered her head; tears came anyway. Rain on the window.... That sound pulled something out of her.

She was ten again. "Torn shoes, water soaking through her socks, Kids pointing from under umbrellas, laughing. Then arms around her legs, a back under her, her dad carrying her all the way home. He didn’t complain, not once, just huffed and kept walking. At the door he set her down, dripping, And he smiled anyway "One day, my girl, he said. "One day you’ll be somebody."

"Melissa pressed her forehead to his hand now It was cold." She opened her eyes. The hospital bill was in her other hand. The total at the bottom had too many zeros. The ink was starting to smear from her thumb.

Somebody didn’t let their dad die in a hospital bed "A small pressure on her fingers.

She looked up. Her phone buzzed

Harris. "Where are you?"

"Outside."

I’m coming 15 minutes later, he was there with takeout. Melissa looked at the bag. Then at him. Harris."

"Eat."

"I’m not hungry."

Eat, she almost smiled. He sat beside her they didn’t talk for a while. Then he asked, quiet "Are you going to call him?" Melissa looked down at the card "She didn’t answer.

Harris closed his eyes. When he opened them, he looked scared "What if he hurts you?"

"What could he do?"

You don’t know him, Melissa. People like him don’t play fair." Melissa stared at the street "People like us don’t have choices."

Harris went quiet, because she was right. The words came out before she could stop them. "I’m terrified" His hand found hers, warm, Solid......

"Me too," he said, and she finally cried not as a daughter, not as the responsible one,

Just as Melissa. 22 Out of options and falling apart.

---

The next morning she stood outside her father’s room. Every time Melissa looked at the card, she heard her mother’s voice in her head. `If you refuse, we can’t pay for his treatment.`....

The hallway was loud.Doctors in scrubs walked fast. A nurse rolled a wheelchair past her. Somewhere down the hall, a woman was praying out loud. Someone else was crying; Melissa didn’t hear any of it.

A cough came from inside the room. Rough

"She was on her feet before she realised it.

"Dad?" Richard was trying to sit up his arms shook. "Don’t." Melissa got to him first. She shoved a pillow behind his back. Her hands were careful, "Too careful. He sank back and gave her a tired smile. "You worry too much, kid." She tried to smile back. Her face wouldn’t do it.

He saw it right away. "What happened?" "Nothing."

Melissa. "His voice dropped Soft, the same voice he used when she was little and tried to lie about breaking a vase.

"What happened?"

She looked at the wall at the floor, anywhere but him "She hated lying to him, especially to him. But how do you tell your dad that keeping him alive means leaving him?

His hand found hers on the blanket. Cold".

"Talk to me." The tears came with no warning.

"Dad..." His face changed. "What is it?"

She couldn’t answer "The card slipped from her fingers instead, Fell onto the blanket between them. Richard picked it up.

His eyes went to the name....

VICTOR WILLIAMS?

His jaw locked. Melissa’s stomach dropped "You know him?"

He didn’t answer he just stared at the card. For a long time, the room got quiet except for the monitor. Finally, he handed it back to her, his hand was shaking.

"You can’t go." Melissa frowned. "What?"

Don’t go near him." His voice was low, and for the first time since she was a kid, Melissa saw real fear in her father’s eyes.

Then he whispered "Victor Williams hates our family." Melissa froze. "What?"

Her dad’s breathing went uneven his hands trembled on the blanket. A tear slid down his face "Because twenty years ago..."

He looked away.

"...I ruined his life."