‎THE CONTRACT

Chapter 1

Valentina Fisher walked through the hospital corridor with stiff shoulders and exhaustion tugging at every muscle in her body.

The white walls, the cold tiled floors, the sterile scent—she should have gotten used to all of it by now. But it still hit her in the chest every time she came here.

Her mother had been on life support for four years. Four long, suffocating years.

Years filled with double shifts, late-night work, skipped meals, and prayers whispered into her pillow until tears soaked the sheets. Years of raising her little sister Cassie alone because their father had chosen a new life with a richer woman—and left his former family to drown.

Valentina took a shaky breath as she followed the familiar pair of calm, steady footsteps ahead of her: Dr. Clara Sinclair, one of the few people in this hospital who treated her like a human being rather than an overdue bill.

But today, even Clara’s voice felt different. For some strange reason, she sounded strained, heavy and loaded with something Valentina wasn’t ready to hear.

They reached a small consultation room. Clara held the door handle and opened gently.

“Valentina… let’s talk inside.”

Her stomach dropped. She didn’t want to go in. But she couldn’t run, not when her mother’s life hung in the balance.

She stepped inside, sat down, and folded her shaking hands together. “Is it… is this about my mom?”

Clara exhaled slowly, sitting across from her. “Yes...”

Silence thickened the room.

“Valentina” Clara began softly, “...Your mother’s condition hasn’t improved. Her vitals are stable, but only because she’s on full support.”

Valentina nodded, trying to brace herself.

“I know that already doctor, but… what?” she whispered.

Clara placed a file on the table—one Valentina recognized too well.

“We’ve reached a point where the accumulated medical bills can no longer be delayed...”

Valentina blinked rapidly. “Clara, I’m paying every month...”

“I know...” Clara said gently. “But it’s not enough. The balance has grown to two million dollars.”

The number slammed into her chest like a physical blow.

"Two million what?" She asked, with utmost surprise. Her breathing slowly turned shallow.

Clara continued, with her voice low. “The hospital board met this morning. They reviewed all long-term, unpaid life support cases. Unless the bill is cleared, your mother will have to be removed from support.”

Valentina felt the world tilt, she began seeing double, the ceiling blurring before her.

'Removed from support.' The words rang again in her head as she tried to remain composed. She gripped the edge of the chair as if the ground itself were shaking beneath her.

“No…” she whispered. “No. Clara, please don’t... don't do this” she stuttered.

Clara’s eyes softened with sorrow. “I wish I didn’t have to. Valentina, you’re strong, you're brave and you’ve done everything possible. But this is a hospital and the board has policies that even I can’t fight.”

“But I just need time...” Valentina pleaded, her chest tightening. “I’ll work more shifts. I’ll find more ways. Just give me more time.”

Clara touched her hand gently. “I can only give you a grace period of two weeks. That’s the absolute maximum I can push.”

Two weeks, for two million dollars. That sounded really Impossible. Yet the alternative? Was unthinkable.

Valentina’s mouth trembled. “Clara… please. My mother is all I have. You know my father left us. You know he has an entire new family and pretends we don’t exist. I’m the only one who’s been caring for her… and Cassie…” Her voice cracked. “Cassie is still so young. She needs her mother.”

Clara’s eyes glistened with sympathy. “I know. But my hands are tied.” The words echoed like a sentence being passed.

Valentina buried her face in her hands, fighting the tears but losing miserably. Her shoulders shook, breath breaking into fractured whispers.

“This isn’t fair...” she said through tears. “It’s not fair… she didn’t ask for this”

Clara waited patiently, giving her the space to cry.

When Valentina finally lifted her head, her cheeks were streaked and flushed, her eyes red and glassy.

“Can I see her?” she whispered.

Clara nodded.

****

The room was dim, lit only by the gentle glow of the machine monitors. The steady beeping filled the space like a rhythm of fragile life.

Valentina hesitated at the doorway.

Her mother looked smaller today. As though she were slowly fading from the world.

Valentina took a breath that tasted like heartbreak and walked toward the bed.

“Hi, Mom…” she whispered, her voice immediately cracking. She pulled the chair close and slowly lifted her mother’s hand into her own.

It was cold—cold in a way that reminded Valentina just how thin the line between life and death really was.

“It’s me” she said quietly. “Your oldest daughter. Valentina.”

The words alone nearly killed her.

She squeezed her mother’s hand gently, as if strength could somehow be transferred skin-to-skin.

“Cassie started school today...” she said, her voice trembling with an emotional smile. “She wore the pink backpack you loved. The one you saved up for… the last gift you ever picked out for her.”

Her throat tightened.

“She looked so beautiful, Mom... You would’ve cried.”

A single tear slid down Valentina’s cheek. She wiped it quickly, but more followed.

“Her tuition is four thousand dollars...” she said. “I've paid it… but life as a dancer at Calvin’s isn’t easy. I’m drowning, and some days I feel like I’m losing myself.” she sobbed.

"I just know you'll hate me if you found out the horrible things I've done to keep you alive..."

Silence followed.

Valentina swallowed hard. “Mom, you can’t hear me right now. But..." She paused, letting the silence stretch.

"I’m tired” she confessed, almost in a whisper. “I’m so tired. I’m trying, I’m working so hard. I want to keep us together. I want Cassie to grow up knowing she still has a mother. I want you to stay.”

Tears slipped down her chin.

“But life isn’t fair” she sobbed softly. “Why does it feel like the world keeps taking everything from us?”

Her shoulders shook as she pressed her forehead gently to her mother’s hand.

“I don’t know what to do...” she cried. “Two million dollars? In two weeks? How am I supposed to do that? How am I supposed to save you when I can't even save myself?”

The machines beeped steadily, indifferent to her breaking heart.

Valentina cried until she felt dizzy. Until the ache in her chest was sharp enough to steal her breath.

She finally lifted her head and wiped her tears with the back of her hand.

“I’ll find a way, I guess...” she whispered fiercely, almost like a vow. “I don’t know how yet… but I will. I won’t let them take you away from me. I won't let Cassie lose you" She paused "We can't lose you mom.”

Silence followed.

The weight of everything she didn’t have, everything she needed, everything she feared—pressed down on her chest like a thousand pounds.

Her phone sat on the chair beside her. She wasn't expecting anything. She reached for her mother’s hand again, closed her eyes, and let the moment swallow her.

Then—Her phone rang.

A sharp, vibrating sound tearing through the fragile quiet

"Grrr... grrr"