"But Grandma Abbott fainted because of me. She's definitely going to blame me..."
Grandma? My heart seized.
"I've already taken care of things at the hospital. Don't worry."
Piers's voice was light, almost careless, but it sent ice through my fingertips.
There was a time when he'd rush to Grandma's side at the slightest sign of discomfort, refusing to leave until she was better.
Back then, he'd told me, "I love you, so of course I'll take care of the people you love."
But if everything he'd ever done for me was a lie, why would he lift a finger for Grandma?
He went on. "This isn't your fault. She's old. These things happen. And to make sure Geraldine doesn't come after you over this, I won't let the old woman wake up."
Every drop of blood in my body ran backward.
His "taking care of things" had nothing to do with getting Grandma better treatment.
He was trading her life for Julie's peace of mind.
To protect that woman, he wouldn't even spare my last living relative.
I stumbled out of the restaurant, dialing Grandma's number with shaking hands. A hospital nurse picked up. I demanded the address and raced there.
The moment I burst through the door of her room, I almost couldn't believe what I was seeing.
Grandma lay motionless, her ashen face threaded with tubes, unconscious and utterly still.
I took her withered hand as gently as I could. The tears came instantly.
Just days ago on the phone, her voice had been strong and sure. I'll always have your back, she'd said.
Now Julie and Piers had reduced her to this. A woman her age, suffering like this because of them.
I clenched my jaw so hard pain shot through my skull, and the pain dragged me back to something resembling reason.
This was a hospital Piers had already gotten to. I had to get Grandma out. Now.
I contacted Joseph to help arrange a transfer. On my way to handle the paperwork, I ran straight into Julie.
"There you are! How did you end up here? Piers and I have been looking everywhere for you."
I didn't slow down. "Get out of my way."
I'd known the moment I showed up here, Piers would be notified. But I had no time or patience to waste on her.
She grabbed my wrist, hard. The mask slipped, and the malice in her eyes was naked. "So you found out about the old hag."
"But there's something else you definitely don't know. About your mother."
My feet stopped before I could tell them not to.
She leaned in close to my ear, her voice cold as a blade. "Your mother actually woke up before she died."
"Piers kept it from you. He injected her with drugs to keep her in a coma."
My mind detonated. I stood frozen, trembling so violently I couldn't stop.
Mom had woken up. That meant she...
"That's right." Julie read my thoughts, and the corners of her pointed mouth curled high. "She was conscious when she died."
"After the machines were shut off, she fought to breathe. Her body was like a punctured bellows. I've never seen anyone's chest heave that hard."
"She even opened her eyes. I recorded the whole thing, her eyes rolling back, all of it. Want to see?"
My chest heaved violently. Every breath felt like being flayed alive.
Was this what Mom felt in her final moments?
No. What she endured must have been a thousand times worse than this.
"You want to know how I know all this?" Julie tilted her head, her voice dripping with mock innocence. "Because I'm the one who turned off the machines."
Crack.
I put every ounce of strength in my body behind my hand and slapped her across the face. I wanted her dead. I wanted her to pay for my mother's life right then and there.
"Geraldine!"
Piers's furious roar erupted behind me. A brutal force wrenched me around, and a vicious slap crashed across my face.
"Julie is pregnant. How dare you touch her?" His voice was low and seething. "Apologize. Or I pull the plug on your grandmother's treatment right now."
