He probably never imagined that I, always so meek and obedient, would turn this hard.
"Fine, fine, fine!" He spat the word three times, the hatred in his eyes almost devouring me whole. "Sarah, you win! I'll sign!"
He snatched the pen from Sabina's hand and scrawled his name across the agreement.
Audrey opened her mouth to protest, but Dana silenced her with a single vicious glare.
Clutching the signed agreement, he turned like a cornered animal and stormed into the surgical prep room.
Dana was wheeled into the operating room.
Audrey was still seething, but the sight of five million dollars in hand brought a smug grin creeping across her face.
She even had the nerve to walk over to me and pat my shoulder, her voice dripping with false warmth. "Sarah, dear, see? Everything worked out just fine. We're family. No need to make things so unpleasant."
I brushed her hand off without a word. She wasn't worth the breath.
Sabina stepped in front of me, shielding me. "Mrs. Chavez, the money has been paid and the agreement signed. We expect Mr. Gilbert to honor his commitment this time. Otherwise, we will not only recover the full amount of the gift but also file criminal fraud charges against both of you."
Audrey's expression shifted, but she forced her composure. "Relax. My son isn't that kind of person."
The moment the words left her mouth, she grabbed the two cash-stuffed cases and hurried out of the hospital. She didn't wait a single extra minute.
I watched her retreating figure and felt nothing but ice spreading through my chest.
This was the woman I had treated like my own mother for five years.
The red light above the operating room flicked on again, and my heart climbed into my throat.
Minutes crawled by. Each second stretched into an eternity.
Dr. Lambert came out briefly to tell me the surgery was going smoothly. Dana hadn't pulled any tricks this time. A full volume of bone marrow had been successfully harvested.
Every taut nerve in my body released at once. My knees buckled, and I nearly collapsed to the floor.
Sabina caught me just in time. "Sarah, hold on. Cliff still needs you."
I nodded. Through the glass, I stared at my son inside the sterile isolation unit, drinking in the sight of him, the little boy about to be filled with new hope.
The transplant went smoothly.
When Dr. Lambert announced the surgery was a success and Cliff's vitals were stable, I wept with joy.
The days that followed were the critical rejection period.
I didn't leave my post outside the isolation unit for a single moment. Every day I spoke into the intercom, singing to Cliff, telling him stories.
Dana and Audrey never showed up. Not once.
As if that five million dollars had severed every last thread of bond between them and Cliff.
I didn't care. I was even grateful they stayed away.
As long as my son got better, I could let go of everything else.
But fate always seemed to enjoy its cruel jokes at my expense.
Just as Cliff's condition was stabilizing and the doctors were preparing to transfer him to a regular ward, someone I never expected appeared before me.
She was a woman who looked about my age, dressed in an expensive Chanel suit, her makeup immaculate. But beneath the polished exterior, a deep, unshakable sorrow lingered in her eyes.
She walked straight up to me, her voice trembling. "Excuse me, are you Cliff Gilbert's mother? Mrs. Sarah Fox?"
I nodded, confused.
Her eyes reddened instantly. She reached into her Birkin bag, pulled out a document, and held it out to me. "Mrs. Fox, please... look at this."
I took the document, bewildered. When I read what was on it, the ground dropped out from under me.
It was a paternity test report.
According to the results, the little boy lying in that sterile isolation unit, my Cliff, shared a 99.99% biological match with the woman standing before me, a woman named Narelle Mason.
The other report showed that Dana Gilbert had no biological relation to my son, Cliff.
