My gaze swept over the terrified figures on the floor. Lifting the megaphone again, I repeated my warning:
"Twenty minutes left. If my daughter hasn’t opened her eyes by then, I start killing."
"Five people—none of you will be spared. Perfectly fair."
David Miller’s voice rose in frustration.
"You’re asking the impossible! She’s already dead—how can doctors bring her back?"
"Do you expect them to raise the dead? Even a miracle worker couldn’t do it!"
I almost roared in reply.
"My daughter is not dead!"
"I was there when the crash happened! She hurt her leg—maybe the bone was broken—but she was conscious!"
"In the ambulance, she held my hand and told me she didn’t feel any pain. How is it possible that less than an hour after entering the operating room, she’s gone?"
I slammed my hand against the door, eyes burning red.
"I want to see the OR security footage! Do you dare show it to me?"
"You claim the cameras were broken? What a convenient coincidence! You’re hiding something!"
Miller was silent for a few seconds, then spoke again, his tone carrying a soothing sort of promise.
"Ms. Parker, please, calm down! The operating room footage is being repaired by our tech team—it’ll be ready soon."
"Professor William Harris, the city’s top surgeon, is on his way. As long as there’s even the slightest chance, we won’t give up!"
"Trust us. Open the door and release the hostages, okay? This standoff helps no one."
I gave a cold, short laugh.
Professor Harris was clearly abroad right now—I had called him myself right after Lily’s accident. There was no way he could be on his way here.
Such a cheap stalling tactic. Did they think I was a child?
But Miller kept pleading.
"Put yourself in their position, Ms. Parker. If you harm these innocent medical workers today, even if Lily is in heaven, she won’t be at peace. She’ll blame you…"
My knees went weak, my heart aching so hard I could barely breathe.
My Lily should be running in the sunshine, clinging to me with a smile—how could she be “in heaven”?
Just then, in the corner, the youngest nurse began furiously pushing the gauze out of her mouth with her tongue.
She gasped for air, trembling all over, and sobbed as she begged me:
"Ms. Parker, I know your pain. I have a daughter too—she’s only three. Please let me go…"
"I can’t die. My daughter can’t lose her mother."
Her voice was thick with tears. She dropped to her knees and kowtowed to me over and over, her forehead quickly swelling red.
For a split second, as a mother, I almost wavered.
But then, under the operating table, I saw my daughter’s bracelet—
The one I had prayed for on my knees, climbing nine thousand steps during her high fever last year, a talisman meant to keep her safe.
Now it lay here, broken.
I knelt down and picked up the severed red string. In that moment, every ounce of pity and hesitation drained out of me.
If I let them go, who would give me back my Lily?
I lifted my head sharply, avoiding the nurse’s desperate eyes, and shouted toward the door:
"Twenty minutes left!"
"If my daughter isn’t revived by then, I’ll shoot Nurse Liu first!"
Expressionless, I aimed the gun at the young nurse who had cried herself into unconsciousness.
Outside, the uproar reached its peak.
The police line was nearly broken by furious patient families. Reporters rushed in with cameras and heavy equipment.
I didn’t need to see it to know that right now, on the giant screen outside, the live broadcast of this “mad mother” holding hospital staff hostage was blowing up everywhere.
