The vibration against my thigh was the only thing that felt real. Outside the townhouse, a storm battered the windows, but inside, the silence was suffocating, broken only by the rhythmic *whir-click, whir-click* of the titanium pump sutured to my aorta. I stared at the phone screen. Dr. Vasquez.
I answered on the first ring. "Elena?"
"We have one, Camilla." Her voice was a tight wire of controlled adrenaline. "A twenty-year-old male, motorcycle accident. The cross-match is perfect. You need to get to the hospital *now*. The window is closing."
For the first time in two years, the mechanical metronome in my chest didn't sound like a countdown. It sounded like a prelude. I didn't pack a bag. I didn't leave a note. I simply grabbed my coat, the sudden surge of hope making my limbs feel weightless.
I reached the top of the grand staircase and froze.
Below, the foyer had been transformed into a theater of the grotesque. Peyton Willis lay sprawled on the black-and-white marble, her body arching in violent, rhythmic spasms. Maxwell was on his knees beside her, his face pale, stripped of all its usual arrogance.
"It's stopping!" Peyton shrieked, clawing at the silk of her blouse. Her eyes rolled back, showing the whites. "The darkness... it's crushing my heart! Maxwell!"
"I've got you," Maxwell roared, his voice cracking. He fumbled for his phone, his hands shaking so badly he nearly dropped it. "Stay with me, Peyton!"
I gripped the banister, my knuckles turning white. "Maxwell?"
He snapped his head up. His eyes were wild, bloodshot, and when they landed on me, I didn't see recognition. I saw hatred. "Not now, Camilla! Can't you see she's dying?"
"I have to go," I said, my voice cutting through the panic. "Elena called. There's a heart."
Maxwell scrambled to his feet, phone pressed to his ear. "You selfish bitch," he spat. "Peyton is convulsing on the floor, and you're inventing another crisis?"
"It's not an invention! I have a donor!"
"This is Maxwell Henderson," he shouted into the phone, ignoring me completely. "Get the trauma team ready. Override the protocol. My wife isn't coming. She’s having a hysterical episode. The priority is Peyton Willis. Redirect the surgical team to her immediately. She’s in cardiac arrest!"
"No," I whispered, the blood draining from my face. "Maxwell, don't."
"She needs it more!" he screamed at the operator, his gaze locking with mine—cold, final, lethal. "Cancel Camilla's prep. Give the resources to Peyton!"
I didn't wait to hear the rest. I ran.
The taxi ride was a blur of neon lights smearing against the rain-slicked glass. I clutched my chest, willing the battery pack to hold, willing the world to make sense. When I burst through the clinic doors, soaking wet and gasping, Dr. Vasquez met me in the lobby. She wasn't wearing scrubs. She was wearing her coat.
She looked at me, and the devastation on her face hit harder than a physical blow.
"Where is it?" I wheezed, grabbing her arm to steady myself. "I'm here, Elena."
"It's gone, Camilla."
The air left the room. "What?"
"Maxwell," she choked out, tears spilling over her lashes. "He used his power of attorney. He called the board. He declared you mentally incompetent and formally refused the organ on your behalf. He demanded the transport team be rerouted for a 'VIP emergency.' By the time we cleared the legal confusion... the donor heart was reallocated to a patient in Jersey."
I stood there, the water dripping from my coat forming a puddle around my boots. I didn't scream. I didn't cry. I felt a cold, metallic *click* in my chest. A gear slipping.
"He gave it away," I said, my voice hollow.
"He signed the refusal, Camilla. He chose."
Rage is a potent fuel. It burned hotter than the fever, hotter than the betrayal. I turned on my heel and walked back out into the rain.
The townhouse was quiet when I returned. The smell of burnt sage hung heavy in the air, cloying and sweet. I found Maxwell in the study. He was pouring a scotch, the crystal decanter rattling against the glass rim.
"Where is she?" I asked. My voice sounded like grinding stones.
Maxwell took a long swallow, not looking at me. "Stable. The doctors said it was a spiritual rupture. Her energy field was critically low, but the emergency intervention stabilized her."
"You gave away my life," I said, stepping into the room. "There was a heart, Maxwell. A real, beating human heart. And you threw it away."
He slammed the glass down on the mahogany desk. "Stop it!" He whirled around, his face twisted in a snarl. "Stop the drama! Peyton was actually dying, Camilla! You? You’ve been 'dying' for two years. It’s a crutch. A manipulation."
"I had a match," I whispered, the room beginning to tilt.
"A fantasy!" he shouted, closing the distance between us. "Peyton told me you'd do this. She saw it in the cards. You're a hypochondriac clinging to a machine because you're too weak to live a real life. You wanted to steal her resources because you're jealous of her vitality!"
"You murdered me," I said, the words simple and absolute.
"I saved the woman who actually matters!"
The pain hit me then—not the sharp stab of rejection, but a total, systemic failure. A sledgehammer to the sternum. The *whir-click* of the valve stuttered. Once. Twice.
Then silence.
A high-pitched whine filled my ears. My knees hit the Persian rug with a dull thud. The room narrowed to a pinprick of light, centered on Maxwell's horrified face.
"Camilla?" His voice sounded far away, underwater. "Camilla, get up."
I couldn't. The machine had stopped. The battery was dead. And as the darkness swallowed me whole, the last thing I saw was the man I had saved, watching me die.
