My eyes went wide. “That’s not true! Ethan, you have to listen—she—”
“Enough!” Ethan roared, yanking the IV from his arm as if it were nothing and storming toward me. His face was ghostly pale, fury written in every line. His grip on my arm was so tight it burned, and before I could react, his hand came down sharply across my cheek. I stumbled, hit the floor hard, and warm blood flowed freely from my nose.
His voice cracked, raw and full of emotion, as he yelled, “Is this really who you’ve become, Mira? Forcing Liora like that? You couldn’t wait? Why are you like this? You’re not the girl I loved… you’ve changed. Ugh—ugly.”
Behind him, Liora pressed her hands to her mouth, sobbing like a broken little angel. But I noticed the twitch of her lips—the corner curling into a smile beneath the tears.
I pressed my sleeve to my nose, letting the blood soak through, and didn’t respond. There was nothing left to argue. Slowly, painfully, I got to my feet. My knees were weak, my body trembling, but I walked out anyway.
At the doorway, I heard his voice shift, soft, warm—the tone I hadn’t heard in months. “Liora… don’t cry. I’m here. I’ll protect you. And as for Mira… I’ll make sure she pays when I’m discharged.”
I let a bitter smile creep across my lips and wiped my tears away with the back of my hand.
By the time I got home, my face still stung, my nose wet, my body heavy with exhaustion, I just collapsed onto the couch. Everything ached. I wrapped my hand in a towel and tried to steady my breathing. I was barely holding myself together when the doorbell rang.
My heart jumped. Who could it possibly be now? I stumbled to the door, opened it—and froze. My mother. The woman who had vanished from my life when I was a baby, standing there like she owned the world. She looked smaller than I remembered, shrunk by time, worn down at the edges—but the moment she saw me, she dropped her bag and ran, grabbing me so fast I almost fell over.
She held me like she’d been waiting her whole life for this hug, tears streaming down her face. “Oh my God… my baby… my Mira… I found you.” She whispered it like a prayer. My knees buckled under the weight of her arms, and I sank onto the couch, every detail of the world blurring for a moment.
But then her face changed—terror replacing joy. “What… what happened? Why are you bleeding?” Her voice shook.
I pressed the towel to my nose, my voice barely a whisper. “I have aplastic anemia… I need a bone marrow donor. I—” My words broke in my throat, and I coughed before finishing.
Paleness swept over her face. She grasped both my hands tightly as if holding onto me would stop the world from spinning. “I’ll give you mine,” she said urgently, almost pleading. “But you have to come with me—come to Europe, live with me and your brothers. Please, Mira. Say you’ll come.”
I stared at her, chest tightening, words heavy on my tongue. “You left me,” I said softly, but each word was steady. “You left me with Grandma. You vanished. How am I supposed to just… pack up and trust you now?”
Her head dropped, the sound she made so full of remorse it stabbed straight through me. “I worked abroad to send money home,” she explained, voice trembling. “Then I had an accident… lost my memory… started over by mistake. I only remembered last year. I’ve spent months trying to find you. I’m so sorry it took this long. I never stopped being your mother, Mira. Never.”
I wanted to believe her, wanted to feel that relief and bolt into her arms, but my chest felt hollow, betrayal still sticky and raw. I whispered, “I need to think. I just… met you today. I can’t decide yet.”
She nodded, as if she expected nothing else, and leaned down to press a gentle kiss to my forehead. “Call me when you’re ready,” she said softly, leaving a trembling smile and a number behind before stepping away.
I barely lowered my head when the back gate exploded with noise. Five men stormed in without a single knock. They seized me, threw a blanket over my shoulders, and dragged me into the yard like I was nothing but a sack. I screamed, tried to fight, but my limbs were weak, the rain soaked me through, and the world turned loud and humiliating.
One of them leaned close, voice spitting out like venom. “Boss says you sleep outside tonight. Punishment… for hurting Miss Liora.”
I pounded on the door, tears mixing with rain. “Please! I’m sick! I need my medication!” I begged. They shoved me harder. One of them laughed as water ran down my face and soaked my clothes.
My phone rang, trembling in my numb fingers. Ethan. I fumbled it open, barely able to speak, and his voice came flat, detached, like a judge delivering a verdict. “Mira… listen. Your transplant was scheduled for tomorrow. But after what you did to Liora… she can’t. She’s too upset, too traumatized. She won’t stop crying. Think about that, Mira.” The line clicked dead.
Rain mixed with my tears. I curled into myself on the cold, wet grass, clutching the phone like it was the only thing keeping me alive. My fingers moved clumsily over the screen as I dialed the number my mother had left.
After a long, wet pause, her sleepy voice answered. “Hello?”
“Mom…” I whispered into the storm, teeth chattering, voice shaking. “Please… come. I’ll go with you. I’ll go to Europe, anywhere with you. Please… get me out of here.”
