Chapter 5
“Miss Harper,” he said. “I’m sorry about your sister.”
Emily gripped the folder. “Get away from me.”
“I understand your anger.”
“You don’t understand anything.”
Warren’s smile did not move. “I understand numbers. And the number in that folder is larger than anything you can pay.”
Her body went still.
He glanced toward the hospital doors. “A child should not suffer because adults make stubborn choices.”
Emily’s voice shook. “Don’t talk about her.”
“I can pay for everything,” Warren said. “The surgery, recovery, medication, a better apartment, school, security. You and Lily could disappear from this dirty neighborhood by tomorrow morning.”
Every word struck exactly where he aimed.
Emily hated him for that.
“What do you want?” she asked.
“Nothing cruel.” Warren reached into his coat and removed a cream business card. “Tell me where Nathan Cole is. Tell me what he has said. Tell me who he contacts. That is all.”
Emily looked at the card as if it were poisoned.
“He’s not your friend,” Warren continued. “He is a dangerous man who used your kindness because people like him always use people like you. Your sister is innocent. If you choose him over her, that guilt will be yours.”
Emily’s eyes burned.
Warren placed the card on top of the hospital folder. “You have until tomorrow night.”
Then he left.
For the next twenty-four hours, Emily lived inside a war no one else could see.
She sat beside Lily’s hospital bed while her sister slept, listening to machines beep and nurses whisper outside the door. The business card stayed in Emily’s coat pocket like a hot coal. She could feel it even when she tried not to.
One phone call.
That was all.
One phone call, and Lily could live.
Nathan Cole was not family. He was not good. He had probably done terrible things. Men feared him for a reason. Why should Emily protect him? Why should Lily pay the price for Emily’s conscience?
At three in the morning, Lily woke and reached for her hand.
“Emmy?”
“I’m here.”
“Are you scared?”
Emily forced a smile. “No, baby.”
Lily studied her with tired eyes. “You always lie like that when bills come.”
Emily nearly broke.
Lily squeezed her fingers weakly. “Remember what Dad used to say?”
Emily closed her eyes.
Their father had been a high school history teacher. Before the crash that took him and their mother, he used to say that hard times did not create character—they revealed it.
May you like
Emily had hated that saying after he died.
Now it came back like judgment.
