Chapter 1 - DO NOT OPEN YOUR EYES
Leo’s fingers closed around mine while I lay trapped inside my own body.
“Mom, don’t open your eyes,” he whispered. “Dad is waiting for you to die.”
My eyelids remained shut.
I could hear the monitor counting each heartbeat beside me. I could feel the tape securing the IV line to my wrist and the ache spreading from the bruise on my cheek.
I could not lift my head.
I could not tell my son I was awake.
The door opened.
Leo leaned farther over me, hiding my face with his shoulder.
My finger twitched inside his palm.
He felt it.
His breath caught, but he covered the movement with both hands before Marcus entered carrying coffee and several documents.
My husband stopped beside the bed.
“What are you doing here?”
Leo did not answer.
Marcus’s palm struck him.
The sound cracked through the room.
Leo hit the floor beside my bed.
Every part of me screamed to rise.
Nothing obeyed.
“Your mother is never waking up,” Marcus said.
Leo pressed one hand to his reddening cheek.
Victoria entered behind Marcus, locked the door, and placed a document beside my motionless arm.
“The notary will be here soon,” she said. “We’re rich now.”
Leo pushed himself upright and stood between them and me.
His knees shook.
“Mom told me to call Ms. Lawson if anything happened.”
Marcus lunged.
He tore a small phone from Leo’s hand.
The screen showed an active call.
Heavy footsteps stopped outside.
The locked handle turned once.
Then again.
Marcus’s face drained of color.
“Who did you call?”
Leo looked at me instead of answering.
I opened one eye just enough for him to see.
Do not tell them.
He understood.
Marcus shoved the phone into his jacket and moved toward the door.
Victoria snatched the document from beside my hand.
The handle rattled harder.
A woman’s voice sounded from the corridor.
“Marcus, open this door.”
Claire Lawson.
The attorney I had told Leo to contact only if he believed he was in danger.
Marcus glanced toward the IV pump.
Not toward the door.
His hand reached into his jacket and came out holding something small that I could not clearly see.
He stepped toward my IV line.
Leo threw himself across my arm.
“No!”
The lock clicked from outside.
The door opened half an inch before striking Marcus’s shoe.
Victoria whispered, “The second authorization is still missing.”
Marcus looked at her.
May you like
Then at my son.
And I realized the paper beside my bed was only one part of whatever they had prepared.
