She awkwardly pulled her hand back. “Olivia… I’m so sorry. It’s my fault Kerry’s treatment was delayed.”
I stared at her, my eyes cold. “Your apology means nothing to me. I’m reporting you for what you did today. You’re a murderer in my eyes.”
The word made her flinch. Her voice was hoarse when she spoke again. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know your father was lying. I promised your mother I
would look after you girls… and I broke that promise. It’s all my fault.”
The pain on her face was real. I remembered Kerry telling me that Helen was my mother’s best friend. After my mother died giving birth to me,
Helen had transferred to the maternity ward, To see Kerry, my mother’s daughter, now fighting for her life because of her own negligence… the
guilt must have been crushing.
Even so, I couldn’t find it in my heart to forgive her.
My sister was strong. The surgery was a success. They’d given her massive transfusions, but they had saved her. After a few days in the ICU, she
was moved to a regular room. The moment she opened her eyes and looked at me, I started crying again.
“It’s okay, Liv,” she whispered, her face pale as a sheet. “I’m alive, see?”
While Kerry was stabilizing, my nephew’s condition worsened. He was premature, and the exposure to the cold had led to pneumonia. Mark was a
ghost, running back and forth between the two hospitals, shedding pounds by the day.
Chapter 2
15:07
Once word got out that Kerry was Dr. Cole Sterling’s daughter, visitors started to appear. Helen was the most frequent. She came every day with
homemade soups, sighing with guilt every time she looked at Kerry. Kerry, with her gentle heart, forgave her. But I would never forget the feeling
of utter despair in that hallway. As soon as Kerry was a little stronger, I went straight to the hospital administration and filed a formal complaint.
A few days later, Helen was removed from her position as head nurse.
I thought that would be the end of it, but she still came to visit. It was from her that we learned our father was in the same hospital, one floor
below, in the cardiology wing. Penny’s blood pressure had spiked, and coupled with her “depression,” she couldn’t be left alone.
Then came a more pressing problem: the hospital bills.
Kerry and Mark were just a young couple starting out; they had no savings. I had some, but Penny’s recent “scam” had wiped us all out. She’d
claimed to have been tricked out of over a hundred thousand dollars. To console her, our father had borrowed tens of thousands from everyone he
knew–including me and Kerry–to pretend he’d “recovered” some of it. The moment she had the cash in hand, she claimed she’d been scammed
again. The repeated loss had shattered her nerves, which was why Dad had suddenly decided to take her on a lavish honeymoon after
