The moment I pushed the door open, the coppery tang of blood hit me like a physical blow.
Kerry was lying on the floor in a rapidly spreading pool of it. My newborn nephew lay in the slick redness beside her, the umbilical cord still attach-
- ed.
My hands shook as I dialed 911. I grabbed a blanket and wrapped the baby in it, trying to keep him warm.
The ambulance arrived with screaming sirens, whisking us away to the hospital.
Just as they wheeled Kerry and the baby into the emergency room, her husband, Mark, burst in.
“Olivia! How is she?”
His face was ashen. It was freezing outside, but he was wearing nothing but a dress shirt. He must have dropped everything and run.
Before I could answer, a doctor emerged from the trauma bay.
He told us Kerry’s condition was critical. She needed immediate surgery, and there were only two surgeons in the region capable of performing it:
Dr. Cole Sterling at Metropolitan General, and Dr. Ellis Vance at the State University Hospital
Before Mark could even process the names, I jumped in. “We’ll go to State University. Doctor, please, arrange the transfer-”
“Wait, why State?” Mark cut me off, his voice frantic. “Metropolitan General… Cole Sterling, that’s our dad! He’s been Kerry’s doctor this whole
time. He knows her case inside and out. We have to go there.”
“Dad’s on his honeymoon with Penny,” I said, my voice tight. “We shouldn’t bother them.”
In my last life, a single phone call had brought him back. It had saved Kerry, but it had killed our stepmother. The memory of the foul, chemical-
laced water flooding my throat was still fresh. I refused to die that way again.
“Are you kidding me?” Mark stared at me in disbelief. “What’s more important, a honeymoon or your sister’s life?”
He didn’t wait for an answer. He pulled out his phone and dialed.
it rang for a long, agonizing time before our father finally picked up, his voice thick with annoyance.
What is it?”
Chapter 1
“What is it?”
