The Pain In My Marriage

ay

t through the ni

his hand was still aimed at the man sprawled in the grass, groaning in pain. Layla's heart pounded in her chest

shouted ag

didn't

bo

coat, yanking her to the side. "Not that way," he sa

, weaving through the underbrush with the precision of a soldier. His fingers were bruising around her

more engines

ng to follow

wing," Ryder said. "Bu

wet earth. Layla stumbled once, her ankle twisting painfully

t beyond the edge of

truth clenche

dden behind a thicket of pines. He yanked th

ld

ud as they tore down a service trail. The sound of gunfire echoed once, twice behind them, but R

ers were shaking, her lip was bleeding-she must've bit

was

not

t

oing?" she aske

oking at her. "But we need to switch cars

you hel

n't answe

y brother's capable of. And

sharply. "You

l on the road. "He told me everything. T

tightened.

ects is true... then we need to act fast. Ethan and Kat

rred with tears. "

cked. "Exactly

-

hours, leaving

pulled into a secluded garage behind a small cabin surrounded by woods. The cabin looke

eather couch, her body aching,

g of hot tea i

You ne

he heat soothed th

he asked. "We

said. "We ma

met hi

eyes she hadn't seen in any

i

ra

-

morning, Da

lutched in her arms like a shield.

esults," Damien sa

sat up

ace of the meds listed in her records. Worse-her recent scans were faked.

lt the w

.. not

aid softly. "S

ouldn't

lness. They used Nova's real childhood condition, which had already bee

ed down La

curled i

been pois

to keep her weak. But now that you

oice shaking. "The

have to be smart. They'll disc

the phone

en meet us tonight. We need to go public. N

. Katherine's already spinning a narra

Layla wh

o. There's a warrant out. They're

-

night at a rented saf

of documents. "This is everything. Medical evidence, forgeries

ed through

to unnecessary IV drips, while Kathe

turned. "That's

en said. "Now i

f the contract. The donor clause was highlig

is null and void," Ryder said.

Layla said, her voice h

-

the first le

rds to a major Manhattan journalist.

Fire: Donor Fraud Allegatio

, the intern

a statement cla

"a mentally unstable woman" who "stole her si

m the cabin, her jaw loc

ing," she

corrected. "And despera

elope arrived at the c

ned it ca

as a sin

o

ospita

to ma

closed, f

note scrawle

me, or s

-

the photo. Her

ht her. "W

oice cracking. "They have he

aged. Look at the monitor flatline, but sh

er," Layla said. "We

Damien warned. "That's what they

the photo, her

set our o

-

, Layla ma

aw, unfiltered, stra

of a blank wall, no make

r the promise that my terminally ill sister would receive a donor transplant. That donor neve

s. The DNA report. The f

ormation goes straight to federal prosecutor

e video with

oming

-

s, the vide

Nova trende

state. Protestors gathered. Medical

rtain, Ethan and

a call from one of

rivate facility," he told L

interce

-

n was d

d tail the ambulance

lunteer aide and slip in

lipped on a fake ID, and w

the ambulanc

behind it in Ry

orth, toward the private fa

ad one

aused a distraction-a staged c

ulance

locked

a mo

hrough the

was groggy, p

" she m

ispered, unhooking her I

she could

turned, pul

as E

he said, voice cold.