ey'

ve that car now or I'm

ds shaking so badly I could barely grip them. The Honda's engine turned over once

from her car seat, her small vo

in. Twelve dollars and thirty-seven cents. The same amount as fi

e're going to se

ook like a walking caution sign. I grabbed Lily and ran for the emergency room ent

ve that vehicle there

ted back, pushing thro

g was gleaming white and chrome, from the marble floors to the reception desk where

said, shifting Lily's weight in my arms. "She

from my soaked hair to my thrif

surance right no

can you

other people in the waiting room staring. A woman in a

e dollars," I

fore any treatment." Her voice was flat, rehearsed

acked. "She's only four. I'll

'm sorry, but we can't provide treatment withou

causing several heads to turn. "My daughter ha

ing against my chest. Her fever was getting w

ve," the receptionist said. "Or we can call so

ice water. "No. No, p

ices meant losing Lily. They'd take one look at our situati

s voice was sm

. We're going to

hing I could do. Someone I could ask for help. But my family had disown

pered conversation from two

s here again?" one said, st

ire? What's h

after that scandal with his ex-fiancée,

a new girlfriend. Someon

you mean. Like those

at name. The tech mogul who'd built an empire from not

would pay for that kind of arra

bably enough to solv

uld survive six months with that man

sane. Desperate. The kind of idea that only occurred

face and felt her fever burning through her cl