Chapter 2

Skye's POV

I don't know how I got out of the hospital.

The storm lashed my face like whips as I ran through the midnight streets like a madwoman.

Five thousand dollars. I needed five thousand dollars.

I burst into an underground pawn shop that was still open. The owner was a burly man with scars across his face, smoking a cheap cigar while watching TV.

I tore the necklace from my throat and slammed it onto the counter.

It was the platinum necklace Liam had given me for my eighteenth birthday. Back then, we had just graduated from Saint Love Orphanage, ready to enter college together.

Fifteen years of depending on each other. He was my only family, and I was his only anchor. He had promised this necklace meant he would always protect me, just like those nights we huddled together for warmth in the orphanage.

But now, I had to pawn it.

"Pawn this. How much can I get?" I gasped, drenched and trembling like a ghost.

The owner glanced at it, weighed it in his palm, then examined it through a magnifying glass.

"Five hundred bucks." He blew out a smoke ring.

"This is PLATINUM! It cost three thousand originally!" I shrieked.

"No certificate, no receipt. How do I know you didn't steal it?" The owner sneered. "Five hundred bucks. Take it or leave it."

"I'll TAKE IT!" I grabbed the crumpled bills he tossed out and rushed back into the storm.

Five hundred dollars. Nowhere near enough.

I ran to the black market blood bank, but the fat woman in charge took one look at my pale face and kicked me out: "Drawing blood AGAIN? You wanna die in my chair? GET OUT!"

I even went to my former roommate, but she said coldly through the door crack, "I'm broke," and deadbolted the door.

3 AM.

With eight hundred and twenty dollars scraped together from everywhere, I stumbled back to Saint Mary's Veterinary Hospital.

I had lost one shoe running, and my foot was cut by broken glass, leaving bloody prints with every step on the floor.

"Doctor!" I collapsed at the front desk, shoving the wrinkled bills and coins toward the nurse. "I got eight hundred! Please, start Buddy's surgery! I'll pay the rest tomorrow, I SWEAR! I'll write an IOU, I'll leave my passport as collateral!"

The attending veterinarian walked out of the operating room, pulling off his mask, pity flickering in his eyes.

"Look, I wish I could help, but we have protocols, Miss Watson. No payment, no surgery. That's just how it works."

"PROTOCOLS? Are protocols more important than LIFE!" I screamed hysterically, my knees buckling as I dropped to the floor with a thud.

"Please... he's all I have left. Please save him..." I clutched the doctor's white coat, tears and rainwater crashing to the floor.

The doctor sighed, trying to pry my hands away. "Calm down. We've given him pain meds, but that's all we can do. If we don't have the money within thirty minutes..."

Suddenly, a piercing alarm shrieked from the operating room.

"BEEEEEEP—"

That sound hit me like a punch to the gut.

I froze.

The doctor's face changed. He spun around and rushed into the operating room. Seconds later, he emerged, looked at me, and shook his head.

"He's gone."

The entire world went silent in that instant.

I didn't cry. I thought I would break down sobbing, but my tears seemed to have dried up already.

I slowly stood up, pushed past the doctor, and walked into the operating room.

Buddy lay quietly on the stainless steel table. His eyes were half-open, but empty. His body was still slightly warm, but he was gone.

I walked over and pressed my face against his furry neck.

"I'm sorry, Buddy," I whispered. "I failed you."

My phone vibrated frantically in my pocket.

I numbly pulled out my phone.

It was a video from Locke. In the video, his men were already standing outside my dorm room, holding a stack of flyers printed with my forged "nude photos."

"Time's up, Skye. Ready to be RUINED?"

Then another message came through.

From Sarah.

It was a photo. In it, Liam lay shirtless and asleep on a hotel bed while Sarah leaned against his chest, flashing a victory sign at the camera.

Below was a voice message.

I clicked play, and Sarah's sickeningly sweet voice echoed in the quiet operating room:

"Skye, quit throwing yourself at Liam like some desperate bitch. Trash like you doesn't belong anywhere NEAR him. Oh, and did your mutt die? If it did, let me know so I can pop some champagne to CELEBRATE."

Listening to that message while looking at Buddy's body, I suddenly remembered something from two years ago.

Back then, Liam wasn't like he was now.

We had just started school when he met Sarah—that blonde, blue-eyed princess. From that moment, everything changed. The boy who used to stay up late with me in the library started frequenting upscale bars and fraternity parties. In those nights of wine and revelry, there was no place for me anymore.

I stared at Sarah's triumphant smile on the screen and found myself smiling slightly.

I got it now.

This world wasn't made for people like me.

Rules were made for the rich. Kindness was entertainment for the wealthy. People like me—even breathing was a mistake.

That boy who held my hand in the orphanage and said "we'll change our fate together" had died long ago in Sarah's embrace.

I lifted Buddy's heavy body and walked out of the hospital step by step.

The rain kept falling.

He was asleep forever. And I had died with him in this rainy night.