Chapter Four

Tessa's POV

It was the housekeeper who slipped the fever medicine under my door in the middle of the night.

I swallowed two pills and drifted off with Finn in my arms. When I opened my eyes again, the strip of sunlight on the windowsill had already crept to the middle. Then a scream came from upstairs.

It was Finn.

I didn't even stop to put on shoes. I ran up the stairs, one hand on the wall to keep myself steady.

In the dining room, Wren was standing by the table, frowning and backing away.

"What are you yelling for? I'm trying to be nice and feed you, and you throw up all over me?"

There was a plate of half-eaten spicy chicken wings on the table, and the shiny red sauce was smeared all over Finn's chin. He had both hands around his throat. His face was turning purple, and he was coughing so hard his whole body shook.

"What did you give him?"

Wren shrugged like it was no big deal.

"Chicken wings. He eats that bland stuff every single day. I felt sorry for him, so I figured he could use something different."

Something in my head snapped, and I slapped her.

"He has heart failure! Are you trying to kill him?"

Before I'd even finished, Finn coughed up a mouthful of blood that splattered across the white tablecloth. He pointed at his throat with his mouth open, but he couldn't get a single word out.

My hands were shaking as I reached for my phone, but Wren lunged at me and pinned my wrist, her face gone white.

"Don't call 911! If an ambulance shows up, everybody's going to know it was me..."

I yanked my arm free, but then another hand clamped down on my wrist, so hard it felt like the bones would crack.

Carter was home.

He looked at the red, swollen side of Wren's face first. Then he looked at me, and whatever warmth was left in his eyes drained away.

"You hit her?"

Before I could open my mouth, he slapped me so hard I crashed into a dining chair.

"I told you not to touch her."

"Tessa, I thought you'd finally learned your lesson these past few days."

I tasted blood, and the whole room was spinning. But the pain didn't matter. I grabbed his sleeve and held on.

"Say whatever you want. It's all my fault. I'll own it."

"But Finn's got a bone stuck in his throat. He's coughing up blood. His heart can't take this. Carter, please, help him first..."

Only then did Carter look down at Finn. The color drained from his face, and he pulled out his phone and called 911.

Wren shrank behind him, tears streaming down her face.

"I'm sorry, I really didn't know this would happen... Am I going to jail? Are they going to sue me?"

Carter turned around, his voice low and gentle.

"Don't be scared. It looks worse than it is. He's had way scarier episodes than this."

"Even if something does happen, I'm his father. I'll sign a waiver and drop it. Nobody's going to touch you."

"I've got you."

The ambulance took us to the private hospital Holloway Group had invested in.

After the ER doctor finished examining Finn, his face was grim.

"A piece of bone cut into his esophagus. We need to open his chest right now. With his heart failure, anesthesia is extremely risky. What were you people doing? Wasn't anybody watching this kid?"

The operating room doors closed. I pressed my forehead against the cold glass and clasped my hands tight.

I lost track of how long I stood there. Then the doors suddenly swung open from the inside.

The anesthesiologist, the nurses, even the surgeon walked out, still wearing their bloody gloves.

Through the gap in the doors, I could see Finn's tiny body lying on the operating table. The incision in his chest was still open, and the monitor was beeping like crazy.

"Where are you going? You're not done!"

I threw myself at the surgeon, grabbed his sleeve with everything I had, and blocked the doorway with my body.

He frowned and wouldn't look me in the eye.

"I'm sorry, ma'am. Mr. Holloway's friend cut her hand down in the ER. She says she has a bleeding disorder. Word came down from upstairs for the whole team to get over there right now."

"That's my son! His chest is still open!"

"Please, just save him first. Ten minutes. Even five..."

His lips moved, but in the end, he pried my fingers off one by one.

My hands shook as I pulled out my phone. At the very bottom of my contacts was a number I'd kept blocked for ten whole years.

Before my mom died, she told me never to go to him.

I hit call. The second it connected, I said, "Please save my son."

A deep male voice answered right away. "Where are you?"

---

On the other side of the ER, Carter was holding Wren's freshly bandaged hand and gently blowing on it.

"How many times have I told you to be careful sharpening charcoal with a knife?"

"Good thing I called two nurses over, or who knows what would've happened to this hand."

Wren kept her eyes down and quietly said thanks.

Someone yanked the curtain open. The surgeon was standing outside.

"Mr. Holloway, the young lady's all taken care of. Can I go back and finish operating on your son now?"

Carter's hand went still.

"What do you mean?"

"Wait. My son's surgical team isn't in there with him?"

The doctor hesitated, and his eyes darted toward Wren without thinking. Before he could say anything, Carter let out a cold laugh.

"I get it. Tessa sent you, didn't she? I borrow two people for Wren, and she still has to make it a competition."

He stood up and strode toward the surgical wing.

"Fine. Let's go see for myself just how life-or-death it really is over there."

The doctor didn't say another word. He just followed behind him.

They made their way down the long hallway. Carter walked in front, his face dark, and kicked the operating room door open.

The next second, he froze in the doorway.