Chapter 1 I was picking my son up from school when a speeding Porsche sent little Leo flying twenty-five feet through the air. Leo’s face was covered in blood. His tiny hand was still clutching the new Spider-Man action figure I had just bought him. I held him, dropping to my knees on the asphalt, screaming for bystanders to call 911. But the woman who hit him didn’t even bother to open her car door. She leaned back in the driver’s seat, casually touched up her lipstick in the rearview mirror, and dialed her phone. Her voice was sugary and dripping with fake panic: “Mr. Sterling, I got into a little accident. I’m so scared, please come save me…” Three minutes later, two black SUVs aggressively swerved into the intersection, completely blocking the road. Six bodyguards in black suits piled out and formed a human wall around me and Leo. I screamed that my child was coughing up blood, that he was going to die if we didn’t get him to a hospital right now. The head bodyguard’s face was devoid of all emotion. He even stepped sideways to block the path of the approaching ambulance. “The boss gave strict orders. Until liability is officially determined, no one leaves this scene. Including the injured.” I charged forward like a madwoman, but my arms were instantly pinned to my sides by two massive guards. The woman finally stepped out of the Porsche. She strutted over in her designer heels, crouched down, and gave Leo a dismissive glance. “The kid doesn’t even look that badly hurt.” She turned her head, whining into her phone: “Mr. Sterling, they’re totally trying to run an insurance scam on me. You have to back me up.” “Don’t worry.” The voice coming from the phone was chillingly familiar, so calm it made my heart stop. “I’ll handle it. Stay in the car.” Leo’s lips were already turning blue. Like grabbing onto a lifeline, I screamed that name with everything I had. “Victor Sterling! The boy she hit is Leo!” …… The other end of the line went dead silent for a second. The woman sneered and abruptly hung up the phone. The beep-beep-beep of the disconnected call was deafening in the chaotic street. She shoved her phone into her Birkin bag and looked down at me with absolute contempt. “What are you screaming about?” “Did you think overhearing our boss’s name would get you somewhere?” “Mr. Sterling is a very busy man. You think he has time to know some ghetto scammer like you?” My eyes were practically splitting open as I glared at her with pure hatred. “That is Victor Sterling’s biological son!” “You hit him! Victor won’t let you get away with this!” The woman acted like she had just heard the funniest joke in the world, covering her mouth as she giggled. “Oh my god, you are such a good liar.” “Before you try to pull a shakedown, you should do your research. Do you really think you can just make up rumors about Mr. Sterling?” Miles away, Victor Sterling hung up the phone, a flicker of doubt crossing his mind. He dialed the house phone to check in with the nanny, Martha. “Martha, are my wife and son home?” Martha had been gossiping and watching soap operas all afternoon. She hadn’t even noticed they weren’t back yet. Without missing a beat, she lied: “Yes, sir. The Mrs. and the young master are out watering the plants in the greenhouse right now.” She had no idea that this single, careless lie would become the young master’s death sentence. Victor let out a sigh of relief and tossed his phone onto his desk. His disgust for the hysterical voice he had heard over the phone deepened. Just another pathetic scammer, he muttered to himself. “Let me go!” I fought with every ounce of strength I had to break free from the bodyguards’ grip. I threw myself down next to Leo. Blood was continuously bubbling up from Leo’s nose, completely staining the front of his little white school shirt. He struggled to open his eyes, his tiny hand trembling weakly. “Mommy… it hurts…” My heart felt like it was being fed through a meat grinder. “Don’t be scared, Leo. Mommy’s here. The ambulance is right outside.” I threw my head back and roared at the bodyguards with a shredded voice. “Get out of the way! The ambulance is right behind you!” “He is dying! Weren’t you raised by mothers too?! Do you have no souls?!” The head bodyguard stood like an unfeeling wall of concrete. He looked at me with dead eyes. “Mr. Sterling’s orders. Ms. Vance is highly distressed. Until Mr. Sterling’s personal lawyer arrives on scene, no one tampers with the evidence.” “The ambulance can wait. Ms. Vance’s legal rights cannot be compromised.” The crowd of bystanders finally had enough. A few young guys surged forward, pointing angrily at the bodyguards. “Have you lost your damn minds?!” “You hit someone, refuse to let them get medical help, and block the road?! This is murder!” “Come on, let’s push them out of the way! We have to save the kid!” The crowd started shoving against the suited men. The head bodyguard’s eyes turned lethal. He reached to his belt and whipped out an extendable tactical baton. Thwack! A sickening thud echoed as the baton slammed into the shoulder of the guy leading the charge. He stumbled back, crying out in pain. In perfect unison, the rest of the bodyguards drew their batons and formed a rigid line. “Sterling Enterprises business. Bystanders, back the hell up.” “Anyone who takes one more step is instigating a physical assault.” The brutal, organized display of violence terrified the crowd, forcing them to back away. Tiffany Vance leaned casually against her Porsche, meticulously inspecting her fresh manicure. “Exactly. A bunch of broke losers playing hero.” “If they hurt you, Mr. Sterling can easily afford the payout. But if they crack your skulls open, can you afford the hospital bill?” She strolled over to me and casually kicked the Spider-Man toy that had slipped from Leo’s hand. “This toy looks like a cheap knockoff. What, ten bucks?” “Just spit it out. How much cash will it take to make you shut up?” “Ten grand? Twenty grand?” My hands were shaking violently as I picked up the Spider-Man figure and gripped it tightly in my palm. Leo’s breathing was growing shallower. The rise and fall of his chest was almost imperceptible. I looked up, my eyes bloodshot, staring at Tiffany. “I don’t want your money.” “I’m begging you, tell them to move. Let the paramedics in.” “As long as you let me save my child, I will do anything you want.” Tiffany raised an eyebrow, clearly satisfied by my submission. “Anything?” I nodded frantically. “Great.” She pointed down at her designer heels. “When I stepped out of the car, I got a little dust on my shoe.” “Get on your knees and lick it clean for me.” “If I’m in a good mood after, maybe I’ll be generous and let the ambulance through.” A wave of disgusted cursing erupted from the crowd. “This woman is a psychopath!” “Pure evil!” I bit down on my lip so hard I tasted blood. I looked down at my dying son in my arms. Without a single second of hesitation, my knees bent, and I dropped straight to the pavement at Tiffany’s feet. Chapter 2 Thud. My knees slammed heavily against the asphalt. The entire street went dead silent. Everyone stared at me in sheer disbelief. Even the stoic head bodyguard furrowed his brow slightly. Tiffany was stunned for a moment before bursting into a shrill, piercing laugh. “Oh my god, you actually kneeled.” “I guess this little bastard really is important to you.” She deliberately extended her foot forward, the pointed toe of her shoe almost poking my chin. “Lick it.” “Make sure you get it spotless. These heels were custom-ordered from Paris by Mr. Sterling. If you ruin them, you could never afford to replace them.” I lowered my head, staring at the dust-covered red stilettos. Dignity meant absolutely nothing right now. If it meant saving Leo, I would gladly die. I closed my eyes and slowly leaned forward. Just as my lips were about to touch the leather— Tiffany suddenly snapped her leg up. Her sharp heel kicked me viciously in the shoulder. Caught completely off guard, I was thrown backward, hitting the hard pavement with a sickening thud. “Hahahaha!” Tiffany laughed so hard she was shaking. She held up her phone, recording me. “What an obedient little dog.” “TikTok, look at this. Ran into a scammer today. She’s so desperate for cash she threw away all her dignity.” Ignoring the searing pain in my shoulder, I scrambled back to my knees. “I tried to lick it. Will you let the ambulance in now?” Tiffany put her phone away and pouted dramatically. “Sorry, I changed my mind. I don’t want you to lick it anymore.” “I think it’s too disgusting.” “You’re just going to have to keep waiting for the lawyer.” I completely snapped. “You monster!” I surged up from the ground like a feral lioness protecting her cub and threw myself at her. I locked my hands around her throat and slammed her against the hood of the Porsche. “Let them in! Save my son!” Tiffany shrieked in terror. “Murder! Help me!” Two bodyguards rushed over instantly, gripping my arms in a vice and ripping me off her. With a violent heave, they hoisted me completely off the ground. “Let go of me! You murderers!” I kicked my legs frantically in the air. The head bodyguard walked over, his eyes devoid of humanity. “You just don’t know when to quit.” He raised his heavy, steel-toed boot and brought it down with devastating force directly onto my right knee. CRACK. A crisp, horrifying snap. Agony instantly shredded my nervous system. I let out a bloodcurdling scream, collapsing onto the asphalt like a sack of broken bones. My right leg bent at a grotesque, unnatural angle. Cold sweat instantly soaked through my clothes. Tiffany rubbed her throat, marched over, and slapped me hard across the face. “You bitch! You dared to touch me?!” “Beat her! If she dies, put it on my tab!” Right at that moment. A massive commotion erupted from the outer edge of the crowd. “Ram them! Screw it, if something happens, I’ll take the blame!” An eighteen-wheeler fully loaded with cargo suddenly roared to life, its massive engine revving as it accelerated straight into the blockade of black SUVs. CRASH! The deafening sound of crunching metal echoed down the block. The impact violently violently shoved the two SUVs apart, creating a gap. The trucker hopped out of the cab, wielding a massive steel wrench. “Even if I go to prison today, I’m not gonna stand by and let you animals murder a kid!” The crowd was completely ignited. Dozens of pedestrians surged forward like a tidal wave, using their sheer numbers to physically smash through the bodyguards’ defensive line. “Hurry! Get the medics in here!” The paramedics sprinted through the gap carrying their trauma kits. They rapidly strapped an oxygen mask onto Leo and lifted him onto a stretcher. “He’s lost too much blood! Pupils are starting to dilate! He needs surgery right now!” Dragging my shattered leg behind me, I crawled across the asphalt and grabbed the edge of the stretcher. “Doctor, please… save him… I’m begging you…” With red, tear-filled eyes, the paramedic helped lift me into the back of the ambulance alongside my son. The moment the ambulance doors slammed shut, I saw Tiffany furiously dialing her phone. “Mr. Sterling! They assaulted me! And they took that little bastard to Sterling Medical Center!” “You have to make them pay for this!” Victor’s deep, cold voice drifted through her phone’s speaker, perfectly clear to my ears. “Don’t panic. I’ll make the arrangements.” “Sterling Medical Center is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sterling Enterprises.” “I promise you, no surgeon in that building will dare pick up a scalpel today.” Chapter 3 The ambulance wove recklessly through the rush hour traffic. But the blaring sirens couldn’t drown out the frantic pounding of my heart. Leo lay on the stretcher, his small face as white as a sheet of paper. The lines on the EKG monitor were flattening out, the alarm beeping like a countdown to death. “Blood pressure is still dropping!” “We need an immediate transfusion! Radio Sterling Med’s blood bank, tell them to prep O-negative blood now!” the paramedic roared into his radio. I gripped Leo’s ice-cold hand tightly, my tears splashing onto his skin. “Leo, hold on just a little longer. We’re almost at the hospital.” “Didn’t you want to watch Spider-Man fight the bad guys? Mommy will take you tomorrow, I promise.” Leo’s eyelashes fluttered weakly, but he didn’t have the strength to open his eyes. Fifteen minutes later, the ambulance careened into the emergency bay of Sterling Medical Center. The ER doors were wide open, but not a single nurse came out with a gurney to receive us. A deathly silence hung over the entire emergency department. The paramedic froze in shock, then jumped out of the rig and yelled: “Where is the trauma team?! Bring a gurney out here!” No answer. Just a few nurses hiding behind the triage desk, keeping their heads down, terrified to even look at us. The paramedic cursed loudly and sprinted inside to grab a gurney himself. Together, we rushed Leo toward the trauma bay. But just as we reached the double doors, a middle-aged man in a white coat blocked our path. It was the Chief Administrator of the hospital. He was sweating profusely, his eyes darting around the room. “Stop. You can’t go into the trauma bay.” The paramedic grabbed the administrator by the collar of his coat. “Are you out of your damn mind?! This child has severe internal bleeding! If we don’t operate now, he will die!” The administrator forcefully peeled the paramedic’s hands off him and lowered his voice. “This is a direct order from the top!” “Mr. Sterling personally called and mandated that until the liability for the accident is determined, all medical resources at Sterling Medical Center are to be entirely locked down.” “The blood bank has been locked. Every surgical chief has been called into an emergency mandatory meeting.” “I have a family to feed! I can’t afford to disobey Mr. Sterling!” I felt like I had been struck by lightning. Victor. Are you truly this soulless? Just to help your little mistress vent her anger, you’re willing to sacrifice the life of an innocent child?! Dragging my broken leg, I dropped to my knees in front of the administrator. “Please! I am begging you, save him!” “He’s only five years old!” “If you save him, I will work like a dog for you for the rest of my life!” The administrator turned his head away, refusing to meet my eyes. “Ma’am, please don’t make this harder than it is.” “In this city, if you cross Victor Sterling, you’re as good as dead.” “You need to take your child to County General. Maybe you can still make it.” County General? With this traffic, it would take at least thirty minutes to get to the nearest major trauma center. Leo couldn’t even hold on for five! Driven by pure desperation, I pulled out my phone. With trembling, bloody fingers, I dialed Victor’s number. First try: Declined. Second try: Declined. I kept hitting redial like a lunatic. Finally, the call connected. “Victor Sterling! Tell your people to stand down! Let the doctors operate on Leo!” I screamed into the phone, my voice tearing my throat apart. A sickeningly sweet, artificial voice answered on the other end. “Oh my god, it’s the crazy lady again.” It was Tiffany. She giggled into the receiver. “Mr. Sterling is busy checking the scrape on my knee right now. He’s so worried about me.” “He said that whatever happens to that scammer kid has absolutely nothing to do with him, and you need to stop harassing us.” “Oh, and Mr. Sterling also said that if you dare to cause a scene at his hospital, he has a hundred different ways to make sure your entire family never finds work in this city again.” The blood in my veins turned to ice. “Give him the phone! Make him listen to me!” “My name is Clara! The boy who was hit is his biological son!” Chapter 4 Tiffany let out an annoyed tsk. “Are you done yet? Still trying to keep the act going?” “Yes, Mr. Sterling’s wife is named Clara, but right now she’s probably sitting in the mansion watching cartoons with the young master.” “Take your pathetic, low-class scams and go to hell.” With that, she hung up the phone. I slumped onto the floor, my phone slipping from my bloody hands and cracking against the tile. Despair swallowed me whole like a black hole. Right at that moment, the EKG monitor outside the trauma bay let out a long, piercing tone. BEEEEEEP— It was a blindingly flat, green line. The paramedic froze in his tracks. He slowly turned around, looked at the monitor displaying the absence of a heartbeat, and painfully squeezed his eyes shut. “Resuscitation failed…” He didn’t even call the time of death. Because this child was never even given the chance to be resuscitated. I remained on my knees, completely paralyzed. The world around me seemed to instantly lose all sound. I couldn’t hear the nurses sobbing quietly, couldn’t hear the paramedic cursing in rage. My eyes were locked onto the tiny body resting on the gurney. Leo’s face had turned an ashen gray. The white school shirt was soaked through with blood, now drying into a dark, rusty maroon. The little hand that had been tightly gripping the Spider-Man action figure now hung lifelessly off the edge of the stretcher. The toy slipped from his grasp, clattering sharply against the hospital floor. Dragging my shattered leg, I crawled toward him, inch by inch. I picked up the Spider-Man toy and gently tucked it back into his cold, lifeless hand. “Leo, hold onto your toy.” “Didn’t you say Spider-Man was going to protect Mommy?” I pressed my face against his icy cheek. My tears had completely run dry; all that was left was a raw, burning agony in my eyes. “Why aren’t you protecting Mommy anymore…?” “Wake up. Please, just wake up and look at Mommy…” No one answered me. The entire hallway was as silent as a graveyard. Suddenly, the sharp, rhythmic clicking of high heels broke the silence from the end of the corridor. Followed by a woman’s whiny, pampered complaints. “Ugh, the smell of bleach in this trashy hospital is so disgusting.” “Victor, I told you I was fine! Why did you insist on bringing me here for a full-body scan?” “The scrape on my knee is basically fully healed already.” Hearing that voice, my spine instantly went rigid. I slowly turned my head. Victor Sterling, wearing a bespoke black suit, walked down the hall with an imposing, powerful posture. He had one arm wrapped protectively around Tiffany’s waist, a look of indulgent exasperation on his face—a look he had never once given me. “You were in an accident. It doesn’t matter who was at fault, getting checked out is the smart thing to do.” “We need to make sure there’s no lasting trauma.” His voice was so gentle it could melt ice. Tiffany leaned against his chest, letting out a smug, spoiled hum. “It’s all that scammer woman’s fault. She scared me half to death.” “You can’t let her off easy.” Victor looked up, his gaze sweeping carelessly toward the emergency bay. “Don’t worry. No one messes with my people and gets away with it.” He took long, confident strides toward us, the bodyguards trailing behind him immediately stepping up to clear the path. “Move.” The bodyguards shoved the doctors and nurses out of the way with brutal force. Victor stopped about six feet away from me. He didn’t look down at me. Instead, he glared directly at the paramedic. His voice was as cold as frost. “Are you the ones causing a disturbance in my hospital?” “Security, throw them out.” The paramedic, trembling with sheer rage, pointed a shaking finger right at Victor’s face and roared: “You are a goddamn monster!” “Because of your one order, a five-year-old child was dragged out and left to die!” “How do you sleep at night?! Aren’t you afraid of ghosts knocking on your door?!” Victor furrowed his brow, seemingly finding the accusation utterly absurd. “He was just a scammer. Good riddance.” He finally lowered his arrogant, noble head, his eyes lazily sweeping over the gurney. In that exact fraction of a second. Victor’s entire body violently froze.
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