Chapter 1
At three in the morning, the lights in the operating room at Cloudire Central Hospital were still burning.
Sherry Pater had just completed a grueling ten-hour heart transplant. When she stepped out, her legs were so stiff she could barely move. Leaning against the cold hallway wall, she pulled off her mask and took a deep breath.
Her scrubs were soaked in sweat, clinging to her skin and sending a chill through her body.
"Ms. Pater, are you alright?" Nicole Moses, the nurse handed her a cup of glucose water, her eyes red. "You've been working for thirty-six hours straight."
"I'm fine," Sherry said, taking the cup and draining it in one go. The warm glucose water eased the dizziness from her low blood sugar, but couldn't touch the dull ache in her chest.
She glanced at her phone. On the screen was a text from Franklin Lloyd, sent half an hour ago. It was cold and blunt: [Tomorrow at nine, registry office. Dana's match is you. Sign the papers, get divorced, save her. Three things. Your choice.]
Sherry stared at those words, her mind going blank for a second.
Three years ago, when she married Franklin, he was just the young heir who'd taken over the family business.
She was a medical doctor, the youngest attending cardiologist at Cloudire Central Hospital. He said he loved her talent, her independence, and the way she looked so focused in her white coat.
But now, he wanted her kidney to save the girl he'd always loved, Dana Morgan.
The girl had been his everything for twenty years. She went abroad for treatment three years ago because of kidney failure, and now her condition had worsened; she desperately needed a transplant.
*****
"Ms. Pater?" Nicole called, worry clear in her voice.
Sherry shook herself out of it, locked her phone and stuffed it back in her pocket. "I'm going to change. Watch the ICU for me. If anything happens with the patient, let me know right away."
"Got it," Nicole said.
In the changing room, Sherry peeled off her scrubs and stared at the pale, worn-out woman in the mirror. Dark circles under her eyes, lips cracked, and a tiny cut on her neck from yesterday's surgery.
She couldn't remember the last time she'd actually slept. Ever since Dana moved back and checked into the Lloyd family's private hospital two weeks ago, Franklin wouldn't stop pestering her about "donating a kidney."
Franklin said, "Sherry, Dana can't wait any longer. You're a doctor. You know exactly what this means. Without a matching donor, she won't survive more than three months with end-stage kidney failure."
Sherry answered, "I can help her search for a donor, across the country, across the world, whatever it takes. But my kidney isn't an option. I'm a surgeon. I need to stay healthy, I need these hands, so I can keep doing surgeries and save more people."
Franklin scoffed, "Save more people? Wow, Sherry, you really think you're some kind of hero. But Dana is just one person, and she's dying. Those people you save—what do they have to do with you? Dana is everything to me. If she dies, I might as well die too."
In his world, all the lives she'd saved still couldn't outweigh just one Dana.
Sherry turned on the faucet and splashed cold water on her face. The chill snapped her awake. She changed into her street clothes and walked out of the hospital. The wind at this hour was freezing, and it made her shiver.
Franklin's car was parked right outside the entrance. He leaned against the door, a cigarette between his fingers, the red ember glowing and fading in the night. When he saw her, he stubbed out the cigarette and walked over.
"Sherry, we need to talk," Franklin said.
"There's nothing to talk about," Sherry said, sidestepping him and heading for the curb to hail a cab.
Franklin seized her wrist, his grip so tight it felt like he might crush her bones. "Sherry, don't make this harder than it has to be. Dana's running out of time. You have to save her. If you donate a kidney, I'll give you whatever you want. Money, a house, shares, name it.
"The divorce papers are already signed. The house is yours, plus five percent of Lloyd Group, worth 30 million dollars. That's more than enough for you to live comfortably for the rest of your life."
Sherry yanked her wrist free, rubbing the red mark he'd left, and looked up at him. "So that's all my kidney is worth to you, Franklin? Just 30 million dollars?"
Franklin frowned. "Sherry, don't make this difficult. You can't put a price on Dana's life, but right now, this is the best I can do. Just sign the papers, and tomorrow she'll get the surgery, and she'll live.
"You're a doctor. Isn't saving lives what you do? Dana needs you. Why won't you save her?"
"Because I don't want to," Sherry said, her voice cold and steady. "Franklin, listen to me. I'm not giving up my kidney. My kidney, my life, my choice. Get out of my way. I'm going home."