Chapter 2

Looking at the room full of people, every medical instinct in me screamed to refuse.

Yet Maya gently tugged at my hem.

"Mommy, if I help him, will he stop hurting?"

I knelt down and gathered her small body into my arms.

"It will hurt you, Maya."

She buried her face in my shoulder, her voice muffled.

"If Mommy is with me, I won't be scared."

I squeezed my eyes shut. Finally, I heard myself whisper:

"I agree."

Rachael let out a sharp sigh of relief, wiping her tears as she stood up.

"Chloe, I always knew you had the biggest heart."

When I bent down to pick up the records, I caught the unmistakable smirk stretching across her lips.

It wasn't relief.

It wasn't gratitude.

It was the look of someone getting exactly what she wanted.

On Maya’s first day in the hematology unit, she began her mobilization injections.

When the thick needle pierced her skin, her entire frame shuddered. She didn't scream; she just bit her bottom lip until it turned white.

The moment the nurse pulled the needle out, she threw herself into my chest.

"Mommy, it hurts so bad."

I cradled her, my hands shaking violently.

"It'll be over soon, my love. Mommy’s right here."

By the second dose, she ran a low-grade fever.

By the third, bone pain racked her legs, and she clung to the bed rails, whimpering through the night.

By the fourth, the backs of her tiny hands were bruised black and blue.

On the fifth morning, the first thing she said when she opened her eyes was:

"Mommy, can I stop being a brave girl now?"

My composure shattered right there.

But Leo had already begun his conditioning chemo.

The oncologists made it clear: once the recipient’s bone marrow was wiped out, the donor could not back down. Stopping meant Leo’s immediate death.

Swallowing the knife twisting in my throat, I held her tight.

"Just two more days, baby. When this is all over, Mommy will buy you that huge strawberry shortcake you wanted."

Her eyes lit up slightly.

"The biggest one?"

"Yes, the biggest one in the bakery."

On the seventh morning, right before Maya was wheeled into the apheresis room, she suddenly reached out and gripped my hand.

"Mommy, what if I don't wake up?"

I knelt beside the gurney, pressing my cheek against the back of her cold hand.

"You will. Mommy will be waiting right outside this door."

She turned her head to look at Brandon.

"Daddy, will you wait for me too?"

Brandon’s phone vibrated in his hand—a SnapChat message from Rachael on the screen. He swiped it away, bent down, and stroked Maya's hair.

"I'll wait."

The doors swung shut. I leaned against the hallway wall, my legs trembling so violently I could barely stand.

Four hours later, the nurse emerged with good news: the stem cell collection was a success.

Before I could even exhale, screams erupted by the billing counter.

"Thirty thousand dollars?!"

Rachael stood at the desk, waving the invoice in the air, her face twisted in rage.

Evelyn was scowling beside her. "I thought this was saving a life! Why does it cost so much damn money?!"

I grabbed the invoice, forcing my voice to remain calm.

"Maya is only six. Her risks are infinitely higher than an adult’s. The observation protocols, the sterile isolation room, and post-procedure infection prevention aren’t optional."

Rachael suddenly let out a mocking laugh.

"Don’t you dare try to scare us, Chloe."

"I looked it up online. Stem cell donation is supposed to be an act of charity! The hospital is supposed to cover it!"

She shook her phone in my face.

"Why is it that when it comes to your daughter, my family suddenly has to fork over thirty grand?"

I stared at her in utter disbelief.

"Leo just received my daughter's stem cells! And you’re standing here counting pennies?!"

Rachael slammed the bill onto the counter.

"If I don’t count them, who will?!"

"A six-year-old girl gets poked for a few hours, and you bill us thirty thousand?!"

"Are you saving my son, or are you using him as your personal ATM?!"

Bystanders and nurses in the lobby all turned their heads.

My voice turned deadly quiet. "Rachael, watch your mouth."

Tears welled in her eyes on cue as she pulled out her phone and started recording.

"Look, everyone! Look at Dr. Chloe Vance! Using her position at this hospital to harvest her own daughter just to fabricate a massive bill and extort my family while my son is dying!"

Dizziness washed over me.

"Put that phone down."

She stepped back, wailing louder.

"What are you so scared of? Feeling guilty?!"

Evelyn chimed in, glaring at me. "Chloe, it’s not that we don’t trust you, but this amount is outrageous. You need to explain this itemized bill right now!"

Looking at them, a chill crept through my veins.

An hour ago, they were calling Maya their savior.

Now that the cells were harvested, they were ready to tear our throats out.