Chapter 2

Grayson and I couldn't be bothered to deal with him.

But instead of letting it go, Zachary grabbed Grayson and refused to let him leave.

My mother walked in right then.

"I could hear the racket from out in the hall. Has Julian's surgery started yet?"

She stepped inside, saw that his attending physician was still here, and her face changed.

"The surgery hasn't started? What's going on?"

My father's voice was bitter.

"This piece of garbage says Bella Cobb should have the surgery first."

My mother's eyes went wide.

"What?"

She knew exactly what was going on between Bella and Zachary, and she ripped the cover clean off it.

"I knew there was something dirty between the two of you. Have you lost your mind? That's your own son!"

At those words, the color drained from Bella's face.

"No, that's not—"

Zachary quickly steadied her.

He put himself between her and my mother.

"I'm the one who asked her to get tested for a match. You're spreading filth about a patient. Isn't that going too far?"

Before all this, Zachary would never have dared talk to my mother that way.

But now he fancied himself a man from another timeline.

So he'd grown fearless.

Bella's voice caught on a sob.

"Zachary and I only dated, that's all. Don't slander him like that."

"He has a good job, a family, a child. How could a man like him have anything going with someone like me?"

Retreating to advance.

It was always her move.

Back when they were together, it was the same. The moment Zachary didn't do what she wanted, she'd threaten to break up.

Zachary had meant to go coax her that time.

Instead he ended up muddling into bed with me, and once he learned I was pregnant, my family's pressure left him no choice but to marry me.

All these years, we'd lived together as polite strangers.

I ran myself ragged for our son's illness, and all I ever asked of him was that he be responsible to the family.

And Bella had only gotten better at the game.

It made Zachary ache for her all the more.

"I won't let anything happen to you."

He soothed her softly, and it set my family off.

"The two of you, cheating like this!"

I stood up, my face cold.

"My child is going into surgery today, no matter what. If you dare pull strings to let your first love cut ahead of him, I'll divorce you, and I'll post everything you've done online until your name is finished."

Zachary's expression shifted, twisting with disgust.

"You lunatic!"

"How did I ever end up married to a woman this selfish?"

My mother pressed a hand to her forehead.

"You've lost every shred of conscience. Trading your own son's life to win some other woman's favor?"

"And you, drop the innocent act. If you really don't want to put everyone in a hard spot, give up this match and wait for the next one yourself."

Bella trembled, her eyes brimming with tears.

"I didn't do anything wrong."

"I just want to live. What's my crime?"

My brother-in-law is the last disciple the visiting specialist ever took on. He walked in on the scene.

He couldn't help pulling Zachary aside.

"You're being a fool. You're a married man now."

"Being tangled up with this woman was wrong to begin with, and now you want to make your own son give up his match? That's against the rules!"

He hadn't expected Zachary to be so far past reasoning with.

"I'm going to save Bella."

"Nobody talks me out of it today."

My father clenched his fists and rose to his feet.

"I'll give you one last chance. Take Julian into surgery now, and we can pretend you weren't in your right mind."

Zachary shook his head.

"I told you, the person on that operating table today has to be Bella."

"You don't even know yet whether her match will work!"

"As long as there's the smallest sliver of hope, I won't let it go!"

My heart dropped into a pit of ice.