Chapter 1

The day my dad’s life insurance payout cleared, my husband asked me for half a million dollars.

"Chloe, my childhood buddy Kevin needs help. His mom needs emergency heart bypass surgery, and they are short by half a million."

"Can we lend it to him? Just to get him through this?"

I froze. "Ethan, this is the money my dad paid for with his life! It’s my saving grace for my liver transplant!"

"My surgery is next week. If I miss this window, you know what will happen to me!"

Ethan snapped, accusing me of being cold-blooded and selfish.

"Once we lend it out, we’ll be a bit short for your surgery," he reasoned.

"But we can figure something out. We can take out a loan, ask our relatives... But Kevin's mom can’t wait!"

I set the bank card down and grabbed my phone. "Wait here."

"Where are you going?"

"To call my mom." I didn't look back.

"I want to ask her if half of my liver is enough to share with an outsider."

But before I could dial, my phone buzzed. A text notification popped up: $500,000 had just been transferred out of my account.

And the recipient was Hailey—Ethan’s college classmate, the girl he always referred to as his "sweet little sister who works hard all by herself in the city."