It was Doctor Abel, my mom's primary doctor since last year. He was one of the few hospital staff members who treated my mom and me with respect.
I rushed to him and grabbed his arm. "Where is my mother? I went to the ICU, but she's not there. Did you move her? Is she okay?"
His face softened as he took my hands in his and squeezed them gently. "Ms Rivers," he said quietly. "Where have you been? We've been trying to reach you for three days."
"It's a long story, doc, but I'm here now," my words tumbled over each other as I spoke. "I know I missed the deadline. I know it's the fourth, and I'll pay —I promise. I need to speak with the hospital director. They only need to give me until the end of today. I'll get the money, I swear."
Doctor Abel's smile faltered as he shifted awkwardly.
"Your father didn't tell you?"
My blood ran cold. "My father? What does he have to do with this?"
His gaze darted from my face to the Nurses' station before it rested on me again. "Maybe we should go to my office—"
"No." My voice was shaking now. "No, I don't have time. Just tell me where she is."
"Ms Rivers, please—"
"Tell me!" The words came out as a scream.
Everyone in the lobby turned to stare, and at that moment, it felt like I was losing my mind. Maybe I was.
Doctor Abel tried to reach for my arm again. "Please, let's talk in my office."
"No!" I yanked my arm from his hold, and my breath was coming in short gasps now. "I beg you, doctor. Just tell me where she is. I told you, I'll get the money; I want to see her before I leave."
"Ms Rivers, this is a hospital, not a marketplace. If you want to act unruly, go outside!"
A voice interrupted from behind. When I turned, I saw it was the hospital director striding towards us.
"I'm sorry, director," I bowed politely. "It's just that—"
But he cut me off. "You owe this hospital three years of unpaid medical bills," he said, not bothering to acknowledge my greeting. "We kept your mother here out of professional courtesy due to her status, but this isn't a charity organisation."
"I know," I whispered, still maintaining my bowing stance. "I appreciate everything you've done. But if I had the money anywhere, I would have paid already. I just need twenty-four hours. Please, just—"
He scoffed. "There is no twenty-four hours, Ms Rivers. Your mother had a crisis two nights ago and became brain-dead. We had to make a decision."
My vision blurred, and the pounding in my chest increased so much that I could hear the loud beatings in my ears.
"We tried to contact you," Doctor Abel said quickly. "We called, we texted, but you weren't reachable. When we couldn't do anything else, we had to contact your mother's alternate emergency contact. Your father made the decision to let her go peacefully."
"Decision?" I said, numbly staring at Doctor Abel. "What decision?"
Doctor Abel shifted uncomfortably, while the hospital director rolled his eyes in exasperation.
"We did everything we could, Naya," Doctor Abel said quietly. "I'm so sorry, but your mother passed away three days ago."
"No." I shook my head, trying to see through the tears that had filled my eyes. "No, that's—that's not right. You weren't supposed to take her off life support until today. You said four days."
"We had to take her off life support because she had a crisis on Tuesday morning," the hospital director said. "We tried all we could to resuscitate her, but she went brain-dead within an hour. It was a difficult decision for your father."
"We held on to the body for two days, hoping you'd show up, and when you didn't, your father settled her final bills and claimed her remains. The funeral was yesterday," Doctor Abel supplied.
A dizzying spell hit me, and the next thing I saw was myself on all fours on the ground.
They had buried my mother yesterday while I was unconscious in Hansel Ward's penthouse.
"No," I whispered. "No, no, no."
"I'm truly sorry," Doctor Abel crouched beside me. "We tried everything—"
"Get away from me!" I shoved him, and he stumbled back.
I couldn't breathe; it felt like the walls were closing in, and my whole body was shaking. I couldn't believe my mom was dead.
I'd failed her.
I chose wrong. At every turn, I chose wrong. I gave Caleb the money that was supposed to have paid her hospital bills. I tried to drug a stranger instead of finding honest work, and what did it get me? Nothing.
I ended up losing the very person I wanted so badly to save.
"I need to see her," I said. My voice sounded strange in my ears. "Please, let me see my mother."
"Ms Rivers," the director's voice was cold. "As Doctor Abel said, your father claimed her remains. She was buried yesterday. There's nothing to see. What's most important now is paying the outstanding bill."
I didn't get to say goodbye. I didn't get to hold her hand or tell her how sorry I was for choosing Caleb over her and for not being there when she needed me most.
Something broke inside me, and a sound came out of my throat. It wasn't a scream nor was it a sob, it was something primal than that, carrying all the pain I've managed to suppress until this point.
My stomach heaved, and I lurched to the side and vomited right there on the hospital floor. The people around me gasped as my body kept convulsing, even after there was nothing left.
I could feel my body shutting down like it had when I'd first taken that drink in Club 69.
"Ms Naya," I heard Abel call out. "Are you alright?"
I tried to tell him, but I couldn't; my eyes were drooping.
"Someone get a mop," I heard the director call out, his voice filled with disgust. "And security, get her out of here."
"I think she's not well, shouldn't we at least check her?" Doctor Abel was saying.
"And who's going to pay for that?" The hospital director sneered. "This is not a charity organisation, Doctor Abel. Security, throw her out. She'll be fine."
I felt hands grabbing my arms and lifting me. My legs wouldn't hold me, so they had to drag me.
"Please," I murmured. "Please, I just—I need—"
But I didn't know what I needed.
My mother was dead.
Nothing could fix that.
They dragged me to the front entrance and deposited me on the sidewalk outside the hospital gate.
"I'll be waiting for you to pay back the rest of the hospital bill within seven days, else we'll take legal action, Ms Rivers," I heard the hospital director say one last time before the gate closed in my face.
I sat there on the concrete, waiting for the dizzying spell to pass. I couldn't cry. I didn't even know what to feel.
My mother was dead.
My father had chosen to kill her. He'd signed the papers and given permission to let her die.
And he hadn't even called me; he hadn't given me a chance to say goodbye.
He'd buried her without me.
I pressed my hands against the concrete, loving the way the rough texture bit into my palms; it was the only proof that I was still alive.
Five people had done this to me.
First: My father, who abandoned my mother when she got sick, married her best friend six months after the accident, chose his new family over his daughter and signed my mom's death warrant without trying to reach me one more time.
Second: My stepmother, Stella, who poisoned my father against me, turned my stepsister into someone who would steal my fiancé while still making sure that I am deprived of my father's love.
Third: Isabella, my stepsister, who knew I loved Caleb. She knew we were getting married. But decided her dying wish was more important than my feelings.
Fourth: Caleb, who took everything I gave him. My money, my time, my future. And threw it all away for someone else.
Fifth: Hansel Ward, who kept me unconscious for three days. If he hadn't forced me to take that drink, I could have made it to the hospital in good time. I could have been there when my mom died.
Five people.
Five people who destroyed my life.
I sat there on the sidewalk as the sun climbed higher in the sky.
And I made a promise.
To my mother and to myself.
I would make them pay—every single one of them.
I would take everything they have, everything they loved and everything that mattered to them.
I would ruin them the way they'd ruined me.
Starting from this moment.
I rose to my feet, staggering on my wobbly legs, but managed to hold out. I had nothing left. No money and no family, but I had rage, and I had nothing else to lose.
I pulled out the piece of paper on which I'd written Hansel's phone number.
He had answers and resources, and whether he knew it or not, he was going to help me get my revenge.