As I passed my mother, she didn't look at me. She smoothed the hem of her blouse, the corner of her mouth curled upward.
"If only you'd listened before, we wouldn't be here now..."
So this really was retaliation.
Inside the security office, someone held out a cup of cloudy liquid.
"Drink it. Should take about half an hour to kick in."
I stepped back until my spine hit the wall. "I'm not drinking that!"
Two guards moved in, flanking me on either side.
"Ms. Fox, don't make us do this the hard way."
"You wouldn't dare!"
The two guards closed in and seized my arms, one on each side.
I thrashed against their grip.
That was when my phone rang. A colleague from the hospital.
"Let me answer it! That child might not make it..."
The guards hesitated.
My mother lunged forward, pinning my hand down, and killed the call. "Answer what? Trying to call someone to bail you out?"
"Don't pull that crap with me!"
But I'd already wrenched one hand free and snatched the phone back.
The screen lit up with a photo from Dr. James.
I tapped it open, and everything inside me went still.
The person lying on the operating table, waiting to die, was my brother.