“Come home. Don’t tell anyone—not family, not coworkers. No one.”

I hung up believing everything would change.

I never made it home.

A black truck shot across three lanes and rammed straight into my driver’s side. There were headlights, metal screaming, glass shattering—and then nothing.

I woke in a hospital bed, surrounded by beeping machines. A nurse named Jackie told me I’d been in a coma for four days. Caleb hadn’t called. Hadn’t visited. Hadn’t asked if I was alive.

I refused to accept it. Jackie brought me a phone. I dialed him with shaking hands.

He answered over music and laughter.

“What?” he barked.

“It’s me,” I whispered. “Caleb, I was in an accident. I’m—”

“For God’s sake, Ariana,” he snapped. “I don’t have time or money for your drama. Handle it yourself.”

He hung up.

An hour later, Jackie returned with the truth. Caleb had come to the hospital. Not to check on me. He came to take my purse. Security footage showed him walking out with my wallet—and my credit cards had been drained on luxury shopping and expensive meals while I was unconscious.