Chapter 1She Wanted Our Son's Kidney for His Daughter

My wife, Claire, wanted our son to give up a kidney to save her childhood sweetheart's daughter.

I refused. I fought her so hard that I thought she'd finally let it go.

Then our son vanished, and Claire stopped answering my calls.

I went to the hospital to find her. There, I learned that the little girl had finally found a donor. Claire would perform the transplant herself. She'd promised to keep her safe.

Then I saw the name listed under deceased organ donor.

It was my son's.

* * *

My hands shook as I clutched the hem of my shirt. Then I charged back to the nurses' station.

"Give me back my son!"

I grabbed Rachel, the head nurse, by her collar.

"Who was that child you just wheeled in? Why was my son's name on his chart?"

Rachel gave me a strained look. "Mr. Reed, that's confidential patient information. We can't disclose it.

"We're trying to do our jobs. Please stop disrupting us."

The other nurses stared at me with open contempt. Then their faces cleared as someone approached behind me.

"Dr. Bennett. Thank God you're here. Look at your husband. He's completely lost it."

I turned to Claire, my eyes burning.

"Do you even know Evan's been missing for an entire day?"

She pulled off her mask. Her lips curled.

"How long are you going to keep this up? I haven't been home to spend time with you. I get it. How much longer are you going to use Evan as an excuse?"

I stared at her.

Claire and I had met in college and married soon afterward. Then, while she was pregnant, she suddenly announced that she wanted to continue her medical training overseas.

She left after our son was born. She stayed away for five years.

In his entire life, Evan hadn't spent a month with his mother. Her overseas training, meanwhile, had landed her a specialist position the moment she came home.

And she hadn't come back alone.

Blake Mercer, her childhood sweetheart, had returned with her. So had his daughter, Ruby.

Ruby had a congenital kidney condition. Claire's solution was to give her one of our son's kidneys.

"The child you just took in had Evan's name on his chart," I said. "If you have any conscience left, bring him out and let me see him."

Claire frowned. Then she laughed.

"You think I wouldn't recognize my own child?"

Her expression hardened. "Ruby's surgery can't wait. Stop making a scene."

She thought I was doing this to delay her.

I caught her arm. "Do you seriously think I'd joke about our son?"

For the first time, she hesitated.

She knew me. She'd never seen me this terrified.

Her hand rose almost automatically to wipe a tear from my cheek.

"I'll ask—"

For a second, I could breathe.

Then Blake came out of nowhere and dropped to his knees in front of me.

"Ethan, please. Leave Ruby alone. She can't wait any longer. I found a child willing to be tested, and he's a match. How could it possibly be Evan?"

Tears streamed down his face.

"I know Ruby and I have taken up a lot of Claire's time. But this is a child's life. How can you be so cruel?"

Claire immediately helped him up, her face softening with concern.

"Why are you begging him?"

Then she looked at me as if I were a stranger.

"Ethan, when did you become like this? You've always loved children. Ruby could die, and you'd let it happen because you're jealous? I thought I knew you."

People pointed and whispered. Someone called me a murderer.

None of it moved me.

Whatever I'd once felt for Claire was gone. If it weren't for Evan, I wouldn't have come looking for her at all.

"Ruby's a child. What does that make Evan? He's missing. Is this how a mother is supposed to react?"