Chapter 13 - Ethan’s CallThe transplant call came at 4:16 a.m.
Claire was asleep in a chair beside Ethan’s bed when Nurse Rodriguez touched her shoulder.
“Claire.”
Claire woke instantly.
“What happened?”
Rodriguez was crying.
Claire’s heart stopped.
Then the nurse smiled.
“We have a heart.”
For one second, Claire did not understand.
Then Ethan opened his eyes.
“What?”
Rodriguez repeated it.
“We have a donor heart. Surgical team is preparing now.”
Claire covered her mouth.
The room blurred.
Ethan stared at her.
“Claire?”
She nodded, tears spilling.
“You’re getting your heart.”
His face crumpled like he was still a little boy pretending not to be scared.
“What if—”
“No,” Claire said, moving to him. “We don’t start with what if. We start with thank you. Then we breathe. Then we fight.”
He held her hand so tightly it hurt.
“I’m scared.”
“Me too.”
“You always say you’re not.”
“I lie sometimes.”
He laughed and cried at once.
They prepped him quickly.
Forms.
Vitals.
Consent.
A surgeon explaining risks Claire already knew too well.
She signed with a shaking hand.
Before they wheeled Ethan away, he pulled her close.
“If I wake up different, tell me.”
Claire kissed his forehead.
“You’ll wake up alive. We can negotiate personality later.”
He smiled.
Then he was gone.
The waiting room became a place outside time.
Claire paced until her legs trembled.
At some point, Elena arrived in a wheelchair, wrapped in blankets, against medical advice and everyone’s wishes.
Dominic pushed her.
Claire stared.
“You should not be here.”
Elena lifted her chin.
“Neither should you. You should be sleeping.”
“That is not medically equivalent.”
Dominic locked the wheelchair.
“Elena threatened to remove her own IV if I didn’t bring her.”
“I respect that,” Claire admitted.
They waited together.
Hours passed.
Morning filled the windows.
Dominic brought coffee.
Claire did not drink it.
Elena held her hand.
Claire let her.
At noon, Agent Marlowe appeared.
Claire stood too quickly.
“No,” Marlowe said. “No bad news about Ethan. Surgery still ongoing.”
Claire sat back down shakily.
Marlowe looked at Dominic.
“Hale is negotiating.”
Dominic’s eyes sharpened.
“He wants protection?”
“He wants reduced charges for testimony against Calder, Marcus, and several hospital officials.”
Claire’s face hardened.
“No.”
Marlowe looked at her.
“I understand.”
“No, you don’t. He threatened my brother’s transplant. He gave fake medication to patients who trusted him. He kidnapped a sick teenager.”
“He will still face charges.”
“But less.”
Marlowe’s silence answered.
Claire stood.
Dominic rose with her.
But Claire looked only at Marlowe.
“Will his testimony save lives?”
Marlowe paused.
“Yes. He can identify suppliers outside the country and hospitals not yet aware they received compromised medication.”
Claire closed her eyes.
Dominic watched her.
Elena whispered, “Claire.”
Claire opened her eyes.
“Then take the deal.”
Dominic looked surprised.
Claire’s voice shook, but held.
“Not because he deserves mercy. Because his victims deserve prevention.”
Marlowe nodded with real respect.
“I’ll convey that.”
After she left, Claire walked to the window.
Dominic followed, stopping a careful distance away.
“That was not easy.”
“No.”
“You didn’t have to say it.”
“Yes,” Claire whispered. “I did.”
Dominic looked out at the city with her.
“My first instinct would have been revenge.”
“I know.”
“Yours was saving people.”
Claire glanced at him.
“My first instinct was to throw a chair.”
He smiled faintly.
“But you didn’t.”
“Only because hospital chairs are ugly and probably expensive.”
The smile became almost real.
Then the surgical doors opened.
Claire turned.
The surgeon approached, mask hanging loose around his neck.
Her heart stopped.
He smiled.
“The transplant went well.”
Claire’s knees buckled.
Dominic caught her before she hit the floor.
For once, she did not pull away.
The surgeon continued, “He’s critical, but stable. The next days matter, but Ethan made it through.”
Claire covered her face and sobbed.
Elena cried openly.
Dominic looked down at Claire in his arms, then away, giving her privacy even while holding her up.
Claire whispered, “He made it.”
Dominic’s voice was low.
“Yes.”
May you like
For the first time since Black Pine Woods, Claire believed survival might become something more than the absence of death.
It might become a future.
