Chapter 167

#34

The high school hallway is incredibly boring without Eli lurking near the exit doors. I sit through three consecutive lectures on European history, my real-time thoughts completely consumed by the image of a cardiac monitor and white hospital sheets. By fourth period, my sarcasm has entirely run out, replaced by a restless, twitching need to move.

So, I do what any reasonable Reid would do when the world is suffocating her. I climb out of the first-floor bathroom window, navigate the blind spot in the parking lot cameras, and drive straight back to the hospital.

I make it to the intensive care wing without being spotted by my father’s guards, but as I reach the door to Eli’s room, I freeze.

A woman is standing right beside the hospital bed. Her hair is packed into a tight, neat ponytail, and she is wearing a simple pair of jeans and a dark winter coat. She looks remarkably frail, maybe in her late forties, her shoulders slightly hunched as she looks down at