His Choice to Love, His Kin to Kill

The bank’s mortgage approval process was painfully slow.

I turned and saw Jake standing a few feet away, his face pale. He had clearly overheard my call.

“Lidia, Ryan’s parents… are they really hurt? But Ryan said you were just getting back at him…”

I didn’t have the energy to deal with him. I told him to call Ryan himself.

I glanced at my watch, my anxiety mounting. A million-dollar transfer shouldn’t take this long for someone like Thomas. I called him again.

“Uncle Thomas?”

He let out a heavy sigh. “Lidia, just stop the act, will you?” he said, his voice weary. “Listen, besides his parents, no one in the Mitchell family ever truly accepted you.”

“I felt sorry for you. I wanted to help. But I get it now. You’re just playing the victim. Who are you even trying to fool? If you weren’t so dramatic all the time, maybe Ryan wouldn’t be so sick of you.”

My heart plunged into an icy abyss. I knew then that the last million dollars was never coming.

“Uncle Thomas, did Ryan tell you to say that?” My voice trembled. “You don’t have to believe me, but the hospital records can prove everything—”

Thomas cut me off. “You don’t need to forge medical records to trick me. Even if you fool me today, what about tomorrow?”

“Lidia, I know you’re obsessed with Ryan. You love that pretty-boy face and the body that gets you hot, I get it. But he’s got someone else, and she’s back. If you’re in so much pain, why not just get a divorce?”

His foul words were the last straw. I hung up, my face a mask of stone.

Ryan’s parents were dying, and his family was using it as an opportunity to humiliate me.

Across the room, Jake finally got through to Ryan.

“Ryan, listen to me! Your parents are really in trouble! They’re at the hospital—”

He was cut off by Madison’s syrupy voice. “Oh, Jake, don’t tell me you’re playing Lidia’s pathetic games too. How much is she paying you? Whatever it is, I’ll double it.”

Jake’s voice was frantic. “I’m not lying!”

Madison passed the phone back to Ryan without a shred of interest. “Honey, it looks like your cousin’s been bought by that bitch, too.”

Then came Ryan’s cold voice. “Jake, that’s enough.”

Jake was practically sobbing now. “Ryan, your parents are in real danger! Just transfer a million dollars to Lidia’s account!”

Ryan scoffed. “So it really is about the money. Tell Lidia to stop the theatrics. She’s lost her mind. What did Madison ever do to deserve being targeted like this?”

The line went dead.

I had no other choice. I forced a bitter smile and turned to my lawyer. “Let’s go. We’ll have to talk to the hospital even if the money’s not all there.”

“That’s too risky,” my lawyer protested.

I lowered my eyes. “I’m family. They have to see me.”

I raced to the general hospital. The moment I stepped onto the ICU floor, the heavy smell of antiseptic and despair hit me like a wall.

My heart pounded against my ribs.

I burst into the ICU room. The piercing wail of the monitors drilled into my head.

Two flat lines, stark and straight as gravestones.

Ryan’s parents—Robert and Patricia Mitchell—were brain dead. They had missed their window.

I rushed to their bedsides, wanting to shake them awake, but Patricia’s hand was already ice-cold.

“It’s too late, Lidia,” a doctor murmured, his voice heavy with pity.

Tears blurred my vision. I squeezed her hand. “I called 911! I was raising the money! Please don’t die… I’m so sorry, it’s my fault, I didn’t get the money in time—I wasted too much time…”

My hands shook as I pulled out my phone, trying to call Ryan. “Hold on, please, just hold on a little longer. I’ll get Ryan to come see you one last time—”

But every call went straight to voicemail. Ryan had blocked me.

I sent him texts, telling him his parents were fading, begging him to come immediately. There was no response.

My in-laws, the only two Mitchells who had ever shown me kindness, were gone.

I collapsed, sobbing.

The doctors and nurses stood by, watching the two bodies grow colder, their faces grim.

The room started to spin.

A doctor steadied me, his expression complicated.

“Miss Carter, the driver who caused the accident has been arrested by the police. We’re so sorry. We did everything we could. Please, accept our condolences.”